What do I have to take care of?

 What do I have to take care of?

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Socrates emphasized 'knowledge of self' and 'care for self' and divided 'self/me' into three categories.


One is 'self/me', the other is 'self/me', and the last is 'belongs to self/me'.


For example, my body belongs to me. And the shoes belong to me. Therefore, these two things belong to me, not 'I' itself.


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Therefore, the first thing to do for self-care is to distinguish between 'me' and 'what belongs to me'. Then, what is the 'I' that is the object of consideration? We don't know this yet. Instead, we know for sure. It is 'belonging to me'. Feet or shoes cannot be me. No one misunderstands this. What does this belong to me?


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First, there is property, that is, possession. We live in a world that commands us to value possessions more than our lives. What I have is me So, above all else, I try to prove myself through possession. It is for this reason that you show off what you have. If this happens, I have to live with consideration for what I have rather than using what I have for myself.


Here you can clearly see the difference between 'I' and 'I have'. The way I treat myself is 'consideration'. On the other hand, what belongs to me or what I have is an object of 'utilization' rather than consideration. Consideration is treated as an end, but utilization is treated as a means. In other words, 'I' is my purpose, but 'what belongs to me' is a means used for the purpose of caring for me. When 'what belongs to me', the means, becomes the end, 'I', the end, becomes slavery to the means.


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Second, there is the body. Training and honing the body is necessary in order to be healthy and to live long. Rather than property, the body is closer to 'me'. So, you have to take good care of your body. However, taking good care of the body is not an end in itself, but rather for the 'me' that is not reduced to the body. The body itself cannot be called 'I'. Therefore, it is difficult to see the body as an object of consideration.


However, we also treat the body as an object of consideration, not treatment. A society that forcibly enforces a diet does not take care of me through the body, but kills me and makes me sick. Bad self-management in this age is close to self-abuse.



Third, there is such a thing as status or identity. The newspaper society makes people think of their identity, such as race, nationality, etc. as themselves. So, taking care of yourself is taking care of yourself. It is an ideology that makes people consider themselves to be the social category they belong to and sacrifice themselves for them, which is now gaining popularity worldwide.


Status and identity are socially given to me. This can't be me either. These are just my properties. Korean, female, from Gyeongsang Province.... All of these are attributes that describe me, not myself. Rather, if you identify these things with yourself, you are instrumentalizing yourself.


Socially given and 'belonging to me' is also an object of utilization, not consideration. However, the 'socially given' is different from the one given to the 'me' in terms of talents and physical limitations. This is a matter within the realm of justice.


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Finally, there is desire. 'My desire' considered to be the same as 'I' in this era. We often think that knowing yourself means knowing what you want to do. In this kind of society, people understand themselves as 'what they want to do'. When this happens, the self we need to take care of is our 'desire.


"Put your own desires first."


This age stands on this proposition. That's why it's important to know that I'm not the desire.


Thinking that I am my desire, and trying to realize my desire, is nothing more than a life of being a slave to desire. The moment I identify with desire, desire becomes the master, and I degenerate into a slave dragged by that desire. Therefore, the 'life that everyone wants to do as they please' is paradoxically a life in which one's desire is the subject, not oneself. I am not the subject of desire, but the debtor of desire. In this respect, desire is not a consideration but an object of 'ruling'.


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The fact that desire is the object of control rather than consideration appears in many stories of heroes regardless of age or age. There are certain things that heroes must conquer to become heroes. It is 'self'.


Buddhism says, "It is of no use to conquer a thousand warriors on the battlefield unless you first conquer yourself." At this time, if the 'self' that must be conquered, especially if he cannot control and govern his desires, no matter how strong he may be, the hero will face trials. Through the ordeal, the hero learns that he must be able to control his own strength and desires. A special strength that the hero has compared to the criminal is the 'self-discipline ability'.

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