Conceit
Pride. Pompousness. Self-importance. Arrogance. Machismo. Smugness. Asshattery. Call it what you will. I have no fucking time for it. None. If it were legal to punch smug people in the throat, I’d be known as the Larynx Crusher. Few things push my buttons equally well. Though willful ignorance is close. The moment you choose to stop learning should be the moment they put pennies on your eyelids. Never before. But I digress.
We were talking about conceit, and the only thing worse than one arrogant jackass is a host of them. Understanding your place, as an individual, and our place, as a species, in the universe is a defining element for your identity and consequently your belief structure and peace of mind. Such true perspective comes from appreciation of scope.
We are small. So very small. That does not mean insignificant, that our stardust selves don’t matter, only that petty notions, like conceit and greed and power, need to be kept in perspective. There is so much more than our tiny flecks of existence. How could anyone believe that they are the pinnacle of anything?
Give this ancient, boundless universe the respect it deserves. Then open your minds, and maybe, just maybe, the universe will give something back.