Thursday, September 01, 2005
Status Anxiety
I started reading this book "Status Anxiety" by Alain de Botton the other day and it's really resonating with some of the things that I've been feeling quite strongly recently (not new feelings, for sure, but ones that have come to the forefront of my awareness of late):
The attentions of others matter to us because we are afflicted by a congenital uncertainty as to our own value, as a result of which affliction we tend to allow others' appraisals to play a determining role in how we see ourselves. Our sense of identity is held captive by the judgements of those we live among. (p.8)
This may be incredibly obvious, but I realized that the fact that this passage has so much resonance with me shows that I've been looking to please other people instead of God. I also realized that although it's easy for me to have faith in God, I don't really know how to trust in or rely on him.
And I need to work on that.
I started reading this book "Status Anxiety" by Alain de Botton the other day and it's really resonating with some of the things that I've been feeling quite strongly recently (not new feelings, for sure, but ones that have come to the forefront of my awareness of late):
The attentions of others matter to us because we are afflicted by a congenital uncertainty as to our own value, as a result of which affliction we tend to allow others' appraisals to play a determining role in how we see ourselves. Our sense of identity is held captive by the judgements of those we live among. (p.8)
This may be incredibly obvious, but I realized that the fact that this passage has so much resonance with me shows that I've been looking to please other people instead of God. I also realized that although it's easy for me to have faith in God, I don't really know how to trust in or rely on him.
And I need to work on that.
