Metaphysical Musings #4 —Self-Improvement

Most of us would take a moral high ground when it comes to self-improvement. All of us would agree that this is something that we should make our primary motive. But, are we really self-aware? What is the sense of self?

A very common question that arises out of this is - “Who am I?”

The problem here is that the quality of our accomplishments is decided by the people other than ourselves. This can be realised from something as naive as a school-assignment. At the end of the day, you are graded by your teacher. The external factors get all the more dominant in topics like Literature and Philosophy where there is no unique (correct?) answer.

So, the idea of “self” improvement has a loophole as the adjudicator of the magnanimity of your improvement is not “self” (But is external). So this sense of “self” that you have is merely a reflection of what is not you. Or is it something entirely different?

In my opinion, a genuine sense-of-self exists and can be felt. There are instances when one is really engrossed in an activity and even though the fundamentals of the method to carry out this activity may have been learned externally, a person who thinks “deep enough” or in other words is sufficiently absorbed in the activity will eventually end up generating his own thoughts.

People may argue that these thoughts are a result of previous thoughts, but nevertheless the machinery behind the generation of the ideas from previous ideas is coming from the “self”. This perhaps, is the sense-of-self!

So what could constitute self-improvement? Getting better grades? Getting buffed up? More likes on Facebook? Well, these could just be the results and it is exactly not what improving oneself should essentially mean. This heavily relies on something which I would like to call “Social Validation”.

According to me, trying to get closer to the state of being aware of “self” should be the intent of self improvement. This sense could get preferably heightened by activity/activities which will vary among people.

So is all the external judgement system in place fooling us?

Nope! I think that it is required and should merely be considered as a guide or an indicator of actions undertaken by us. But we should also dare to have doubts regarding these indications and make the final call of accepting/rejecting these indications after asking our “self”.

P.S. I do not seek validation by sharing this I’m simply sharing my thoughts.