Unless one is unconcerned by other people’s judgements, has no fear of being disliked by other people, and pays the cost that one might never be recognised, one will never be able to follow through in one’s own way of living. That is to say, one will not be able to be free.

The fact that there are people who do not think well of you is proof that you are living in freedom.

When one does that, for the time being one will have succeeded in not being disliked by anyone. But at this point, there is a great contradiction looming. One swears loyalty to all ten people out of the single-minded desire to not be disliked. This is like a politician who has fallen into populism and begun to make impossible promises and accept

There is no freedom in a feeling of contribution that is gained through the desire for recognition. We are beings who choose freedom while aspiring to happiness.

Do people who have established their social status truly feel happy?

When one person praises another, the goal is ‘to manipulate someone who has less ability than you’. It is not done out of gratitude or respect. YOUTH: So, you’re saying that one praises in order to manipulate? PHILOSOPHER: That’s right. Whether we praise or rebuke others, the only difference is one of the carrot or the stick, and the background

‘People are not driven by past causes, but move toward goals that they themselves set’—that

Adlerian psychology refutes all manner of vertical relationships, and proposes that all interpersonal relationships be horizontal relationships.

When one is not following through with one’s tasks, it is not because one is without ability. Adlerian psychology tells us that the issue here is not one of ability, but simply that ‘one has lost the courage to face one’s tasks’. And, if that is the case, the thing to do before anything else is to recover that lost courage.