Worth vs. Superiority
This is an extension to my previous post Response to “The Plague”.
One last topic of discussion from what Ezra wrote was this:
I desire something more, something of supreme excellence that will make me more than just a man. Is it too unrealistic to crave superiority and worth without relying on materialistic wealth? I seek enlightenment, ever growing wisdom and knowledge. I want to be the person everyone stares at in disbelief.
I consider superiority and worth to, in many cases, be opposed to each other. I also feel that my opinion is born out by the context used in the quote above.
Specifically the use of “without relying on materialistic wealth” with where I make the distinction between superiority and worth (as in self-worth). If one wants to be superior to others, then it is a clear invitation to be judged by their standards, many of these relying directly on the accumulation of wealth and power and is gained only through competition. Whereas in opposition to this, worth is the inherent value of a person and can be measured within a person without having to make direct comparisons to others. However, since we must be able to measure worth, I see it as a measure against knowledge or wisdom.
A worthy person accumulates that worth by gaining expertise in an area of knowledge. This could be actual knowledge, ability in a craft, skill in an art, etc. In this way there can be a multitude of worthy painters or philosophers.
By contrast a superior painter must be the one who has sold to the most people, and not have this accomplishment be posthumous (your not really superior to others while 6 feet under the ground). This direct competition for scare resources demands that the person seeking superiority to be more true to the whims of the crowd than either themself or their expertise. This does not ban the superior person from having worth. However, I do believe it separates them from the type of self-worth I mentioned by a qualitative degree.
In this way a worthy person is truly on a quest to enlightenment. They are in tune with the self and the underlying universe of knowledge. A worthy person can access knowledge in their area from any angle and make use of it for any pursuit. The superior person will only ever be able to use that knowledge to advance past others and be unable to use this knowledge to really build wisdom.
My opinion on this primarily comes from the Tao Te Ching.
From this point of view the truly worthy person may be revered by a few who are very close and understand the depth of his/her soul, but other will never be awe struck by a person who has dedicated the humble pursuit of wisdom.
That said, my point of view on the topic (at least as it is written here) is very narrow. It is also very open to debate.
I think you are dead on when you mention that worth and superiority are at odds with each other. What little I have read about Eastern philosophies (like the Tao) teaches me that superiority should not be on the menu. Superiority infers judgement, competition, ego- all the things that we are to transcend.
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Chris Schaffer Reply:
August 30th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Thanks for the comment!
And you are correct about what the Tao says we should avoid to grow and follow “the way.”
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In my view, Worth is totally separate from materialistic value. ‘Worth’ to me, denotes the spiritual value of a person’s character.
That said, those with the most dollars quite often have the least worth.
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Chris Schaffer Reply:
August 30th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I very much agree with you. It’s too bad more people abandon worth for only cash value.
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