Self-Esteem: A Kosmic Perspective

 

By
Yasuhiko Genku Kimura

Self-Esteem as Self-Knowledge

 

 

The greatest gift that we can give to our children as well as to ourselves is the learning opportunity to develop genuine self-esteem. The critical role that self-esteem plays in the attainment of mental and emotional health, happiness, and success should never be underestimated. However, although many are aware of the importance of self-esteem and the truth-value of the preceding statements, few know what self-esteem really is and how it can be developed with surety.

 

Self-esteem implies that one has the intelligence to authentically appraise and appreciate the value of oneself. Therefore, to develop self-esteem means to develop this intelligence for authentic self-appraisal and self-appreciation. What is this intelligence with which one can authentically appraise and appreciate oneself? The intelligence for authentic self-appraisal and self-appreciation is not the kind of intelligence that is tested in the IQ test, which Dr. Herbert Guenther calls, with his typical ironic humor, a measure of a person’s stupidity. This intelligence is the knowingness of the ground and the possibility of one’s being. This intelligence is the appreciative discernment arising from the awareness of the Universal Self as the ground and the possibility of one’s individual self. One who has self-esteem esteems oneself because one is keenly aware of one’s original and ultimate identity with the Universal Self. One who has self-esteem esteems oneself because one knows the value of one’s being as a singular yet universal expression of the highest value in the Kosmos—the Universal Self, also known as God, Kami, or Brahma, or by many other names.

Genuine self-esteem is based on authentic self-knowledge; without self-knowledge, there can be no self-esteem. In fact, self-esteem is a kind of self-knowledge; it is the knowing that is esteeming. In the absence of real self-know-ledge, what people have in lieu of self-esteem is self-conceit or self-humiliation: self-delusion of unduly high opinion of oneself or self-delusion of unduly low opinion of oneself. The former is self-inflation and the latter is self-deflation. Just as in the economic cycle of inflation and deflation, those who have self-delusion in lieu of self-know-ledge tend to go through an endless cycle of self-inflation and self-deflation, often with chaotic periodicity. They have not developed the intelligence or the appreciative discernment that is required for self-knowledge and self-esteem. When this intelligence, this ability for appreciative discernment, is underdeveloped, people tend to make up various delusions and/or illusions vis-à-vis themselves, a result of which is self-conceit and self-humiliation.

 

Delusion is what results when one plays false with one’s thought, while illusion is what results when one plays false with one’s perception. When those who are self-delusory and/or self-illusory gather together, what results is a state of collusion, which explains the present state of the world very well. It is not too much of an exaggeration to state that we live in a world of collusory reality wherein inflated egos constantly clash with one another, while deflated egos earnestly seek self-inflation in the name of salvation or enlightenment through numerous religious and philosophical persuasions, including “New Age” variations, within multicolored psychedelic theatrics manufactured by multitudinous illusions and delusions. This is the world of samsara, the world wherein people have gone astray in their illusory and/or delusory preoccupations. This is the world of fall from heaven or fall from the realm of truth and reality to that of delusion and illusion. Therefore, to achieve self-know-ledge and to attain self-esteem in this world of delusion-illusion-collusion, of samsara and fall, requires, as the Buddhist tenet states, that we be in the world but not of the world. In other words, we must cease to partake in the collusions that make up much of the reality of the world that has gone astray. We must stand alone and must withstand aloneness in our commitment to the genuine knowledge of the self, the world, and the universe. We must stand outside conspiracy for mediocrity, while being in the world of samsara largely colored by the illusion-delusion-collusion of those who have gone astray. This is the standing-out (ek-stasis), and therefore the out-standing, that leads to ecstasy.

Development of Self-Esteem

The development of self-esteem coincides with the development of the kind of intelligence defined above as appreciative discernment, which in turn arises from the awareness of the Universal Self as the ground and the possibility of one’s individual self. From an ontological perspective, we human beings are each a singular whole that is a part of the Whole—a singular hologram that contains the Whole. What is called individuality is the indivisible wholeness that is developed in the process of emotional, intellectual, and spiritual maturation, wherein a human being comes to realize what he or she already always is—a singular whole that is a part of the Whole. This process of realization is both ontological and epistemological. We human beings, by the very nature of our consciousness, must know our indivisible wholeness to be indivisibly whole. This means that inside our conscious experience and awareness the wholeness of our being that has never been lost ontologically, but has not really been known epistemologically must be regained onto-epistemologically or experientially in the process of our growth and maturation. It is when we regain the wholeness of our being that we become the individual self and the Whole becomes the Universal Self. Thus the attainment of individuality is concomitant with and tantamount to the attainment of universality. Experientially or onto-epistemologically, individuality co-evolves or co-develops with universality. Therefore only the Universal Man has authentic individuality.

