Absence of Arrogance, Part II

Copyright 2002 by Thomas J. Leonard. No duplication. All rights reserved.

Shifts to make to become somewhat less arrogant.

("Less arrogant" because to become non arrogant !ould probably be pretty arrogant" right#$ %ere are the shi&ts in thin'ing and behavior that ( made that seemed to be )uite help&ul... *. ( reali+ed that ( !as arrogant because ( !as a&raid that maybe ( !as ignorant" so ( pushed my points and didn,t !ant to learn. (n &act" ( could not a&&ord to learn. 2. ( came to see that people are doing their absolute best at all times even !hen they clearly are not. That added bit o& humanity helped me accept the unacceptable parts o& mysel& as !ell. Thus" ( didn,t need arrogance as a de&ense or compensating mechanism. -. ( started recogni+ing people that didn,t !ant to learn and ( stopped hanging around them. .. ( reali+ed that in this li&etime" ( !ould never 'no! enough. /o" ( stopped ac)uiring in&ormation and started learning &rom e0perimentation" e0periences" &rom li&e and &rom others. 1. ( came to see that there !ould al!ays be millions o& people !ho !ould smarter" better" cleverer" &aster" cooler and more creative than ( !ould ever be" even i& ( had a 2h3" gene therapy" nanotechnology" intellimplants" !hatever. ( am !hat ( am. No more need to compensate" prove mysel&" impress anyone or get approval &rom others. 4. ( )uieted do!n and started listening about *00 more than ( spo'e. Ama+ing things happened but i& ( tell you about them" (,ll be tal'ing too much. 5. ( completely stopped trying to help people !ho had speci&ically re)uested my help. (nstead" ( set up a spring (called Coach6ille$ !here &ol's can dip their cup into my 'no!ledge base. No more selling" no more prosteliti+ing" no more convincing. 7ver" ever" ever. 8. ( stopped caring about being someone. ( thin' arrogance can come &rom the desire to be smart" be someone" be the one &ol's to turn and other needs, satis&action attempts. (,m a nobody as &ar as ( am concerned and 9:(T7 happy about that" than' you; And" yes" ( do good !or'" people respect me and all that. <ut that,s &airly irrelevant. The point is that ( !a'e up and happy and go to bed happy. =or no!" that,s enough &or me. >. ( am !illing to abandon all that ( 'no! that is true i& ( come across a truth or a!areness that is compelling. As much as ( love my reality" 'no!ledge" !ay o& thin'ing" ( am darn sure that it,s entirely temporary and probably based in ignorance. ( am not a&raid o& ignorance? ( thin' it,s something o& !hich to be e0cited about. A&ter all" to include@endorse ignorance is something )uite !onder&ul. *0. ( can,t thin' o& a A*0 right no!. Can you# ( !ould love to share your shi&ts and ideas !ith the other participants. ( hope that this !as help&ul...