Self Acceptance

A major theme that runs through all of the NewEarth stories is the value of self knowledge and self acceptance but also the hazards of making a mistake in setting our limits and boundaries in the wrong place. Self knowledge is not absolute, what we think about ourselves is not constant and it is not always true.

Being able to accept our own contradictions is part of it all. I can be very brave about one thing and terrified and frozen about another. My sense of ethics can be huge over this one issue and be completely lax over a different one. Feelings have little to do with rational thought on certain occasions and we still need to manage them even when they make no sense.

Dragons are not that different from humans. They share many of our best qualities and most of our worst. They speak differently about self knowledge and acceptance, but they struggle with them the same as humans do. A tragic event shakes their self perception, fear can overcome logic, ethics and beliefs long held come into question at odd times and sometimes for no visible reason.

As it turns out, knowing who you are, what you want and what your purpose and contributions should be as far as the larger society are defining ideas for everyone, not just dragons.