A slippery slope of walking on the journey of self-awareness is that we start thinking we’re different from the rest of society. We suppose we are the most mature ones, and we fall in best 1% of conscientious beings. But if we’re to be honest with ourselves, is that true? No. Not for me, at least. I wouldn’t say I “am” a self-aware person. I don’t think it’s something you “become.” It’s something you need to keep working toward to become a better version of yourself time after time, whatever that is.
Just this thought that working toward self-awareness makes us any different than other people is appalling. I found myself slipping into sustaining this thought process along the way. If anything, the thinking seems to be deprived of the one thing we need at all times and everywhere: compassion. Being able to exercise our consciousness doesn’t make us any better than others. It just better prepares us for our journey, wherever we’re trying to get.
If we think we’re aware and scorn the world for not being that way, we’re perhaps doing it wrong. The idea seems to be analogous to how someone who’s found a treatment for their ailment is frustrated about the rest of the world’s inability to find a treatment that can cure what’s giving them pain.
The next time we itch to call ourselves “different or better” because we consider ourselves self-aware, let’s try to recall that the rest of the society isn’t a different bunch of people. They are us. We are them. We are the society. Let’s take the help of self-awareness to better ourselves and not necessarily prove that we’re better than the rest.
Aprajita Jha
"I am one, but I am not the only one; hardships and happiness, both spare no one." Governed by this quote that I've written, I try to live each day with courage, care, and compassion.