Personal qualities, such as purposefulness and moral maturity, play a key role in asserting oneself, enabling a person to rely on internal values rather than imposed societal standards.

Strength of Individuality and Moral Independence

Personal qualities, such as purposefulness and moral maturity, play a key role in asserting oneself, enabling a person to rely on internal values rather than imposed societal standards. Purposefulness helps develop and maintain the strength of one's individuality, which preserves self-respect even when faced with public criticism. This is confirmed by the following statement:

"It takes prolonged personal growth, an outstanding strength of individuality, to maintain self-respect at a time when society, having embraced slander, unleashes reproaches and contempt upon the individual. Few can withstand this conflict with the social environment. A person can break free from the tight grasp of a social milieu, which so dreadfully influences one's self-esteem, only in one way – by embracing the consciousness of an ideal that stands above both the individual and society." (source: link txt)

Moral maturity, in turn, enables a person to free themselves from subconscious impulses and imposed beliefs by focusing on higher values such as truth and goodness, for the sake of goodness itself rather than due to external incentives or fear of nonconformity. Thus, the capacity to love truth and goodness for their own sake forms the foundation for moral responsibility and self-awareness, which are the basis of an individual's inner freedom:

"A determined creature could only strive toward subjective and relative values of self-preservation, pleasure, or utility, which are the targets of our innate needs and desires. To love truth for truth's sake, and to love goodness for goodness' sake, can only be achieved by a free being capable of liberating themselves from the constantly weighing subconscious impulses and societal suggestions. It is on this freedom of self-consciousness, this direct relationship with the realm of values, that moral sanity and moral responsibility of the individual are founded. The individual, in the very sense of the term, is an inherently free being." (source: link txt)

Thus, purposefulness guides a person towards actively developing their individuality, while moral maturity ensures the ability to choose one’s values based solely on an inner ideal. These qualities empower an individual to resist the pressures of societal expectations and assert themselves as an autonomous, free being capable of profound self-awareness and authentic actions.

Supporting citation(s):
"It takes prolonged personal growth, an outstanding strength of individuality, to maintain self-respect at a time when society, having embraced slander, unleashes reproaches and contempt upon the individual. Few can withstand this conflict with the social environment. A person can break free from the tight grasp of a social milieu, which so dreadfully influences one's self-esteem, only in one way – by embracing the consciousness of an ideal that stands above both the individual and society." (source: link txt)

"A determined creature could only strive toward subjective and relative values of self-preservation, pleasure, or utility, which are the targets of our innate needs and desires. To love truth for truth's sake, and to love goodness for goodness' sake, can only be achieved by a free being capable of liberating themselves from the constantly weighing subconscious impulses and societal suggestions. It is on this freedom of self-consciousness, this direct relationship with the realm of values, that moral sanity and moral responsibility of the individual are founded. The individual, in the very sense of the term, is an inherently free being." (source: link txt)