It’s all about me

The astronomer Copernicus got into a lot of trouble for suggesting that the earth was not the centre of the known universe. The earth revolved around the sun, not vice versa. He copped opposition from all who figured that the planet they lived on was at the centre of things. He ran into the ingrained self-centredness of humanity.

We see many examples of this, even in trivial circumstances. We are not content to take photos of landmarks: we have to be in them. And speaking of photos, we want to inflict our innumerable photos on others assuming others will find them as absorbing as we do. We shift the topic of conversations to ourselves and assume our opinions and experiences have greater value than others.

We fail to truly listen to others because we are impatient to speak to others, often of ourselves. We think the groups to which we belong ought to heed our preferences, that our views are the right ones. We go on and on about ourselves not aware of the glazed eyes and stopped-up ears of those in our company.

It is so sad that some other people are utterly unaware of their egocentricity. It is even more sad to realise that we ourselves are not immune from this common human affliction. The only cure for it is the power and example of Jesus. And even then, it seems there is no instantaneous cure.

Blessings
David Reay