Ichiro Kishimi

Maybe ‘normal’ is the only choice I have. Maybe I will just have to accept my mediocre self and surrender to leading a mediocre, everyday existence. But I will fight it.

As Adler clearly indicates, ‘The one who boasts does so only out of a feeling of inferiority.’

PHILOSOPHER: That’s right. If one really has confidence in oneself, one doesn’t feel the need to boast. It’s because one’s feeling of inferiority is strong that one boasts. One feels the need to flaunt one’s superiority all the more. There’s the fear that if one doesn’t do that, not a single person will accept one ‘the way I am’. This is a full-blown superiority complex.

It’s enough to just keep moving in a forward direction, without competing with anyone. And, of course, there is no need to compare oneself with others.

problems are interpersonal relationship problems,

The two objectives for the psychology that supports these behaviours: the consciousness that I have the ability and the consciousness that people are my comrades.’

In other words, ‘to be self-reliant’ and ‘the consciousness that I have the ability’ corresponds to our discussion of self-acceptance.

But there is something one must not get wrong at this juncture: the fact that, in every instance, it is ‘that person’ who attacks you who has the problem, and it is certainly not the case that everyone is bad.

Now, do you focus on the one person who dislikes you? Do you pay more attention to the two who love you? Or would you focus on the crowd, the other seven? A person who is lacking in harmony of life will see only the one person he dislikes, and will make a judgement of the world from that

They probably try to justify that by saying, ‘It’s busy at work, so I don’t have enough time to think about my family.’ But this is a life-lie. They are simply trying to avoid their other responsibilities by using work as an excuse.