People are accustomed to communicating with each other in everyday life, exchanging various information about their hobbies, interests, and everyday issues. They also have to find contact, being in a relationship at work, in business, in the neighborhood, in housing and communal services, in medical, transport, educational services, and so on. And in all this interaction, conflicts often occur. They occur due to the lack of common ground between people with different characters, different temperaments, the complex and harsh disposition of one of the opponents conducting a dialogue or argument. What is it like to be a non-conflict, simple person?
The meaning of the word "simple"
Modern terminology includes many interpretations of the concept “simple”, since it is important to understand what object this word is associated with and in what context it is used. If we are talking about a subject, then when applied to it, the concept “simple” means elementary, not complex in nature, ordinary. If we talk about an empirical substance, for example, a simple truth, a simple solution, then it must be interpreted as something devoid of difficulties, accessible to understanding, unpretentious, unpretentious and uncomplicated. In a word, the concept of simplicity implies something that does not require effort, which is characterized by ease, accessibility, freedom of action and application. But if we are talking about a person, what is simple?
Simplicity and austerity
So, what is human simplicity? The essence of simplicity can probably be expressed in two concepts - asceticism and altruism. Jesus spoke about the first concept in his Sermon on the Mount: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves They don’t break into or steal. For where your treasures are, there will your heart be also.”
Regarding altruism, Jesus also mentioned this: “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” Again, common sense must be exercised in both principles. “Do not collect treasures on earth” does not mean living in a cave, eating roots and leaves, these are extremes, and as the Buddha bequeathed, extremes should be avoided. He already knew what he was saying; with severe austerities he almost brought himself to death, if not for the noble girl Sujata, who fed the ascetic dying of hunger.
And the call to give to everyone who asks should not be taken literally either. Sometimes you need to give to someone who is not asking, and pass by the one who is asking. Because the best alms are knowledge. You can do your child’s homework by solving all the problems. He'll get an A, and everyone will seem happy. But the problem will not be solved, the child did not understand the principle of solving problems, and will not understand, and he will have to constantly do homework for him, and this is more evil than good, because it deprives a person of the opportunity to develop.
Therefore, the words of Jesus should be interpreted rationally - everyone should be given exactly what they need at every moment of time. For some - knowledge, for others - food, for others - a roof over their heads. But it is important to understand that feeding the hungry without explaining to him the reasons why he became needy is a dubious good.
What is the definition of a common man?
A person is determined by a huge number of qualities, characteristics, characteristics of the psychotype, and type of temperament. It can be assessed from various positions and aspects in terms of emotional and psychological state. But what is the meaning of the common man? What does this concept mean when applied to a rational being?
A simple person is a representative of humanity, an isolated unit of society, who goes through life with an easy and relaxed attitude to the course of events developing around him, and builds his life in simplicity and spontaneity, without using complex techniques in communication. A simple person is characterized by his abstract attitude to the world; he is straightforward and simple-minded. Carrying out communication activities with the world around him, he does not set as a goal the establishment of contact between himself and the intended interlocutor, he does not set the goals of influence in communication, does not use complex conversation settings in a manner beneficial to himself, and does not select wording and intonation. Such a person simply says what is in his thoughts and soul directly, without unnecessary tricks or analogies.
The lexical meaning of the words “simple” and “man”, when understood as a collective phrase, also presupposes the simplicity of a representative of humanity not only in communications, but also in actions, deeds and life in general. When communicating with people, such an individual starts from the principle “because” and not “in order to”, as do human communicators and human manipulators. His entire worldview is built on simple truths and simple actions, without any attempt to influence anyone or anything in this way.
Signs and properties of a Common Man
Simplicity is determined not only by a person’s appearance, but also by his words and actions. The words are always pleasant, good, the face is simple and open and glows, as if with inner peace and kindness. Simplicity is the quality of a Strong personality. Simplicity does not suffer from worry and anxiety about what is happening around it. When a Simple Man speaks, one wants to listen to him and people feel this power of Simplicity, they understand that in front of them is a worthy person.
A patient person becomes simple, because simplicity is not afraid of uncomfortable external conditions or events. Self-interest and other manifestations of material things do not give him pleasure. Simplicity is an understanding of your worth when you are actively listened to and your correct thoughts reach the minds of people. A common man has so much happiness inside because he knows that no matter what difficulties life throws at him, he will overcome everything.
