Wise men of the world have known that stupidity views itself as exceptionally wise. WISDOM is known as Self-awareness. What helps one arrive at self-evaluation is the desire for self-awareness. There is not one exclusive method to arrive at that desirable goal. Accomplishment, intelligence, manners, character, values, social status, others' opinions, professional ability, resourcefulness, etc. are the means resorted to to evaluate oneself. How often one had to revise his opinion in the past reveals his judgement. One acid test of personality is to disbelieve a rumour.
Rumour spreads by word of mouth and each mouth expands it exponentially. In an institution whose sixty years budget total was Rs.50 crores, highly educated professors were outraged that Rs.500 crores were swindled. Their number is legion. One can say 'I am an innocent good person. Several people speak several wild stories. What am I to believe? It is not my fault that I believed the false news' and he may be able to justify or self-justify his belief.
The Spiritual truth here is 'you are what you believe'. If there is truth inside the outer falsehood, it will jar and no belief will take shape inside. At least he will suspend his judgement. He who readily becomes a victim to a malicious rumour is an unformed personality. He may be good; but life cannot reward him for his goodness if he is vulnerable to the charm of falsehood.
The great majority of the 'informed public' are anxious to readily accept the rumour because it gives a certain relish to their psychological existence. Therefore, one way of our knowing our worth is how often we have believed rumours and how readily they were acceptable to us. In one who lives by the Spirit or in the habit of invoking the Spirit, something in him readily rejects the onrush of rumour. Its very atmosphere is unsavoury to him. One can evaluate one's self worth by this yardstick.