SELF-ESTEEM

Self-esteem means that you are reasonably satisfied with who you are as a person, the achievements of the person, what the person can do, or what the person knows, or what the person possesses…

You compare what the person can do, abilities, what the person knows, knowledge, or what the person has in terms of possessions – you compare that with others. And you come out favorably. Either you can do something more than someone else or others. Or you have more knowledge. Or you have more.

It starts with the child “Look what I can do”.

Both high self-esteem and low self-esteem are identification with some kind of form.

You compare the form of WHO I AM to the form of others.

But you’re still trapped in form and you’re depending — for your sense of value, or worthiness — on others who have less or know less or can do less than you.

That doesnt mean that you shouldnt strive to do things, know things, or have things.

But the question is : is that ultimately a satisfying basis for your sense of who you are ?

In the long term, it is not. It is not satisfying.

With people who own a lot, eventually a sense of emptiness arises
“What’s it all about?”

If you derive your sense of identity from some ability, what happens when you no longer have that ability? Or some great achievement? It was all an illusion. Because you derived your sense of WHO YOU ARE from something in the world of form, which is fleeting, not reliable, not solid, dreamlike.

The true power comes from not identifying with form.

The power comes when you realise the formless in yourself, that dimension. All power comes from that. It goes far beyond the person that you are. Then you’re rooted in the formless.

There’s enormous sense of worthiness in there, but it’s not comparative. It’s not ‘more than’. You see the same worthiness in everyone, even if they don’t know it themselves yet. It’s just the power of life itself. The conventional self-esteem shifts into something much deeper.

If a person has low self esteem, does that person have to go through the state of healthy self esteem before they can transcend it all together?

The way from unhappiness or suffering to transcendence is easier than the way from superficial happiness to transcendence. Superficial happiness keeps you in the dreamworld for quite a while.