Keeping it simple: pros
Is being a simple person good or bad? In order to understand this, you need to find out all the positive and negative aspects of this concept applicable to the individual.
A simple person is good because he:
- easy to communicate - his unpretentious, undemanding, moderate and unpretentious attitude towards everything around him endears his interlocutor to him;
- never argues - he has no goal of proving anything to anyone, especially if the question does not concern his department or competence, since he does not see the need for this due to the simplicity of his character;
- conflict-free - this trait of his character stems from the absence of the need to argue with people;
- modest - this type of personality never puts itself on display and does not strive to please everyone;
- frank and sincere - incapable of deception, weaving intrigues and perjury.
Simplicity in Ignorance
There are definitions - Simplicity in ignorance or Simplicity is worse than theft. To understand correctly, this is when a person is simply a Simpleton, a very gullible person, this is called Gullibility. Often, gullibility is a positive character trait of a Soft person, and the inner core is not strong enough. He doesn’t understand the situation at all, he says something out of place to everyone, he is completely simple-minded, a little dull in appearance and actions. Simplicity in ignorance means that a person is simply narrow-minded, and he, not understanding the situation, says what he thinks due to his little experience of Life. In ordinary life, for such people, we most often use the concept of Naive.
Being simple: cons
However, for all its positivity, the definition of a common person is a rather ambiguous concept. In addition to the advantages, it also has a number of not very attractive qualities, namely:
- vulnerability - the innocence and kindness inherent in the characteristic spontaneity of a simple person entail his gullibility and falling “on the hook” of crooks, insidious and treacherous liars;
- partial crudeness and undiplomaticity - a simple person will not be sophisticated in building a constructive dialogue and selecting the right words to express his thoughts;
- lack of ambition - a person with a simple character does not strive to be better, to come to the forefront of honor, to achieve the heights of Olympus;
- gullibility is a dual quality, which is often expressed in the fact that an ordinary person is often left in the “fool” of being deceived.
Keep it simple and people will follow
You can often hear such words addressed to some arrogant person who thinks too much of himself. And it’s hard to disagree with this. Pride has mowed down many on the path of spiritual development. This is such a vile and insidious enemy, he creeps up quietly and unnoticed, his poisoned dagger strikes without pain, but the poison with which the blade is smeared slowly but surely poisons us, creating an illusion that deprives us of an objective view of reality.
Whoever God wants to destroy, he deprives of reason. Of course, this should be understood as a metaphor - God never wants to destroy anyone, he only sends us trials. In the history of many rulers one can often find such treachery - when close subjects wanted to destroy the ruler, they began to flatter him.
Methodically instilling in a person that he is great, unique and generally shines brighter than the sun and moon combined. And most often the ruler was overtaken by pride, which made him a cruel, cynical and unjust ruler.
And on the contrary, the rulers who were “closer to the people” understood their aspirations and problems and were always the people’s favorites. What is simplicity? Why is this quality so important? How to avoid extremes?
One can recall such a wonderful military leader as Alexander Suvorov. Despite his talent, fame and fame, he was always content with the same conditions as his soldiers - he slept in the open air on campaigns, ate the same food with them and easily communicated with them as equals. And in many ways, this is what contributed to his unquestioned authority and the unconditional trust that his soldiers bestowed.
And largely thanks to this, his campaigns were always successful - the soldiers trusted a man who could easily sit down with them at the same fire, eat porridge from the same pot and talk with them about the topics that concern them.
Simplicity means, first of all, not elevating yourself and not putting others down. Yes, not all people are perfect, not everyone is destined to be “conscious” and “enlightened,” but judging someone for not being enlightened enough is the same as judging a first-grader for not knowing chemistry or physics and trigonometry.
And we were all once at the beginning of the journey. It is important to remember this even when we become a Buddha, and in Buddhism they say that everyone has this opportunity, and even moreover, it is inevitable for all of us.
One interesting Buddhist text, The Lotus Flower Sutra of the Wonderful Dharma, tells of a bodhisattva who, whenever he met anyone, invariably repeated: “I cannot treat you with contempt, because you will all become Buddhas.” For this he was nicknamed Bodhisattva Never Despising. Isn't this a wonderful example of how we treat the people around us?
