Losing one’s self-consciousness is not easy. Self-consciousness is what distracts us from what we are doing. It is peer pressure. It tells us to be aware of other interests & conform to expectations. Self-consciousness is group-think in each of us.
To lose this self-defeating impulse, one must have a strong mind & body. Otherwise doubts arise, which is self-consciousness creeping in. Only if you truly know in your heart & mind that what you are doing is correct, can you act without self-consciousness. When this happens, boundaries no longer apply and mountains can be moved, because there are no external or internal interferences.
True leaders learn to act without self-consciousness, because they correctly recognize the survival of civilization and our planet supersedes any personal issues. People who take things personally act with too much self-consciousness (ie- personal interest) to be effective leaders of men & women.
The entire political & financial spheres of humanity are controlled by self-conscious autocrats, who place themselves above the law, and deem their interests too big to fail. This is self-consciousness run amok. It’s an inherent feature of capitalism, which emphasizes individual gain.
The ability to forget oneself is a useful & powerful skill. We are all born with extreme self-consciousness, demanding everything as infants. The idea is that as we grow, we learn to be independent and take care of ourselves, while developing the skills to eventually take care of others.
When you watch a mother properly take care of her baby, there is no self-consciousness in her actions. All she cares about is her baby. When you see an insecure mother making a show of her baby, to the degree that she’s acting self-consciously, she’s less of a mom.
I mentioned being strong in body. If you are carrying extra fat, then you have pain— most likely in your spine & hips. Pain is a brake on physical action. When you attempt to do something and pain strikes, it stops you. You are now self-conscious that it hurts, and your actions are limited. At root, self-consciousness is personal insecurity which ultimately disables the individual.
How you look physically is important. People make judgments, which can help or hurt your situation. Can you ignore all that? Can you just do what you want, when you want? Personal hygiene should be approached scientifically. This is a norm people can recognize & respect, without acting self-consciously. We have social hygiene problems of self-consciousness in both direction– too little & too much.
The same is true with beauty, which has objective & subjective elements. Objective parts include a lean body, nice smile, pretty eyes, healthy skin & hair. If you have that at any age, then you will be considered attractive by all. Beauty gets a variety striking reactions, so remaining open-minded to what comes is the best approach, as compared to self-consciousness.
Humor is another area where it’s best to lose one’s self-consciousness. When referring to yourself, it should be self-depreciating and/or ironic. For a long time now, I’ve typically added photos to my writings. This helps to deliver points, ideas, etc, while giving the article color & visualization. It helps with searches too. But self-consciousness is a difficult concept, almost impossible to depict in images, so I didn’t use any in this essay. It was a very self-conscious decision.
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