Italian
Self-education that cannot derive entirely from itself can cause structural and functional conflicts. This is why many people suffer from disorders of the digestive, respiratory, and skeletal systems.
Periodic malfunctions of one of these dysfunctions will benefit the others and improve the overall condition for a certain period of time, followed by a period of physical and mental weakening; this is also due to the fact that, in seeking superior performance to be a winner, the individual tends to compete with others, while at most could do it with oneself, and not even that could do: in fact, it is never possible to give the absolute best, but always the best for now, “one’s best” – the best that is in relation to one’s person and their concrete situation.
There is no other rival; I can only be my own rival with the possibilities that are available to me at this moment. In all of this, the fact remains that one must strive for the absolute best if they want to achieve the relative best.
It is obvious that of the three factors that determine a person’s behavior (inheritance, education, self-education), only self-education is significantly influenced by will. In reality, the issue is to what extent, and in particular, how one can help oneself… this path is arduous and difficult, but for every person who feels the need to change and improve, it is possible within certain limits, bearing in mind that many things must be clearly understood to make the process, the acquisition of a new set of responses, not too difficult.
It is necessary to fully understand from the beginning that the learning process is irregular and involves different steps, which also applies to simple acquisitions, such as learning a poem by heart.
A man may learn a poem by heart one day and hardly remember anything the next day. Some days later, without reviewing it again, he may suddenly recall it perfectly. Even if he forgets the poem for several months, he will find that a brief repetition will bring it back to his mind in its entirety.
We must not be discouraged if we notice ourselves reverting to the original condition; these repressions will become less frequent and we will easily recover our progress as the learning process continues. It is also necessary to realize that as these changes occur within the Self, new difficulties previously unknown emerge. The consciousness previously rejected them both out of fear and anguish, but then, as self-confidence grows, it becomes possible to identify them.
Many people make sporadic attempts to improve and correct themselves, even if they often do not have a clear awareness of this; however, in each of them, different stages of development can be found. And as each one progresses, further corrections require increasingly subtle means.
It should also be remembered that one’s improvement is closely connected to the value one places on oneself as a person, even though there is a tendency to give more importance to one’s own flaws rather than one’s qualities.
One teaching in this field is given to us by “people with disabilities”. In fact, those among them who are able to look at themselves with sufficient and thoughtful humanity and to obtain a constant respect for themselves, can achieve goals that “normal” people will never achieve; those who instead consider themselves inferior because of their disabilities and overcome them with willpower, may become a ruthless and embittered adult, who will seek revenge on innocent classmates and will not be able to change the circumstances, even if they wanted to.
Maura Luperto
