Let’s talk about self-awareness, because let’s face it: Cogito ergo sum.

I think, therefore I am.

John Locke was influenced by Rene Descartes’ powerful philosophical Latin preposition, which inspired him to pen An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689) where he ‘conceptualized consciousness as the repeated self-identification of oneself.’ In his writing, Locke claims that personal identity depends on the consciousness and not merely the substance.

In modern times, Locke’s ‘conceptualized consciouness… of oneself’ is widely known as self-awareness. Self-awareness is the ability of an individual to process and identify information about her/himself and bearing knowledge about her/his mental state. Simply, it is a critical understanding of oneself.

There are six levels of self-awareness.

(1) Confusion: a degree of zero sum of self-awareness. In terms of an individual looking in a mirror — s/he is unaware of her/his reflection, thus perceiving own reflection as an extension of her/his environment.

e.g., (a) birds flying into the mirror thinking it is part of the environment not a differentiated object.

(2) Differentiation: an individual becomes aware of the mirror’s ability to reflect images.

(3) Situation: self-exploration becomes apparent as the individual becomes cognizant of her/his movement(s) on the reflection of mirror projected by their own body.

(4) Identification: recognizing ownself.

e.g., (a) realizing that the person in the mirror is “me.”

(5) Permanence: identifying her/himself beyond what is being projected in the mirror; the ability of capturing previous image as different or looking relatively younger or older than before.

(6) Meta-awareness: Self is seen through first person point-of-view (own), but more importantly through others (third person). An understanding of one’s self in the minds of others.

Meta-awareness is of paramount importance. According to Philippe Rochat’s dissertation on self-awareness in the Department of Psychology in Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, in the level of Meta-awareness “the self is now recognized not only from a first person perspective, but also from a third persons. Individuals are not only aware of what they are but how they are in the mind of others: How they present themselves to the public eye (Goffman, 1959). The public outlook on the self is simulated for further evaluation of how one is perceived and valued by others.”

The act of being self-aware — or being too self-aware— makes a person indestructible or (assumingly) dangerous. I was told that, “[I’m] scary,” because of my presumed level of self-awareness and as a result, “dangerous” to the society, which I think both are equally bogus. But as I ponder about it more, I realized that it is not entirely false.

Indeed, self-awareness is key to effective leadership. It gives an individual an impression of omnipotence, authority, and the ability to decode others, which could likely highten their ego negatively. Furthermore, self-aware individuals have the ability to assess others’ abilities, weaknesses, and strengths and keeping that as a card to play in the future.

The only danger in self-aware individuals is their ability to influence others and their capability to organize and form together groups, which could potentially be used against the good.

The fact that self-aware individuals have the capability to know someone within seconds really well as they do themselves is a dangerous agent, as well.

Turning tables can be easily done within seconds.