Philosopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb has written:
A trivial and potent heuristic to figure out success:
a) you are absolutely successful if and only if you don't envy anyone;
b) quite successful if those you envy you don't know in person;
c) miserably unsuccessful if those you envy you encounter or think about daily.
Absolute success is mostly found among ascetic persons.
I agree. Weighed under the burdens of ego one compulsively compares and contrasts oneself with others, thus evoking feelings of envy and inferiority. But if one is largely bereft of such ego, envy of others' possessions or success naturally does not occur. One simply goes about life's business living in the Now and focussing on the work at hand. That is the only route to fit Talib's category of being 'absolutely successful'.
The inhabitants of the other two categories have success and misery in direct proportion to the degree of influence of ego in their daily lives.
Simple. Profound.
A trivial and potent heuristic to figure out success:
a) you are absolutely successful if and only if you don't envy anyone;
b) quite successful if those you envy you don't know in person;
c) miserably unsuccessful if those you envy you encounter or think about daily.
Absolute success is mostly found among ascetic persons.
I agree. Weighed under the burdens of ego one compulsively compares and contrasts oneself with others, thus evoking feelings of envy and inferiority. But if one is largely bereft of such ego, envy of others' possessions or success naturally does not occur. One simply goes about life's business living in the Now and focussing on the work at hand. That is the only route to fit Talib's category of being 'absolutely successful'.
The inhabitants of the other two categories have success and misery in direct proportion to the degree of influence of ego in their daily lives.
Simple. Profound.
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