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"If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be."

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

One should continously seek sublimation. Staying the same won't get you anywhere. And the encouragement for being oneself or "who we are" isn't always helpful, sometimes it is growth-hindering since the self leans toward comfort and it might be full of defects and errors that need to be abolished.

It's better to love someone for who they could be, rather than who they are

- Jordan Peterson

Bot:

Bot:
سِر يا شقيُّ كفاكَ تشكو ما دهاك
ألعلَّ لا شاكٍ من البَلوى سواك
كم ذا تفتِّشُ عن مُواسٍ أو مُعين
هيهاتَ إِنَّ الناس مثلُك أجمعين

_نسيب عريضة

خَلعتُ ثوبَ اصطِبارٍ كانَ يَستُرنُي
وبانَ كِذبُ ادِعائي أنَّني جَلِد

بكَيتُ حتَّى بكا من ليسَ يعرِفُني
ونُحتُ حتَّى حكاني طائرٌ غَرِد

- الجواهري

Bollenhut (ball-hat) worn by unmarried women in black forest (Schwartzwald), Germany.

A traditional black forest farmhouse (Schwartzwald Bauernhaus)

أَفَرَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلَٰهَهُ هَوَاهُ

[سورة الجاثية]