​GET OVER YOURSELF

There is nothing noble about being superior to those around you. The true nobility is being superior to your previous self.

 
Wisdom Wherever You Find It
 
There is nothing noble about being superior to those around you. The true nobility is being superior to your previous self.    Hindu Proverb
 
Stick with me on this one. I have a point, I promise.
 
I have written before about what I have learned from Hindu friends and colleagues. I will admit that I did not have many of them for most of my life, partly for lack of opportunity, partly out of a shameful lack of curiosity, and partly because of an unenlightened understanding of what it meant to be a Hindu. On that last point, the multiplicity of expressions of the godhead and the symbols that represent those iterations struck me as…forgive me…pagan.
 
(Before my pagan readers get too upset over that label, I will unpack only one former prejudice at a time.  Your turn will come.)
 
My growing appreciation of Hindu wisdom has also increased my discomfort at what American society has appropriated from it. The practices of yoga, for example, have a devotional aspect that have been removed and replaced with chairs, goats, and heat, all of which may amplify the health and exercise benefits, but are the equivalent of reducing Christmas to candy canes and Santa Claus. See also karma, guru, kirtan and – if you dare – swastika.
 
However, just because I admire Hinduism does not mean I subscribe to it. And when it comes to the belief in reincarnation, I believe in it with the same skepticism as I believe in consciousness after death. So the proverb quoted above strikes me as a metaphorical piece of genius, though for a very different reason than “orthodox” Hindus would find it meaningful. Perhaps it makes me guilty of appropriation, but I count on the gentle affirmation of Hindus that every path of faith has value to rescue me from disrespect.
 
So, metaphorically speaking, every self is a previous self. It is easy to see the difference in who I am today from who I was at age 13, 25, 37 and 50 (significant ages in my personal life). Am I a more noble person, by whatever definition? I most certainly hope so. I have tried to follow a progression, guided by my evolving understanding of my values, but only with the passage of time can I begin to understand how my temperament, for example, or my desire to be generous, for another example, has evolved. I can’t deny that part of what has impelled me is the example of others around me. Some of those role models are people I love. Some of them are people I admire from afar. Some of them are people I consider bad examples. If my goal has been to contrast with my bad examples and outdo my good examples, this proverb instructs me that there is nothing noble about imitating others or, worse, correcting their shortcomings.
 
The only growth that matters is in comparison to my previous self. And if I am intentional about it, then I need to grow every day, even every hour, not merely every dozen years or so. If I were a literalist about reincarnation (I am not), there might be more hope for me in subsequent iterations of Jack Moline, by whatever name. But since I am not, the inspiration of this wisdom must motivate me to become superior to myself in this one wild and precious life.
 
Here is the point that I promised. Every day is an opportunity to be truly noble. That quality may not be easily quantifiable or even measurable in a tick of the clock or turn of a calendar page, but every day offers an opportunity to do just a little better than your previous self. The great Moses Maimonides encouraged Jews to do so, and others by extension. So, too, teachers in every generation and every tradition from Plato to Rumi to Merton to Freud. Don’t try to clamber over others. Get over your self.