I said that person's got a problem with her ego. He preferred to put it down to immaturity.
I say a bloated ego, never mind if it's just quietly imposed on other people (and not spoke out loud), comes with immaturity.
My buddy and I know that well. We each had bloated egos before; there was no one better than us, although we never said this aloud. We simply refused to mingle, believing we deserve better company and further believing we alone have the perfect solution to anything we might encounter. We were that good, or so we believed.
We didn't have much patience in teaching our craft and arts to anyone. We were good, really good, and sorry you were not as gifted.
A decade and a half later, we have settled down and learned how to socialize (not much, but at least we no longer turn around and go harumph, convinced of our higher status among homo sapiens). And thus we laugh about those egos anytime we share wine and cheese, and think up of ways to make up and teach everything that we have acquired and stocked up on during our most selfish days.
These days too, we just smile and sit quietly whenever a young ego barges in and pushes his way around.
We were told about that, we just didn't listen. We were pushed to come to terms with ourselves, but we were too busy getting better. And then maturity... so this is what's coming to terms with oneself is. It's stepping over the ego that has been our facade for so long and presents us, me Stella, you Kublai. There's nothing more to us than our names and our calling.
It's sad though if you're pushing two scores and still are buddy-buddy with your ego. Such a lot of wasted talent, wasted goodness, wasted life, which could have won you lots of experience, memories, and yes, friends.
That doesn't mean though that we don't stalk out in our ivory towers, whenever the mood hits us. We're humans, perfection is given, but we never recognized it because of all the baggage we have been stocking up since we gave out that first wail in this world.
The wise among the Toltecs, Don Miguel Ruiz of the international bestseller "The Four Agreements" said, were in recognition of this perfection.
"You call yourself a human, and that is what makes you human. Your faith is invested in your story -- mostly ion the main character of your story -- and that is the main problem!" he wrote in the chapter "Common Sense and Blind Faith".
"The most powerful part of you, your faith, is invested in the liar who lives in your head," he added.
And then comes the memory of yet another book that I have to track down my memory file as yet... it has something to do with how we humans developed and thus became what we are today, full of ourselves.
That writer attributes it to the day man learned to walk upright, and thus changing what has been the original design. When man as apes walked the earth, they bound around in their four legs, occasionally standing up, but most of the time on fours. And because that's how they were designed, then their sex organs were placed somewhere behind, just beneath their crotch.
But they learned to walk, and lo and behold, the crotch that has that thingy attached to it for men and that hole down there in women are out there in front. Shame and then a desire to mask that quirky design with a feeling of imperfection and a constant drive to be perfect and be the best... when we shouldn't have even noticed.
I guess if your thingy is out front, you would try to divert attention somewhere else, your ego included.
And yes I'm prattling, that's what happens if you start pondering on why human thingies are up front.
