“Everyone is your
superior in some way.” Here we have a proposition that may lead
some to scoff. But the scoffers haven't thought carefully enough
about it. It's easy to jest when you don't bother to think. To be
sure, this quote isn't intended to be a flat-out bearer of truth,
akin to something like 2 + 2 = 4 (though a case could probably be
made in support of it). Rather, it is intended as a kind of
“principle of human relations.”
Consider
the person who flatly believes that they are superior to others. How
are they likely to treat others when their behavior is predicated on
the belief that they are a superior kind of human being? Contrast
such a person with the opposite: he or she who approaches others with
the understanding that everyone they encounter is, in some
way, their superior. How are
they likely to interact with others? Which person would you rather
associate with? The point here isn't to “bow down” to everyone
you interact with because they are better than you in some unknown or mysterious way. It is simply a psychological tool that can be used to help avoid
arrogance and snobbishness, both of which are rather unlikable
traits.
To state the same
idea differently (my apologies to the anti-philosophy crowd), think
of it this way: If the proposition that A) everyone is my superior in
some way, is true, then it is equally true that B) I am superior to
everyone in some way. The truth of one entails the truth of the
other. But again, consider the difference in my potential outlook and
behavior when I act on the basis of A instead of B. Both A and B are
equally valid, yet they produce mutually exclusive outlooks and
dispositions. The one I choose to focus on, and thereby think in
terms of, affects my behavioral disposition, particularly in how I
view myself and those around me, and will no doubt flow over into my
daily interactions with others.
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