Your Erroneous Zones

This is the title of a book by Wayne Dyer, one of the self-improvement books which are gaining popularity, but a well-written one. I particularly liked the author's take on manners and etiquette which is meaningless. He says, your worth as a human being does not get lost just because you don't follow some silly rules of etiquette and behave any way you want to, so long as you are humane and considerate and sincere.

Also, he points out the major problems of indoctrination by parents, and society on kids, and teenagers. One of these is an overemphasis on "intelligence". He says it is good if you are intelligent, but it's more important to be happy, even if you are not intelligent. Overemphasis on grades or marks kills your creativity and spontaneity. Society decides who is good or bad according to such criteria, and stifles a lot of people.

He encourages you to be your own judge, and as long as you are not harming anyone, choose your own path. In some ways, this resonates with what Jiddu Krishnamurthy keeps saying, that you shouldn't believe what anyone says, unless you have experienced something yourself. Does not apply to obvious things like walking into a fire, of course, but more meaningful stuff in life.