SELF-ESTEEM. (Part 2): a means AND an end, AND an absolute requirement for happiness.

SELF-ESTEEM: a means AND an end, AND an absolute requirement for happiness.

I will keep those first things first in my life, every day by choosing to think and act in accordance with reason, purpose and SELF-ESTEEM

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Where does SELF-ESTEEM comes from? How is it achieved?

What does it permit and lead to?

Why does nothing seem worthwhile, desirable or achievable without it?

First off, I would say that self-esteem comes from holding a philosophy of reason which of course includes rejecting any morality that involves sacrificing ourselves to others or sacrificing others for our sake, reason showing that neither of these strategies can result in anything but misery for all parties.

Secondly, I would say that it comes from consistently living that philosophy, thereby practicing the virtues of honesty and integrity. (One of the aspects of honesty is being honest with others, while one of the aspects of integrity is being honest with ourselves). When we act consistently with rational values, we have no need for rationalization (lying to ourselves) which is the quickest way to lose self-esteem.

Self-esteem permits us to seek our own happiness without any sense of guilt or shame, as we recognize that we truly deserve to be happy, and that our happiness in no way conflicts with that of others. In fact, rationally we know that harmony only enhances our happiness. Self-esteem allows us to enjoy the material rewards of our efforts without making us slaves to those rewards because our self-esteem is not tied to them and we know that our happiness will be intact with or without them. ("Wealth is the slave of the wise man and the master of fools." Seneca)

Without self-esteem nothing seems worthwhile, because it seems pointless as we don't feel we deserve our success, (and if we have been inconsistent and lacked integrity, we're right) and it just seems that the best we can achieve is temporary pleasure, but it always seems fleeting and no matter how much we have it never seems to be enough, and we also live in fear of losing our achievements because we feel with some good reason, that without them we will have face our fraudulent selves.

Of course, as with previous blog entries, (which have been too far and few between this year), the principle of self-esteem is only one third of the three major principles which also include reason and purpose, and each of them must almost always be discussed together as they are interdependent.

From these flow all other principles which I will continue to write about in future blog entries which I will seek to make more frequent.

Thanks again for reading.