Not good enough?

BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From "Freedom from the Known" (Jiddu Krishnamurti, p. 23)

If I am all the time measuring myself against you, struggling to be like you, then I am denying what I am myself. Therefore I am creating an illusion. When I have understood that comparison in any form leads only to greater illusion and greater misery, just as when I analyse myself, add to my knowledge of myself bit by bit, or identify myself with something outside myself, whether it be the State, a saviour or an ideology - when I understand that all such processes lead only to greater conformity and therefore greater conflict - when I see all this I put it completely away. Then my mind is no longer seeking. It is very important to understand this. Then my mind is no longer groping, searching, questioning. This does not mean that my mind is satisfied with things as they are, but such a mind has no illusion. Such a mind can then move in a totally different dimension. The dimension in which we usually live, the life of every day which is pain, pleasure and fear, has conditioned the mind, limited the nature of the mind, and when that pain, pleasure and fear have gone (which does not mean that you no longer have joy: joy is something entirely different from pleasure) - then the mind functions in a different dimension in which there is no conflict, no sense of `otherness'.

This is very timely. My daughter is going through a rough patch and this will sum up some of what she is feeling.

Thanks

This was a perfect explanation of my new way of life for my roommate who was kind of judgemental at first. Thank you Jestor

My daughter is always trying to compare herself to others as well. This will be good for her to see.

My favorite part of the book, Alex!

There is a really good book on this whole subject called Mindset. The book changed my life.

Summary: http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/


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If I may, let me quickly break the line of praise...
While I do kind of agree with the general sentiment, there are things to be considered that aren't.
For instance:
What exactly makes you you? Is there a way of understanding oneself without contrasting oneself to everything else? How do you understand and identify what you are without that which differs you from other things or other people? And by that reasoning, how can one truly understand oneself and one's role in life and society without any comparison of one's characteristics to those of others?
Now, what Alex quoted probably fits the sentiment much better (although it does go a little too far for my taste anyway later): To measure oneself against others, that only brings frustration sooner or later. And on that note, here comes the faulty logic in what is the premise to the entire argument:
Only because you do compare yourself to others doesn't mean your feeling of self-worth needs be affected. That just doesn't follow. If you let yourself be dragged down by what makes you different and unique, there is already something with you much wronger than any particular inferiority in appearance, intelligence, success, social integrity or physical fitness. It is not so much the comparison itself that should be abolished as one's emotional dependancy on the outcome. If someone is stronger than you and that really destroys you, then isn't your emotional weakness the grander one by far?

Don't deny yourself what all of us do instinctively. Compare. Only let it be just that: A comparison of some property. Not a rating of your person.