(written in 1990)
“Inferiority complex” is often talked about in our bustling daily lives. Especially in this competitive society, many middle and high school students commit suicide owing to a sense of inferiority deepened, even unconsciously, in their hearts. We get intimidated when we don’t know how to cope with reality as it is. It lingers with us when we compare ourselves to others for not being able to accept us as we are. It is actually not easy to overcome such a delicate and complicated underlying consciousness of being inferior even though it seems that we know ourselves and accept our realities as they are. How sensitive and fragile we are!
It was Alfred Adler who coined the term “inferiority complex.” He said that a human being’s behavior is his/her reaction to his/her inferiority; she/he responds in a particular way because she/he lacks something and tries to compensate for something else. One classic example of a human reaction mainly caused by a sense of inferiority is that of Richard III, one of the historical plays by William Shakespeare. It is very clear that the main motivation for Richard Duke of Gloucester’s continuous political murders is the “inferiority complex.” He laments that even dogs bark at his lame and misshaped hunched back. He feels so deeply resentful of the ugly appearance that he finally claims himself a villain:
“Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no
delight to pass away the time,
Unless
to see my shadow in the sun
And
descant on mine own deformity
And
therefore, since I cannot prove a lover
To
entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am
determined to prove a villain
And
hate the idle pleasures of these days.”
(From
Richard III, I,i,11.24-31)
Richard is very sorry because he can’t enjoy what others enjoy in the “piping time of peace” and these well-spoken days.” Although his deformity is always in his consciousness, he abhors its appearance more with each sight. He is, in fact, jealous of others with normal figures. Cursing his unproportioned appearance and others' happiness, Richard instead chooses to do harm to others to prove his “naked villainy.” He, fancying himself a villain, becomes a blood-stained tyrant to usurp the power and the honor to be a king. Thus in “Richard III,” it is very obvious that the underlying cause of Richard’s dictatorship and tyranny is provoked by his own inferiority complex: he compensates for his weakness with something much more powerful.
It would be an interesting question “What kind of inferiority complex or limitation did Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Napoleon, and Marcos have??” How about Kim Il-sung? How about our former presidents Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan? Brain-washed and narrow-minded politicians and other ugly people sharing their spirits? I think there is something hidden behind their thirst for power and the superficial glory of dominance.
We are, indeed, so fragile that we often let inferior feelings easily hurt us. It is not easy to escape from these emotions. Nevertheless, we can control and overcome them to make them more constructive, positive, and optimistic. Before I came to the University of the Philippines (U.P.) on June 10, 1988, almost every friend and professor asked me “Why not America but the Philippines?” Discouraged by their comments, I often couldn’t respond but just be humble and withdrawn. One of the government officials even asked me “Why not Manila but Diliman? Where is Diliman?” She didn’t even know that U.P. has five campuses, the main campus of which is in Diliman, Quezon City.
Especially during the so-called “sixth coup d’etat” in the Philippines, I even thoughts of going to some other country even though I know I couldn’t make it. Why am I studying in the Philippines when many people consider the Philippines a weak and poor country?
The reality, which I have to face, seems cold to me, but I believe that it is my microcosm to which I must begin and be independent. Whenever a sense of inferiority grips me, I talk to myself: “If you don’t accept reality as it is, you will float here and there without any specific identity or goal. Don’t be discouraged. Just do your best in your place. Think more positively and optimistically. Try to experience, share, and learn something unique in the Philippines and be prepared.” Accepting myself and my life as they are, I can be happy with my own microcosm and be more positive and optimistic in spite of all the popular opinions and difficulties I face here in U.P. How nice it is to do my best to create a better world instead of complaining about the present situation? It’s one step toward leading a better life, especially inwardly and spiritually, that I know and accept my limitations in a positive, independent, and constructive way. A simple and bright future is built upon self-acceptance which is not believed to be pessimistic or negative but to be one step closer to perceiving reality as well as life itself. Self-acceptance is a basic and sure way to go forward.
Let me share with you one passage posted on the wall in my microcosmic room:
“Direct your eye right inward, and you’ll find
A
thousand regions in your mind
Yet
undiscovered. Travel them, and be
Expert
in home-cosmography.”
(Henry
David Thoreau, "Walden," Chapter 18)
The
Korea Times/ Thoughts of the Times/ Jan 20, 1990
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