There are times in life when we just want to “stay down!” Shut the doors, close the curtains, turn out the lights, stay in bed and just slowly decay! A very dark thought to be sure! But how many of us have had exactly those thoughts and sometimes even stay down for a while? None of us is immune!
But little reward only if we are waiting for it from the outside!
Keeping our optimism is the greatest challenge! Optimists are heroes not because they have been lobotomized to not feel the anxieties and depressions that come with life’s deceptions, but rather because they meet the darkest hours looking for the faintest light to be steered by. They look for a reason to go on and in the process discover how immense their inner strength can be. The path to success is a process of inner expansion and enlightenment that ends up radiating outward calling others to the light. But that experience of glorious achievement comes with a very high price on our hearts and our souls. The more deceptions we experience, the harder it is for us not to experience that need to shut down and stay down. Yet it is precisely in those moments that we are poised to make our most extraordinary steps.
Those who achieve great things are especially gifted!—Lie!
It does not matter that those that achieve greatness, almost without exception, will emphasize the importance of resilience and hard work as much more important than whatever “gifts” we may have been given. It is so much easier to say that this one or that one was especially gifted. It is as much a reason for not trying to develop our inner talents as any—A convenient excuse for not taking on the extraordinary challenge of fully developing ourselves. Is becoming an opera singer any less difficult than becoming a boxer? Or a basketball player? How many very “gifted” basketball players do tricks on neighborhood courts and never make it to the NBA? Thousands literally! How many young singers with great voices never feel the boards of a professional opera house? Thousands literally! What do they lack? Mostly discipline and work ethic and what Rocky exhibits in all his movies: “HEART!”
Gifts are just abilities developed before we were conscious of the work we were doing to develop them.
Many among us tend to give up when they become aware how much work it takes to get to the higher steps. I applaud those who understand the “daily grind” and persist along the hard road until they achieve their inner development! With such development we are armed to confront a world in despair and desperation. With a history of development through persistence we can defy the world’s easy pessimism.
As Prometheus to Zeus: “There are no Gods! We men are the Gods!”
This statement should not be seen as addressing a superior being, but rather as a statement against the idea that some are more “gifted” than others–The manifest destiny of singers is no less fallacious than that of European monarchs before the French Revolution. The God I believe in gives a passion that must be developed into talent.
Life is not fair and some come into it with opportunities that may make their paths easier. But among those with much opportunity are often the ones who push themselves the most to become worthy of their opportunities; and among them are also those who squander their inner worth because they can always find food and shelter without having to work for it. Same can be said for those who begin with little. Many strive to get themselves out of destitution and others blame the “gifted” for their sorry lot.
© April 2, 2016
I love this so much, and need to spend a few days drinking it in. May the snakes never cover your ability to inspire us all! Thank you x