Learn from the Tao

Tao Te Ching XIII:

Pride and shame cause us much fearful anxiety.

But our inner peace and distress should be our primary concerns.

Why do pride and shame cause us so much fearful anxiety?

Because:

Pride attaches undue importance to the superiority of one's status in the eyes of others;

And shame is fear of humiliation at one's inferior status in the estimation of others.

When one sets his heart on being highly esteemed, and achieves such rating, then he is automatically involved in fear of losing his status.

Then protection of his status appears to be his most important need. And humiliation seems the worst of all evils.

That is the reason why pride and shame cause us so much fearful anxiety.

[The Tao Te Ching gives me solace when I feel "fearful anxiety".]