SELF-ESTEEM OF THE SPIRITUAL VARIETY IS BAD

If you regard self-esteem as something wonderful it does not follow that any form of it will do.  It could be good but the spiritual version bad.  There are different forms of self-esteem.  Self-esteem as in how you feel about your entire self and entire life is one thing.  Self-esteem in specific domains of your life is another.  You can have huge self-esteem as a parent and little as a doctor. You can have good self-esteem as a footballer if you are just an amateur player but a being a flop on the pitch if you are a superstar can be devastating. Self-esteem based on thinking that you are part of God or that God is so much about you that he lets you tell him what to think of you is a neglected topic.  It is open to all the criticisms of self-esteem in general.  It also has problems of its own.  And it is not even needed.  Its use signifies some kind of narcissistic crutch.

Some warn that self-esteem should be good but not high.  Some say that high self-esteem can be for the best but not necessarily.  A narcissist can have huge self-esteem and because it is too much it will be prone to collapsing for reality does not care what you think of yourself.  If you are not realistic you put yourself in danger of being forced to face reality.  A narcissist can suffer horribly from somebody being unfriendly to them or making a critical comment. 

Self-esteem cannot stay the same but goes up and down several times a day. 

Poor self-esteem makes it hard for you to accept praise even when due but high self-esteem risks ignoring or disparaging constructive criticism.  Trying things like saying to yourself, "I am unique and wonderful" can make your self-esteem too low.  First you think you are lying to yourself.  Second you think you are to blame for how bad you feel for not trying affirmations enough in the past.  Third you get disappointed when you try affirmations and nothing happens and when it seems to have gotten worse. Fourth you wonder if you are trying to turn yourself into a narcissist. 

Low self-esteem?  The real answer is to avoid being self-critical.  Admit mistakes yes but in the context that you have learned and will do better.  Telling yourself you deserve your fall or that it will humble you is not healthy or wise. Religion says you deserve terrible things and its God's generosity that averts them and blesses you.  It tells you to be humble about this.  This is just another way of being punitive towards yourself.

If faith very broadly defined is good for you as some say, then being too specifically religious is bad.  Some say we should not go further than this, "I will define faith as a fervent belief in the existence of unknowable, uncontrollable, and infinitely expansive, adaptive, and regenerative forces in the universe working within and between us to adapt to life’s misfortunes without misery swallowing up our capacities to make the best of painfully unjust, cruel, and sometimes tragic circumstances."   If you need a Bible then you need to do some inner searching.  You need to get rid of some religious conditioning.

Jesus says that faith moves mountains and he did not have the insight to give us the serenity prayer which tells you there are mountains you cannot move so don't even try.  He was an example of pity.  Feeling discomfort at the troubles of others implies they are too useless to fix things.  It is condescending.  Jesus advocated the cross for all people meaning all should live a life of sacrifice.  To ask that of all people is going to wreck our lives if all actually are stupid enough to listen.  All who praise altruism nevertheless think that as long as there is not too much of it, the egoism in society keeps life human and interesting.  Nobody wants others to be non-chattel-slaves for them and nothing else. 

Altruism however can be driven by fear.  You may fear your self-interested or bad side.  Altruism can be about stepping outside of yourself for these reasons.  You can be trying to protect your ego by concentrating on others.  Altruism is held to be about intention.  If you get a reward that is fine as long as you didn't act to get it.  But to say that all that matters if somebody's life is saved is the intention is just a form of selfishness and egoism.  It is a form of narcissism posing as virtue.

Paradoxically, the person who has strong feelings of hate for himself and comes across as having no sense of self and as being about everybody else, and being a doormat is not anything like altruistic.  Such a person is as self-absorbed as a happy cocky narcissist.  Seeing something as altruistic is more about what we yearn to see than what is there.  If altruism is real, it does not follow that the person who sees it really cares.  It might be a way of, "I am such an expert and have such a good side that I would sacrifice my arm for a stranger if I had to and I know altruism when I see it."  Don't forget that Christianity says we see God and Jesus' altruism all around us.  That is the same arrogance but taken to a new level.  If there is a problem with such pride God belief only makes it worse.

Does self-esteem show occult tendencies?  Does it have occult underpinnings?  It is certainly true that witches etc



SEARCH EXCATHOLIC.NET

No Copyright