It doesn’t matter what religion we profess and what we believe in, it is important to understand that we are all, one way or another, moving towards perfection, and each of us will sooner or later find ourselves at the top of the Mountain. And to look down on those who are still at the beginning of their journey is, to say the least, unreasonable.
So, a simple person is one who does not put himself above others, no matter what success he has achieved on his path, what level of skill has been revealed to him in this or that matter - he still treats all people with respect.
Simplicity as a personality quality
And yet, what can be said about simplicity as a quality of personality? The theme of the common man touches on a list of his personal qualities in terms of how society perceives him:
- patience - he never goes against fate, but only patiently waits for happiness to visit him, and accepts his fate and his life as a given, considering this the highest measure of happiness;
- benevolence - the simpler a person is, the kinder he is, the less his thoughts are tainted by the harmful influence of the current callous society;
- purity of conscience - such a person is devoid of selfishness, duplicity, envy, pride and arrogance;
- a share of ignorance - excessive ease and ease in communication predetermines an overly simple person as an insufficiently intellectually developed, stupid representative of society.
The Path to Simplicity
Man's path to simplicity is difficult and thorny. First you need to cultivate Humility in yourself and give up Pride. Then you need to give up Violence, cultivate Patience and eliminate Prejudice towards others. Lack of simplicity creates problems in the family and at work. On the other hand, the owner of Simplicity is satisfied with life, there is not a drop of dissatisfaction in him. He is satisfied and happy.
The art of being happy lies in the ability to find happiness in simple things
Is simple a compliment or vice versa?
It is impossible to unequivocally answer the question of whether it is pleasant to be called a simple person or not so much. After all, on the one hand, this is how they position a person who is conflict-free, pleasant to communicate with, and incapable of causing harm, with whom it is comfortable to be in the same environment. But, on the other hand, the label of a simpleton does not allow one to achieve those heights in life that are open to ambitious, sometimes arrogant and arrogant individuals who go forward towards their goals by manipulating the consciousness of others, which a simple person is completely incapable of.
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The duality of the concept of “simple” in society
Is being a simple person good or bad? This question is repeated again and considered from different perspectives. But assessing the objectivity of the above pros and cons of a good-natured simpleton, we can conclude that it is better to be a modest person with a clear conscience than a successful careerist with a reputation as a notorious scoundrel.
What is self-sufficiency
Self-sufficiency in a broad sense means being able to get by on your own, organizing life without help, without interaction with other people. The definition implies that a person feels comfortable alone, is able to make decisions himself and take responsibility for them, and does not depend on the opinions of others.
There is no such thing as absolute self-sufficiency. One way or another, a person lives in society and is constantly in contact with other people: he uses the services of cellular operators, gets vaccinated at a clinic, rides a bus, and more.
Self-sufficiency is often equated with self-sufficiency and independence. Sometimes to narcissism, arrogance, selfishness. And sometimes to recluse and isolation. These are extremes or traits of manifestation.
Our site is about the optimal healthy expression of any quality, so we will figure out how to find the golden mean. And how to get the maximum benefit from self-sufficiency for yourself and others.
What kind of person is he - a person with the character of a simpleton?
Being a simple person is not so easy. Is it possible not to react to the anger of the world around us? Is it easy to be helpful, carefree, patient in today's brutalized society? Isn't it difficult to be humble during global cataclysms and crises? It may be hard to believe, but a simple person is incredibly strong. He is strong in spirit because he lets through his thoughts the negativity of the current arrogant public. He is strong in self-control because he does not provoke modern ambitions. He is strong in his kindness, because in a world of cruelty and topicality he shines as a bright ray of warmth, honesty, openness and sincerity.
Shyness
Sometimes God gives a person increased shyness as a brake, so that something bad does not happen to him. After all, who knows, if a person did not have this shyness, how far he could move away from the right path. You need to be a little more attentive and submit yourself to the will of God in everything. You shouldn’t be tight and torment yourself, because in this human tightness there is a certain amount of selfishness. Look at me, because I behave naturally, without making any effort. Sometimes I act like a grandfather, sometimes like a father, sometimes like an older brother, and sometimes like a child.
