Heavenletters

A lot of what distresses you is ego-related, beloveds. It is status.

I have been staring at this passage for a while. Is it a short history of mankind? Or just of this writer?

Status! The dictionary defines this kind of status as "(high) social standing". So it's about how others regard me and think of me.

Indeed, what if the things I dread and worry about were highly respected, even enviable? Put differently, What is unpleasant or worrisome in and of itself? The answer comes as a display of images and scenes – serious sickness, pain, death, starvation, standing naked in the sleet... And the answer is short and simple: hardly anything. Hardly anything is in itself really bad, really devastating. Bad is in what I imagine others will think of me when ... I get evicted because I can't pay the rent anymore. Things of that magnitude. How could others' regard become so all-important?! Wrong question. How can I switch to not giving a hoot?

Now, before stumbling on this status thing, I have, of course, read about nice easy happiness that stays with you like a loyal friend. I'm sure that's the solution for everything. And as for dreading people's thoughts, I will not try to solve that problem, I will stop regarding it as a problem. Being more aware of it now, I will simply lean elsewhere. Elsewhere is the hand where I will lay my head down to sleep when in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes.