Self-esteem is the cause of our shame

We all place ourselves at various levels, and we are constantly falling
from these heights It is the falls we are ashamed of. Self-esteem is the
cause of our shame, of our fall. It is this self-esteem that must be
understood, and not the fall. If there is no pedestal on which you have
put yourself, how can there be any fall? Why have you put yourself on a
pedestal called self-esteem, human dignity, the ideal, and so on? If you
can understand this, then there will be no shame of the past; it will
have completely gone. You will be what you are without the pedestal. If
the pedestal is not there, the height that makes you look down or look
up, then you are what you have always avoided. It is this avoidance of
what is, of what you are, that brings about confusion and antagonism,
shame and resentment. You do not have to tell me or another what you
are, but be aware of what you are, whatever it is, pleasant or
unpleasant: live with it without justifying or resisting it. Live with
it without naming it; for the very term is a condemnation or an
identification. Live with it without fear, for fear prevents communion,
and without communion you cannot live with it. To be in communion is to
love. Without love, you cannot wipe out the past; with love, there is no
past. Love, and time is not.