How did the idea of everyone's uniqueness come about?
The uniqueness trend emerged in Western Europe and the United States during the “glorious thirtieth anniversary” that began after World War II. The first to feel it were children born during this period of unprecedented economic and demographic growth.
The baby boomer generation has become the chosen one. Their parents said this.
In the post-war years, many restoration programs were in effect in Europe and the United States: people were provided with subsidies for housing, assistance with employment, and new professions appeared. Children born at that time had many more opportunities than their parents, as they were constantly reminded of. As a result, representatives of this generation have developed a completely special perception of themselves and their peers.
In 1966, Time magazine named young people under 25 the person of the year, finally establishing their exceptional status: “Never before have young people been so assertive, so conscious, so educated and open to the world. It’s not just a new generation of people, it’s new people.”
By the way, it was the baby boomers who first introduced the “division” into generations and “assigned” common beliefs and behavior patterns to them. The following generations were more modest in assessing their exclusivity, or rather, their attitude towards it changed: the ability to interact with other people became much more important than remaining a bright loner. Nowadays, as the results of a recent study conducted in Russia show, everything is mixed up. People are equal, but each of them is special. Once again, it is important to be bright and interesting, but this relates more to the inner world than to external manifestations.
Feeling better is a cognitive distortion
Why is it so difficult for us to admit that for the most part we are ordinary people? Because every person tends to consider himself a little better than others. In psychology, this phenomenon is called the “overconfidence effect” or the “Lake Wobegon effect.” This cognitive distortion occurs because we cannot evaluate ourselves objectively.
No one will ever admit that their abilities or capabilities are “average.” This can be partly explained by the fact that such behavior is evolutionarily beneficial: only by believing ourselves, we can convince others of the same.
In general, there are many advantages to being “average”. For example, it is those with ordinary, “average” appearance that seem to us the most beautiful. Psychologists showed subjects images of different people and asked them to rate their attractiveness. The task had a catch: among real photographs, the experiment participants were also offered pictures created by superimposing many images on top of each other. The subjects did not know about this and honestly liked the “collages” they liked.
The most attractive of all were those non-existent “artificial” people with average appearance parameters, and the highest scores were scored by photographs with a lot of superimposed images. For any deviations from this average, grades fell.
It's all about our brain: it is much easier for it to process already familiar simple forms. Every day we see many people and partly remember their appearance, but they all merge into a single mass. And suddenly in the photograph we discover those very familiar and familiar average features. The brain quickly processes the signal and is happy - that’s why the artificial face seems the most attractive to us.
Why is it scary to be like everyone else?
The “kickback” of the cult of exclusivity continues: many people experience serious discomfort and even fear due to the fact that they are simply wandering the beaten path and leading an ordinary life in which nothing supernatural is likely to happen.
In English, there is even a special term for such a feeling, coined by the American editor and compiler of the “Dictionary of Inexplicable Sadness” John Koenig - koinophobia
(from the Greek koinos - “general” and phobia - “fear”; not to be confused with koininophobia - fear of crowded rooms). This word refers to the fear of living an ordinary life and not achieving your own dreams.
There is nothing offensive or reprehensible in the description “ordinary” itself, but it can be pronounced in such a tone that it becomes clear: there is no point in getting involved with this person. You won't get any benefit from it and will only waste your time. But people are primarily social animals, not pragmatic animals. We are shaped by society, and we continue to build it—and our lives within it—every day.
It turns out that society does not need only leaders and bright personalities. An important role in it is played by ordinary people who are sociable, can work together and build horizontal social connections.
Since childhood, we have been told that we are the best and will achieve everything we want. Of course, this motivates and inspires, but only up to a certain point. Alas, life shows that it is not always possible to achieve what we want - and often due to circumstances beyond our control. We can't be successful at everything, and who determines that level of success anyway?
Of course, you need to strive for your dream and set ambitious goals for yourself. But it’s even more important to first make sure that these goals and dreams are your own, and not imposed by advertising, relatives, or some unknown “norms of society.”
Does everyone need to become a great scientist? Or a developer? Or strive with all your might to take the position of chief physician and get bogged down in administrative work, if in fact you are a talented diagnostician?
