Thanks for a great question. Below, I share my realizations from being an avid meditator for many years.
We need to overcome our personal arrogance and self-obsession. Such personality traits are not congruent with our true expression. They cause suffering not only to others but also to ourselves. The only way to go forward as human beings is to cultivate our true nature, which is one of oneness, love, and acceptance.
There is no conflict between letting go of arrogance and retaining one’s self-worth, identity, and confidence. Quite the opposite actually. All those traits will harmonize beautifully within a person who has let go of their arrogance and self-obsession and recovered their true nature.
Arrogance and self-obsession are derived from feelings of inferiority and pride. Deeply within, we feel we are not good enough, and we need to assert ourselves through arrogant behavior. We put on masks and build a fake identity and confidence. We are, consciously or unconsciously, ashamed of this inferiority complex so we go to great lengths in trying to hide it from the outside world, often at the expense and suffering of others.
As we mature as humans, we realize that giving up on arrogance and self-obsession is the only way forward. We intuitively understand that holding on to arrogance will only create suffering. Being prideful and arrogant only makes us push people away, and renders it impossible to build genuine relationships. Also, we cannot evolve to reach our full potential if we are arrogant and obsessed with ourselves. The reason for this is that true potential requires synergy and coexistence with others and the world, something that can only be achieved through humbleness and respect to one another, never with an arrogant and self-centered mind.
The power of meditation
Meditation is a great way of dealing with arrogance and self-obsession. Meditation gives us a chance to look back on ourselves and let go of the inferiority and pride in our mind. It is a cleansing process for our mind and helps us to recover our original mind.
How does this affect us? Do we lose our self-worth, identity, and confidence?
The answer to this question is yes and no. As we go through the cleansing process, we break down our mind and remove all the masks we’ve put on throughout our life. This means that our ideas of worth, identity and confidence will shatter. Sometimes, we will feel lost.
However, this is only a transition phase. When the caterpillar becomes the butterfly. Escaping the cocoon might hurt and confuse, but is necessary in order to discover our true nature. Our true nature is the most valuable; it’s knows its worth because it is life itself. The identity of our true nature is the universe, which is all-encompassing. The confidence of our true nature is the the knowledge of nature’s flow; that everything is done by the virtue of the universe existence.
When we realize this, we understand that the purpose of life is to live for the world. Such a life is naturally led with confidence. This confidence is however not self-asserting, it is humble. It is humble because we know we all are one and the same, no one is higher or lower, and we are interdependent and coexistent with each other. Nothing can be attributed to the self since everything is done by the universe as a whole. No glory for me, but for the entire existence. That’s how it should be.
Check out the video below. Venturing in finding our true nature is a path every human needs to take.
