Self-Acceptance

Acceptance is affirmation. Every human thought or notion is fundamentally based upon and finally directed toward acceptance. So is self-acceptance. It is a premise to inner growth.

That which is not accepted cannot be endured, helped and developed. Lack of acceptance creates indifference or negative rebellion against the nonacceptable. It prevents initiative and the desire to take care of that which has to grow and develop, and even more for that which is sick and needs consideration and greater care.

Since my greatest interest is self-acceptance and, therefore, anything that hinders or promotes it, I now wish to state that any repudiation, denial or rejection of oneself is innately connected with acceptance. It is the negative of acceptance.

There are three levels of acceptance. All three are connected; a definite separation is impossible: 1) acceptance of oneself as a part of the universe, 2) acceptance of oneself as a member of human organization, 3) acceptance of oneself within oneself.

What is there to accept? 1) reality or actuality, 2) totality.

We are eager and able to comprehend reality, we are in need to sense totality and to be a part of it.

Self-acceptance presupposes the existence of a subject and an object. The self is a subject and an object. It has at this point to contend with a very serious problem of oneness and duality. This problem has been puzzling philosophers, theologians and psychologists:

I am that which I am. I am one who knows that I am.

Dr. Horney1 has shown that man's attitude toward himself decides about his mental health or sickness. She says that alienation from self is the crux of the matter. The neurotic development begins with self-idealization. The individual shifts his center of gravity from himself to the fictitious ideal of himself. This shift, however, presupposes: 1) evaluation, and 2) freedom of choice.

The evaluation is undertaken for the sake of acceptance or rejection. Once the individual has put himself in th