[Buddha-l] The Dalai Lama on Self-Loathing

[RonLeifer at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/30/2007 12:00:07 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
jkirk at spro.net writes:

I recall  Tai Situ Rinpoche being asked the same question. He also had a
difficult  time understanding self  loathing. He said he had been asked  the
question often, had thought  about it deeply, and come to the  conclusion
that self loathing is disappointment with one's self, secondary  to
unrealistic expectations.



I think Tai Situ had remarkable insight. The aversion to anything is  
dialectically associated with the desire for it to be different. Self loathing,  or 
as mental health people call it, "low self esteem" is, in my view,  
disappointment in one's self secondary to high and unrealistic expectations.  Self esteem 
is not an inherent unitary feeling. It is dialectical, or dualistic,  
reflecting the dualistic nature of discursive mind. Perhaps the Tibetans are not  as 
vulnerable to it because they don't suffer from the idea of progress, anomie,  
overweening ambition and unrealistic expectations from  life and one's  self 
promoted by  western culture.
 
Ron Leifer



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