Be who you are!

There is something I have learned -- and let us for the sake of a name, refer to it as a mental Buddhism. This isn't an ideology. This isn't a dogma. It's a state of mind. The thing I have learned is the value of being who you are.

In an age of identity politics, this is counterintuitive thinking and feeling for most. We are supposed to stop at the level of the demographic we are defined to be in. Or, we are to be passionately imbued with a notion that by struggling and bartering within the system that regulates a social hierarchy, we can improve our relative status vis-a-vis others, and come out all shiny, pure and pink.

Both of these approaches are dead ends to enriching subjective development.

In sparring I have found, you can't inflate your presence. You simply have to work with the one you have. Trying to impress yourself and others that you're more than that uses up vital energy that could be used for effective attack and defence. An egoistic approach also blinds you to your own weaknesses, and allows you to replace bluster and positive thinking for hard training and preparation.

It doesn't matter who you are. You need to be who you are in order to act effectively and to grow. Others will try to take you down on the basis of their image of you -- but they are putting themselves in jeopardy when they react to a mirage.