History of Ideas

The his­tory of ideas is a fas­ci­nat­ing study. Some­where along the way, ideas such as jus­tice, honor, and truth arise and then evolve. It is often dif­fi­cult to find out just who had the seed idea first. If you study ideas you will be amazed by how very ancient peo­ple had very sophis­ti­cated takes on the con­cepts we think are so con­tem­po­rary. Intel­lec­tual life was not born yesterday.

The ideas that mat­ter most are the ideas you have about your­self. In coun­sel­ing, I some­times ask peo­ple where they got this or that idea about them­selves. When they trace a painful idea back­wards, it often leads to a child­hood expe­ri­ence of some sort. The per­son is then free to change the idea. Our self-concepts begin early. When teased as a small child, you may spend half a life­time with a humil­i­at­ing feel­ing before you real­ize the his­tory of that par­tic­u­lar thought pattern.

Change what you think about your­self. Ques­tion the source of all ideas — espe­cially the ones you that you use to habit­u­ally describe your­self. You are free to keep or toss any idea about your self-worth. Some­where along the way in life, you need to own your per­sonal ideas about real­ity. If you pas­sively accept what­ever you have been told in any arena of ideas, you may merely be a par­rot instead of a person.

Find the roots to how you feel by trac­ing the his­tory of ideas, and then change them for the bet­ter. You are the one most able to bestow these gifts to your­self. When you change what you think you will change how you feel. The pain you feel has become self-inflicted by habit. The good news is that you can change the habit.