If you've been around a while, or even have followed the news, you'll have noticed people of high accomplishment doing something amazingly lowbrow. I won't bother to cite any examples, because there are far too many of them. But this is one way a descent into foolishness can happen. The (il)logical progression goes (mis)step by (mis)step:
1. A person excels in some way. Can be in an academic field, can be in business—whatever.
2. They sensibly think, "I did something excellent."
3. That fairly reasonably grows into, "I'm excellent in that area."
4. We all like to think well of ourselves. We all need self-approval. So it doesn't usually take too long before they senselessly think, "I'm excellent."
5. And so doing one thing well once then morphs into "I do all things well at all times."
6. They then set themselves up as experts in all fields.
7. Their actual ignorance then leads them into error.
It isn't hard to do. The only way to avoid it that I know of is with time and self-reflection. It's no secret that I, for example, have had some bad experiences. Self-reflection keeps me from attributing them all to others' mistakes and mis-perceptions. Sometimes I screw up. Sometimes I get stupid.
And I'm no exception in doing so. To err is human, you know.
Self-awareness is far more of a virtue than self-approval. Even if you probably have to be around a while to develop it.
