If I believe I am better than others, I buy into the whole idea of better and worse, and will also see myself as worse than others – in some situations, in some areas of life.
And that’s how it is with any polarity – smart & stupid, clear & confused, noble & depraved, authentic & inauthentic, skilled & unskilled, kind & cruel and so on. If I buy into these and take them as inherently real and true, I will see myself as sometimes one and other times the other in comparison with others. I am caught up in the dynamics of taking these polarities as true, and inevitably place myself within it.
These polarities are of course valid in a very limited and conventional sense. And when I take a closer look at each of them, in a very specific situation, I may find something quite different. I see the discomfort in being caught up in them. I see the liberation when I am not, and that wisdom and kindness has more room to live. I find how the reverse is equally or more true for me, in the same situation where I had the initial belief. I may also find the gift in finding in myself either of the poles of the polarity.