The only devil living on this Earth is human stupidity.
"It doesn't matter what anybody says or does. You must be an impeccable man yourself. The fight is right here in this chest. If your grandfather and father would be trying to be impeccable warriors," don Juan went on, "they wouldn't have time for petty fights. It takes all the time and all the energy we have to conquer the idiocy in us. And that's what matters.
The rest is of no importance. Nothing of what your grandfather or father said about the Church gave them well-being. To be an impeccable warrior, on the other hand, will give you vigor and youth and power. So, it is proper for you to choose wisely."
Castaneda
Castaneda
This world was handed down to us as an inheritance. We were taught to see everything in a certain way—so as "neither to get ahead nor to fall behind." Not to stand out or have an opinion of our own, lest people fail to understand us.
We can endlessly rail against the unfairness of the world, complain about how politicians get in our way, and lament how we were deprived of love in childhood by a tyrannical father or mother.
But what does this knowledge give us?
It sustains a sense of self-pity within us, disguised as a sense of self-importance.
By blaming everyone and everything around us for our troubles, we lose the one thing that makes us thinking beings: freedom from our own stupidity.
No matter how much we deceive ourselves, we must acknowledge that our own stupidity is the cause of most of our troubles. We need to realize that we do not have a single enemy in the outside world.
The only enemy against whom we must declare war lives within us. It is our own stupidity.
Stupidity enters us in childhood, but it must die in adulthood. Freedom from stupidity is precisely what distinguishes a person stuck in a "childish mindset" from a courageous, mature adult.
But how do we rid ourselves of this contagion?
The fact is, stupidity lies at the center of every person's world. We cannot change the world without changing our own personality, because the world reflects whatever dominates in one's personality.
A person filled with judgment and malice sees a world that judges and angers them. A person consumed by self-pity sees a million and one reasons around them for their unhappiness.
According to ancient teachings, there are thirteen character traits that take shape under external pressure and turn a person into a vessel for stupidity. They are:
1. A sense of self-importance;
2. Self-pity;
3. An inability to take responsibility for one's own life;
4. Self-absorption (egomania);
5. Envy;
6. Paralysis caused by fear (helplessness);
7. Rigidity;
8. Insincerity (dishonesty);
9. A tendency to cling to trivialities;
10. A tendency to find fault in everything (dissatisfaction);
11. Softness (an unsightly lack of resilience);
12. Overconfidence;
13. A desire to feel like a "lonely leaf in the wind" (a sense of abandonment and isolation).
The collective effect of these thirteen traits on a person is what is known as "stupidity".
As one brilliant author put it: "My stepmother was always angry about only two things: stupidity and poverty."
Stupidity and poverty are two sisters that feed on the energy of your soul. They give nothing, yet they take everything you have.
Let me know in the comments:
Which of the 13 qualities listed above hold you back in life?
May the Force be with you!
stupidity