The intelligence required for self-esteem is the intelligence of a fully-developed whole individual. It evolves with the development of individuality, which grows with the awareness of universality. Individuality, in reality and etymologically, means indivisibility, and therefore indivisible wholeness. Thus, the process of individuation is not only that of differentiation, as it is usually understood in psychology, but also, more importantly, of integration. Individuality and individualism understood primarily in terms of differentiation miss the most crucial factor of what it really means to be an individual, which is to be an indivisible, integrated, and whole human being. As a result, we have “individuality” without universality, “individualism” without universalism, and the selfhood that is fragmented within without being integrated. Most people do not posses genuine individuality, while feeling separated or alienated from others. Their feeling of separation and alienation is the outer projection of the inner fragmentation that exists within themselves. They have not yet attained individuality or integrated selfhood but only nebulous constellations of fragmented self-identities.

The intelligence required for self-esteem is the ability to see the complementarity of the individual and the universal. It is the ability to discern one’s individual wholeness in complementarity with the Universal Wholeness. One with this intelligence is able to appraise and appreciate the value of oneself in relation to and in the context of the Universal Wholeness/Self. When you develop this intelligence, this appreciative discernment, you will naturally esteem yourself because you know the preciousness of your self as a singular yet universal expression and unfolding of the Universal Self. Furthermore, free of illusions-delusions-collusions, you can genuinely appraise and appreciate your actual value in the world as well as your possible value in relation to the Universal Self. That is, you esteem yourself absolutely and unconditionally but never cease to grow and develop as a human being in the awareness of the possibility inherent in you as a singular yet universal expression and unfolding of the Universal Wholeness/Self that is the very ground of your being.

Since self-esteem is an extension of self-knowledge, an educational matrix/learning structure that is designed to develop self-esteem needs to have the attainment of self-knowledge as its central aim. Before one can esteem oneself, one must know oneself, and in the knowing of oneself, one comes to esteem oneself for the preciousness of one’s being/self as a singular yet universal manifestation of the highest value in and of the Kosmos, that is, the Universal Self. Therefore, in creating a learning structure or educational matrix designed for and conducive to the development of self-esteem, the Socratic maxim “Know thyself” needs to take the central place as in the disciplines of Buddhism or in the Home Study Course of Walter and Lao Russell.

 

Zen Master Dogen says in Shobogenzo or The Treasury of the Awakened Eye:¹

To learn the way of Buddha

            is to learn the self.

To learn the self is to forget the self.

To forget the self is to be awakened

            by the Whole.

To be awakened by the Whole is

To let the illusion of separation of

            oneself and others drop away.

 

One who lets the illusion of separation of self and others drop away achieves the Universal Self within one’s individual self, and thereby achieves the indivisible wholeness of being within oneself. One thus knows and esteems oneself as the Universal Self. The whole discipline of Zen Buddhism is designed to make one awake from delusion and alight from illusion. The Buddhist doctrine of no-self is not a denial of the self as such, but of the delusional self inside the darkness of which people are internally stranded. Therefore, when Dogen states that “to learn the self is to forget the self,” he means that to learn the self is to forget the delusional self. And when he states that “to forget the (delusional) self is to be awakened by the Whole,” he means that in forgetting the delusional self, the indivisible integral self is awakened and alighted in the process of the Whole’s self-unfolding. Self-esteem as an extension of self-knowledge is an authentically spiritual experiential awareness of the luminous self that is you, the original you before the birth of your parents.

Walter and Lao Russell say in the Home Study Course:²

Whatever the greatest genius in the world can do, you can also do. You have the same inheritance that he has. The only reason you may not have given evidence of it is because you have not been aware of it. In other words, you have not yet discovered your Self. That divine spark of genius, which is aflame in him, is dim in you. You can illumine yourself by inspiration and deep meditation. The greatest miracle that can happen to you is that wonderful discovery of your Self, the divine power which lies within your Self, and the awakening of unlimited knowledge which you unknowingly now have.

