Co-exist with Others: Affirm My Self

In bringing goodness to life, my first requirement is to create my psychosocial world in the image of goodness as I dream of it, and build my character accordingly. As I do so, I become immediately aware that I must co-exist with others, including many with whom I vehemently disagree.

My psychosocial world must therefore interact and compete with the worlds of others. Coexistence requires me to handle my created world positively. This means continual reaffirmations to reinforce its existence and worth for myself, as well as to reveal its nature for others. By combining only odd- or only even-numbered Groupings, it is possible to reinforce both aspects:

• the affirmation of goodness—which ensures persistence of my world
• the affirmation of myself—which ensures persistence of my world
  

Here we deal with influences between even-numbered Groupings which requires affirmation of myself. This brings into focus my dependence. (The previous topic dealt with affirmation of goodness through interactions of odd-numbered Groupings.)

Review this duality.

Dependence on Others
G"6-Embrace Vitality ↔ Build Character-G"4

Living intensely, whether by being active or being receptive, is where you are maximally dependent on others. It is also the setting within which you build your character. Both represent an affirmation of your self. The inherent turbulence and competitiveness means that this interaction naturally bypasses equanimity-R"G5.

Offer Yourself ↔ Build Character
Details

In offering yourself, you must affirm yourself with an eye to satisfying others. You form networks with those who share your interests and you have a tendency to identify, especially with intimates. So you must try to associate yourself with good people: those who see more clearly than you, and those from whom you can learn. At the same time, others will be looking at your character in determining whether and how to take up your offer. You build your character through submitting to such situations, and attending to how others handle themselves and deal with you. Whoever and whatever is bad or wrong can be shunned, ignored or tolerated until you can move on (remember: break out of situations).

The Channel R"G6_A ↔ R"G4_B is named: Emulate What's Good.

Prove Yourself ↔ Build Character
Details

Proving yourself also demands self-affirmation. It will lead you into all manner of situations that pose challenges to your integrity and courage, as well as to your talents and capabilities. As you will have a lot invested in success, you will be exposed to temptations targeted at your egotistic desires or designed to inflate your opinion of yourself. Companions may demonstrate or suggest ways to get ahead by dishonest means or by exploiting others. You build your character through mastering your egotism and turning away from corrupt practices.

The Channel R"G6_E ↔ R"G4_B is named: Resist Temptations.

Dependence on My Self
G"4-Build Character ↔ Find Inner Strength-G"2
Detail

In sustaining your dreams and building your character, you have to depend on yourself—the body, mind, temperament &c. that constitute your nature. Although your life is constrained by your nature, it is never immediately obvious, either to others or yourself, what you can actually do and be. Most people underestimate themselves. You must therefore focus on discovering and developing your inner strengths. That is the only way you can build the character that you can and should have. Situations that call for strength usually force you to attend to your character. The price of such self-actualization involves going into pain and tolerating suffering-R"G3 (i.e. bypassing that Level).

The Channel R"G4_B ↔ R"G2_B is named: Actualize Your Potentials.

But: Reject The Egomaniac's Favourite: 
G"6-Exercise Vitality ↔ Find Inner Strength-G"2
Not requisite. Why?

This would suggest that you can by-pass Equanimity-G"5, Character Building-G"4 and Overcoming Pain-G"3 without any problems. However, this would be a wholly unrestrained form of self-assertion that could cause much harm.

Effective Co-existence: Wrap-Up

To coexist, I must exist. Although I can independentlycreate a psychosocial world in theory, there are limitations on my independence in practice. The situation is as follows:

	In regard to myself:
		I am dependent on my self i.e. my nature and qualities, but I am also an independent agent who can act on my self (and on others).
	In regard to others:
		I am dependent on some because we share common resources; & I am inter-dependent with others because I am embedded in situations with them.

Note: I am never wholly independent of anyone with whom I must coexist. Globalization now means that we all share common resources and everyone can be affected by almost anyone anywhere. So humanity has reached the point where we are each now dependent on everyone else to some degree.

Channels that bypass a Level serve to ensure that my created world can persist in social life whatever the psychosocial realities of others. There are two primary demands that coexistence places on me: affirming my self and affirming my world's goodness.

In regard to affirming goodness:

• My inter-dependence, R"G5 ↔ R"GL3, reveals a need for me to rise above situations where I suffer, and immerse myself in situations where others suffer.
• My independence, R"G3 ↔ R"G1, reveals my responsibility to break out of situations that cause me too much pain, and share responsibility for situations where others suffer.

In regard to affirming myself:

• My dependence on others, R"G6 ↔ R"G4, reveals a need for me to resist temptations commonly available, in situations where I am proving myself, and to emulate what is good in others, whenever I offer myself.
• My dependence on myself, R"G4 ↔ R"G2, reveals a need for me to actualize my potentials so as to build a character from emerging inner strengths.

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However, persistence-cum-coexistence is insufficient. To generate goodness, I must use goodness as a criterion in my choices. This requires attention to Channels of influence between adjacent Levels i.e. linking my affirmations of goodness to my affirmations of self.

• See how to use goodness as my criterion at all times.

Originally posted: 26-Jul-2013