The Native Iowan

Sunday morn here. A chilly Sunday morn. Bright blue skies, golden sunshine and crisp air. It’s a very nice place to “BE”.

I am thinking of a conversation I recently had with an old friend, where we shared personal situations dealing with less than copacetic people and situations. In it we used an old phrase, “Petty Tyrant” to describe people with malevolent intent.

In my situation I have been dealing with a negative-neighbour and a boundary dispute. It’s been ongoing for a year. Lawyers are involved. It’s not a pretty scene, and offers enough negativity to go around.

So I consider and have a look and find this:

The use of the term “petty tyrant” is borrowed from the work of Carlos Castaneda, whose teacher, Don Juan Matus, encouraged him to seek out petty tyrants in order to confront and defeat his self-importance and self-pity:

Self-importance is man’s greatest enemy. What weakens him is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of his fellow men. Self-importance requires that one spend most of one’s life offended by something or someone.          Carlos Castaneda, The Wheel of Time

Other teachers, philosophers and psychologists have understood the horror of spending one’s life offended by other people. Petty tyrants, people who seem intent on harming us, are a necessary asset in confronting our victim-hood and its resulting loss of poise.

I find this conversation to be timely and fitting. In a world where everyone is so offended by so much. Where angst and anger are emotions de-jure. Where lashing out senselessly is common and accepted as socially OK.

And the beat goez on…

Smiles all around