Summary of the text
For every organism that possesses it, consciousness is the basic means of survival. We depend for survival on our conceptual faculty (of our mind).
We are not programmed to think automatically, because thought is a necessity of all satisfactory existence, that is, we can choose to think or not to think.
The design of our nature contains an extraordinary option: that of seeking or avoiding awareness, seeking or avoiding the truth, concentrating our mind or not. In other words, we have the option of modifying the means that are within our reach to survive and achieve well-being.
Human behavior ascends to the conceptual mode, to the level of abstractions, principles, explicit reasoning, propositional discourse, and self-awareness.
The heart of the matter is the body's self-conscious level of regulation. On the sensory-perceptual level (shared with animals) awareness is automatic, programmed by nature. But on the conceptual level, the exercise of the mind is volitional, that is, regulated at will by us.
The possibility of choice in this area is what generates the need for self-esteem. And the kinds of choices we make determine the level of self-esteem we possess.
Avoidance is very important when it comes to self-esteem, specifically in situations in which awareness is avoided where we perceive that we are capable of greater awareness and we refuse to achieve it.
The choice to think is truly heroic, in the sense of facing situations that could be unsatisfactory (maturity).
Temptations abound to stop thinking. However, this does not invalidate the fact that thinking is the basic means of survival and that we must choose to think. We have freedom of decision.
Knowledge consists of the correct identification of the facts and, in order to know that we have identified the facts correctly, we need to verify our conclusions, through the process of reasoning. But this ratification is only possible if we are free to judge.
Free will in this development is taken in the sense of the possibility of choosing to wish or avoid becoming aware.
The reason is the faculty and the process by means of which human beings integrate the data given or present in consciousness. Free will is linked to the choice to be rational or irrational, which means the choice to respect reality or challenge it.
There are factors that can facilitate or hinder the proper exercise of our consciousness, such as the environment. Also within the same mind there may be obstructions of thought (defenses and blocks of the subconscious).
The desire to be more aware does not guarantee that the results of our efforts will be positive; there is never any guarantee of success. If we had that guarantee, fewer people would avoid the responsibility of thinking. Uncertainty is intrinsic to the very essence of our existence and it is this uncertainty and freedom that creates the need for self-esteem.
Self-esteem consists of the integrated sum of self-confidence and self-respect. The need for self-esteem is the need to know that the choices we make are appropriate to reality. Our sense of efficiency and security needs the conviction that our method of choosing and making decisions is the correct one.
Self-confidence is the security in the reliability of our mind as a tool of cognition (the conceptual faculty). Doubting the efficacy of our main means of survival means becoming paralyzed in making efforts to meet life's challenges.
Regarding the need to respect ourselves, as we mature we experience the need to feel that we are fit. To be valuable as a person means to be worthy of joy; lack of value as a person implies being unworthy of pleasure.
What values are worth pursuing? Concern for right and wrong is inherent in our nature: in the early stages of our development it arises naturally and progresses at the normal pace of our maturation.
Each of us is judged according to some standard. And to the extent that we stop meeting that standard, the respect we feel for ourselves (feeling of self-betrayal) is eroded.
We are the only species free to ignore our own knowledge or to betray our own values.
Parents and the family environment play a significant role in the development of the child's values, self-concept and self-esteem.
We must act to achieve our goals and, to act, we must value ourselves as beneficiaries of our actions. To fight for our happiness, we must consider ourselves worthy of happiness. If the sense of worthiness is not present, we will fail in the acts of self-affirmation that our well-being requires.
If we betray our integrity, if we evade by refusing to see what we see and to know what we know, we betray our own judgment and we fail to rescue the sense of our own capacity.
This judgment transmitted to our mental behavior is generally experienced as an affirmation of our “essence” (the SELF).
Continuously, the self evolves, it is shaped through the constant flow of choices and decisions. It is this that makes change and development possible.
Our choices have psychological consequences. How we choose to face reality, truth, and facts (our choice to honor or dishonor our own perceptions) register in our minds and can both confirm and strengthen our self-esteem, as well as deny and weaken it.
Self-esteem is the reputation we acquire in front of ourselves.
The self is our mind and its characteristic way of operating. The SELF is the essence of oneself, where the self is included. Self-esteem is self-esteem.
Self-concept refers to the ideas, beliefs and images of an individual about their traits and characteristics, obligations and abilities, limitations and capacities (the judgment of the self).
Comment and conclusions
We start from the basis that consciousness is the basic means of survival, that we use it to position ourselves as observing subjects of objective reality. In other words, we become aware of the impulses of the environment to solve problems, to adapt, etc.
We share the level of sensory-perceptual awareness with animals and it is automatic, that is, as long as our senses are not deprived of their functions, we will be aware of the environment and the impulses it produces.
The conceptual plane of our consciousness (which differentiates us from animals), on the other hand, is not automatic, but we can choose to think or not. This means that we choose to become aware of reality, develop concepts and judgments, or we simply avoid it, deny reality.
This degree of consciousness (conceptual faculty) implies that we inevitably become aware, become aware of ourselves. This, therefore, also involves making concepts and judgments about ourselves. Here the freedom that we have to think or not plays an important role, since choosing to think (elaborate concepts and judgments) about oneself can be an unsatisfactory process. This generates the need for self-esteem.
We can choose to think (face reality with a sense of maturity) or evade it. Thinking about our human nature implies our main tool for survival and, if we deny it, we would be denying our ability to survive, our competence to live. Thinking also implies a rational process and, if we avoid thinking, we would be acting irrationally, that is, denying reason. Through reason we order the data that come to our mind through the senses and, if we avoid reasoning, we would be avoiding reality.
Uncertainty and freedom are the key elements that determine the need for self-esteem. Freedom, from the possibility we have to choose, to make decisions. Uncertainty, based on the lack of guarantee of success that exists in the decisions we make.
So, the need for self-esteem is the need to know that the choices we make are appropriate to reality. Our sense of efficiency and security needs the conviction that our method of choosing and making decisions is the correct one.
Therefore, we can say that self-esteem is the integrated sum of self-confidence and self-respect. Self-confidence, for what was stated above regarding the conviction that decision-making is correct; and self-respect, in terms of the feeling of aptitude to face life, of feeling value for oneself. The lack of value by itself implies considering oneself unworthy of being happy, of experiencing pleasant sensations.
Humanity has always pursued the answer to the question of knowing what is good and what is bad. Thus, value has been given to what is good, that is, what is considered good is therefore considered valuable. That is why all of us are governed by values (by things that we consider good), so if in some way we deny our values, we betray in a certain way the norms by which we are governed, we feel that we are betraying ourselves and thus our self-esteem can be seen mined when making judgments.
Finally, we can conclude that we are free to choose to "think" or not, that is, to use reason or not to make decisions and make judgments about reality, both external and self. And the quality of those decisions and judgments we make determines our self-esteem, especially in terms of ourselves (self-concept).
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