As
much as I realize that this topic on 'Non-pretentiousness or unpretentiousness' is a great extension to the previous one of
humility, it is a little difficult to articulate the differences. Below are some
important points I picked up from the book and I look forward to discussing
them in our session as we go through a few examples.
Here's
my ask -- Spend a few minutes to review the highlights below and most
importantly read through Danny
Almonte's story, this was a very powerful incident that made the
news cycle while most of you may not have been born.
Another interesting
story quite recently from the Rio
Olympics was on a controversy surrounding "Yulia Efimova, a Russian swimmer caught in a doping scandal.
These
kind of stories involving sports personalities resonate very well with all of
us, it is the best way to understand how some of these virtues or the lack
thereof described in our age-old scriptures still apply today.
Highlights from the Chapter:
- Pretentiousness arises from our own fabricated accomplishments and abilities
- Non-pretentiousness on the other hand, is liberty from conceit and freedom from self-delusion
- So, what causes Pretentiousness?
- When one does not feel good about themselves
- When one does not accept themselves for who they are
- In order to maximize the chance of others accepting, we present in a way that will impress others.
- Why is this bad?
- I want to hear your thoughts..
- What is Non-pretentiousness?
- It is about staying away from comparisons
- It is about being realist and placing ourselves in proper perspective
I understand the fact that for a full understanding of virtue you must let some things go in your heart. This may be bad because if you take this too far you'll have no house no food and people will take advantage
ReplyDeleteThanks, you've an interesting perspective & let's talk more..
ReplyDeletePretentiousness is bad because its basically letting everyone know that they shouldn't trust you because if you can lie about yourself, then you probably will lie about other things. Not only that, but being pretentiousness makes you look conceited and also insecure leading to vulnerability.
ReplyDelete