Self-esteem is the esteem of selfhood/Selfhood as geniushood. Self-esteem is the esteeming of the genius that exists within you as your self/Self. As I stated in “Awakening the Genius Within” (The Cosmic Light Vol. 2, No. 3), your genius is your own most unique ability to be you, the singular yet universal manifestation of the Universal Self. “You can illumine yourself by inspiration and deep meditation.” Meditation is your self tuning-in to the Universal Self. Inspiration is the Universal Self resonating with your self. Only when you have regained indivisible wholeness within, can you tune-in to the supraconscious ecstatic intensity of the Universal Self. Only when you have attained integrated individuality, the Universal Self can harmonically resonate with your self in its supraconscious cognitive intensity. In this resonance, self-esteem becomes Self-esteem, and therefore the esteem of all that exists in the universe.

 

Three Stages of Development

The self consists of the triune dynamic of the knower, the known, and the knowing, and the triune structure of the knower, the thinker, and the actor. Seen from this triune perspective, the first stage in the development of self-knowledge and self-esteem involves the process of the knower coming to know and esteem the thinker-actor as the known and the esteemed. What is the thinker-actor esteemed for? For its competency in the ability to think and act and produce results. The knower esteems the thinker-actor’s ever-developing competency in the ability to think and act and produce results, without which one cannot be a truly productive and contributing member of society.

Therefore, within the educational/learning matrix of “Know thyself,” people—children and youths in particular—need to be given learning opportunities to develop their ability to think for themselves and act from their own thinking to produce values that contribute to others. There is nothing that builds your self-esteem more than your knowledge of your competency in your ability to think and act from your own thinking to produce results, be they solving problems or creating new products or creating artwork. Self-esteem at this stage comes from your self-confidence that you can think, act, and produce values for others, and self-confidence arises only from accumulating evidence of success and accomplishment. Therefore, you must be given, or you must give yourself, a space of learning wherein you are allowed to think freely for yourself and to make mistakes without negative criticism until you can accumulate sufficient evidence of success in thinking, acting, and producing results. This is the kind of learning environment with which we ought to provide our children and youths so that they can develop their own genius along with self-esteem and moral character—three virtues that only develop together.

The second stage in the development of self-knowledge and self-esteem involves the process of the knower coming to know and esteem the knower itself. What is the knower esteemed for? For its competency in the ability to know what is true and real. The knower esteems its own developed and ever-developing competency in knowing truth and reality, without which one cannot function competently in the world. At this stage, self-knowledge extends from the knowledge of the thinker-actor to that of the knower. You become increasingly more aware of your triune self. That is, you come to know yourself, fulfilling the promise inherent in “Know thyself.” And in the knowing of yourself, you regain wholeness within, and become the whole indivisible human being that you are in the simultaneous achievement of individuality and universality.

In the third stage, the intelligence that is the knowingness of the ground and the possibility of your being achieves its efflorescence. You esteem yourself because you are aware, through your appreciative discernment, of your original and ultimate self-identity with the Universal Self. You esteem yourself because you know the value of your being as a singular yet universal manifestation of the highest value in and of the Kosmos. In this esteeming of your self/Self, there is profound humility, universal humility. For you become keenly aware of the majesty and grandeur of the Universal Self, and therefore aware of the immensity of the unknown that timelessly awaits you as the eternal possibility of knowing and being to be experienced. This awareness, this experience, of majesty, grandeur, and immensity will bring you to your knees, overwhelming you with the sense of luminous kosmic humility. You are a Kosmic being/Being that is held within, but also holds within itself, this divinely majestic, grand, and immense Universal Self—the Kosmos experienced as the Supraconscious Subject—as the Prime Knower, Thinker, and Experiencer of the Kosmos of its own creation.

 

Notes:

1.        The Cosmic Light will start publishing Yasuhiko Genku Kimura’s English translation of Shobogenzo, The Treasury of the Awakened Eye, by the Japanese Zen Master Kigen Dogen (1200—1253 C.E.), in the spring of 2001.

 

2.        The Home Study Course by Walter and Lao Russell can be obtained through the University of Science and Philosophy (I-800-882-5683). The University of Science and Philosophy also offers a six-month, group study course, A Course in Cosmic Consciousness, for a concentrated study of the Home Study Course and other materials by Walter and Lao Russell and by Yasuhiko Kimura and Laara Lindo. For more information, call the University at 1-540-553-1007.