The greater a person’s sense of victimization, the more time and greater effort are required to find sound wisdom and methods, and it often takes them twice as long as others to acquire such understanding. Nevertheless, those with a strong victim mentality often stubbornly cling to their own rigid ways, refusing to learn even when others try to teach them. This stems from habits born of an inferiority complex. They fear or dislike the thought that others might discover what they do not know, lest they be looked down upon or scolded. Yet in truth, the wisdom we gain indirectly by observing and listening to the experiences of others is far greater than the limited wisdom acquired through our own direct experiences. However, those with deep victim complexes, because of their inferiority, are slower than ordinary people to acquire or make use of such indirect learning, and thus they remain locked within their own narrow thoughts and emotions, clinging only to their own highly biased, extremely limited, and selfish form of “absolute wisdom,” reasoning, and judgment. Because they are confined to their closed-off thoughts, they fail to acquire broad knowledge, experience, and information through communication with others, and so they cannot gain or apply wider perspectives and deeper wisdom.
In the fellowship of mutual respect and consideration between people, one ought to learn and cultivate a beautiful heart that cares for, cherishes, and serves others, gaining understanding and forbearance through such communication, gentleness, and openness. But those who are locked in their own rigid and closed way of thinking, clinging only to their own absolute assertions, deprive themselves of such opportunities. This has become the habit of those today whose inferiority complex stems from a sense of victimization. Because of their inferiority, they tend to harbor hostility toward others, and so they cannot open their hearts to share burdens, pains, and comfort through genuine communication. Instead, they remain in a state of constant tension, always anxious to conceal their hidden evil thoughts, always hostile depending on interests, and unable to share their hearts with others. As a result, there is no deep conversation of the heart, only endless, empty, and needless words. Their hardships and pains become deep wounds that they can never forget, but conversely, they do not remember the harsh ways they themselves treated family or others. This is because they ignore the wounds they inflicted on others and see only themselves as the victim—an act of selfishness.
In their own affairs, they often exaggerate justifications beyond measure, devise grandiose and unrealistic plans, display excessive greed and obsession, cling to outward appearances, or place too much trust in unclear reasoning and judgments. In other words, by placing undue weight on the superficial shell of justification, they neglect or overlook the very core facts of what must be done, and thus cannot truly focus on their real responsibilities. By placing importance only on what is outwardly visible, they fail to perceive inner value. Trapped within the wounds they have created for themselves, full of envy, hatred, resentment, and anger, they approach matters not with careful thought but with emotions directed toward others. Because they put emotion before reason in their work, disputes and quarrels never cease. With emotions and hostility leading the way, their lives are filled with anxiety, restlessness, and rigidity—sometimes to the point where even breathing feels difficult, leaving them suffocated by their own mindset. Having lived under the compulsion of loneliness and an inability to open their hearts, their overwhelming attachment to their own absolute thoughts prevents them from easily changing their judgments or perspectives. Thus, through the long habit of judging, thinking, and deciding alone, they come to rely excessively and absolutely on their own thoughts and judgments, bound by an unhealthy self-attachment.
The very nature of man born of victimization is to treat others as enemies and deal with them harshly, while at the same time harboring another form of attachment—the desire to trust and rely on someone. Therefore, toward those they choose to trust, they may act excessively friendly, even to the point of seeming willing to give up their very lives. Yet such kindness arises from fleshly lust born of bodily desire and is but a calculated attachment shaped by self-interest. Thus, in the end, when circumstances turn, they betray for their own benefit as easily as turning over a hand, becoming cunning, treacherous, and fickle, changing as often as they breathe. Fleshly attachments between people are always calculated, and so disappointment and betrayal are inevitably as great as the expectations one had. No human being can ever fully satisfy the endless desires and demands that arise from fleshly wants. Therefore, driven by their sense of victimization and their desires, people inevitably contend and conflict with one another for their own profit and gain.