Why Do People Try to Show Themselves as Superior?
The concept we call superiority actually harbors, at its deepest core, inadequacy and weakness. How strange it is that humans do everything they can to avoid seeing this truth. No matter how hard we try to pull ourselves upward, we can never quite fill the void and emptiness within us.
So what is the difference between nothingness (hiçlik) and superiority? From a distance, they appear to be separated by a chasm. Yet the truth is entirely different: not having everything and having nothing are the same. Failing to understand this is ignorance itself — or, to put it more bluntly, sheer foolishness.
The body I have, you have too. The brain I have, you have too. The mind I have, you have too. Even beyond these, the energy within me exists within your very essence as well. Then why, while I walk with the consciousness of nothingness, do you strive to appear superior? Have you ever considered this?
People often misinterpret knowledge as well. They fall into the delusion that possessions, property, career, fame, position — these are indicators of superiority. Yet you are unaware: you do not appear superior because you are superior; you appear superior because others accept you as such. Society accepts your career, so you have a career. Society accepts your possessions, so you are considered wealthy. If tomorrow society stops caring about these things, you will have nothing left.
So there is an “others” factor at play. Your superiority, in fact, consists only of what others grant you.
But nothingness is not like this. Nothingness requires no one’s approval. Nothingness is a superiority in the sight of the Creator — and between it and the superiority you think you possess, there is not a chasm, but a difference of universes.
Because you are too weak to grasp this, you play the role of superiority. To mask the deficiency in yourself, the void within you, the collapse in your soul…
This is the crux of the matter: in every moment a person tries to prove they are superior, they are actually displaying their deepest weakness.