Dearest Readers,
As part of my research for GITA I am reading Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl. I’ve only just begun the book but already have learned so much.
In Frankl’s “Preface to the 1992 Edition” he writes about his reaction to the incredible (surprise) success of the book which by then had sold millions of copies since its initial publication in 1946.
“Don’t aim at success,” he writes, “the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue… you have to let it happen by not caring about it.”
I need to hear this message over and over again. I have been so motivated by “success” for so much of my life. I have blogged before about having to re-define the meaning of success in my life in order to find Peace and how much this turnaround has helped me. I’ve been changed by it.
Still, after reading this section of Frankl’s book, I was able to see how much of what I do is still motivated by this vague notion of greater glory. It’s not a bad thing and I’m not here to chastise myself for it but I felt humbled by the raw awareness that the old success driver is yet present in me.
Frankl continues, “I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run — in the long run, I say! — success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.”
Thanks for the reminder, Viktor. Needed that.
Inspiring Message of the Day: What does my Conscience command me to do? What is my Highest Guidance? I will seek this knowledge and carry it out to the best of my ability without expectation of success or reward. I will trust that the reward will come by itself, at my having done my utmost to perform my True Command.
