The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem.

• Author: Sniechowski, James

"OF ALL THE JUDGEMENTS WE pass in life, none is as important as the one we pass on ourselves." With that introductory declaration, Nathaniel Branden sets the direction for the book in which he crystallizes his life's mission--the exploration and articulation of the deep structure and value of self-esteem. It is an important mission for our time.

The notion of self-esteem has been deservedly ridiculed for being soft-headed, delusional, and destructive. Consider, for example, a Time magazine report on standardized math tests given to 13-year-olds in six countries. The Koreans scored highest and the American scores were the worst. Nevertheless, when asked if they felt they were good at math, the Americans were number one.

Similarly, most new-age gurus advocate strategies of "affirmation" to teach their followers how to manifest success, abundance, and self-esteem. All one need do, say the gurus, is systematically repeat such statements as "I am valuable just as I am" or "I love myself" or "I deserve all that I want." These teachers assure their disciples that, with practice, reality will align itself with the devotee's desire and a powerful, effective self will appear.

Such views are the product of what Branden calls "feel good" self-esteem. They are based in a sense of entitlement and a belief in effortless gratification. "A disservice is done to people," he contends, "if they are offered 'feel good' notions of self-esteem that [are] divorced from questions of consciousness, responsibility, and moral choice." Those who embrace such notions deny the very real demands and exigencies of life. They abdicate decision and recoil at the appearance of challenge. Ultimately, they are in danger of becoming infantilized, naive, and incapable of self-motivation and achievement.

Standing against such notions, Branden offers a reality-oriented approach to self-esteem. He advocates conscious living in which one "generates principles from concrete facts and applies principles to concrete facts...in the pursuit of meaning and understanding." Self-esteem, in this context, is not an exercise in solip-sism, or in its less virulent relative, nar-cissism. Rather, it is grounded in the relation one has to one's self as that self stands in relation to the world. The dynamic is necessarily reciprocal and interdependent. Only in that way can there be meaning in the terms objective and subjective.

FOR BRANDEN, SELF-ESTEEM lS COMPOSED of two parallel elements, one objective and one subjective. The first is self-efficacy--"confidence in the functioning of my mind, in my ability to think, understand, learn, choose, and make decisions ...my ability to...