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                %RECOGNIZING SYMPTOMS OF INSECURITY 880301

     People  who  are insecure engage in a wide  range  of
behaviors  which undermine the integrity of  the community
and its members.   It is important to be able to recognize
such behaviors as symptoms of insecurity,  and to move  to
treat  insecurity  appropriately so  as  to  promote  true
security  and to avoid the disintegration of the community
and its members.

     Security  is a gift which we give to each  other  and
accept from each other as a gift.   When we have not  been
given  enough  true  security  to meet our  needs  we  are
insecure and tend to behave in disintegrative ways.   When
we  have  not been given enough security,  we  hunger  for
security  and  seek to achieve security through  defensive
efforts of our own.

     One of the symptoms of insecurity is low self esteem.
Another   symptom  of  insecurity  is   being   defensive.
Defensive  people  tend  to be  manipulative,   trying  to
control other  people, and trying to control  appearances.
The  effort  to  control appearances leads to  efforts  to
control  the truth,  and so to deceptive if  not  outright
dishonest behavior.  Insecure people often give themselves
away  as  being  insecure by their secretive,   deceptive,
pretentious and dishonest behaviors.

     Insecure  people are often fanatically  dedicated  to
their  values,  ideals and goals.   They will  make  great
personal  sacrifices  to support  their  fanatically  held
beliefs  and  convictions,  and then expect others  to  be
equally fanatically dedicated to their cause.   They  seek
all kinds of extreme means to advance their cause, and are
unable to  recognize the disintegration of communities and
persons  as signs  that  there is something  fundamentally
wrong with their belief system; with their ideals, values,
goals  and  conceptions of human relationships  and  human
nature.

     Insecure  people  are often confused  people.    They
confuse  means  and  ends;  and believe  that  good  means
justify  disintegrative  ideals,   and  that  good  ideals
justify disintegrative means.   Insecure people often seek
to achieve security through some form of perfection:   the
perfect  morality,   the  perfect teachings,  the  perfect
scriptures,   the  perfect community,   the perfect means,
perfect behavior,  etc.  Since they are insecure they seek
the  perfect  defense  which they believe will cure  their
insecurity.

     True  security,   however,   is  the  gift  of  Love.
Security is never achieved; it is received as a gift.

                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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