I ain't preaching here for sure, but I had a talk with somebody today making me think all this. Why ambition? Many people live being ambitious, I am not saying it's wrong, one's way of life is not ours to judge, especially if that doesn't hurt us yet it dawned on me to ponder what kind of ambition I am applying for myself.
Generally speaking, ambition means “an eager or inordinate desire for preferment, honor, superiority, power, or attainment.” The desire to achieve prominence is very strong. Even some persons succumb to it. At one point’s of people’s life, our necessities change. And I myself have experienced it, that my goal has changed, I’m not really who I used to be. I can say I was more ambitious in the past, with a lot of worldly ambitions, and wishes… They say, Never stop till we reach the top, and I did believe in that and did my best to achieve what I wanted in life. However, I have come to realise one thing, that if we lean upon the thingamabobs of this worldly system, our core satisfaction isn’t accomplished. Cos, the rule is simple: Human basic inclination is self-centred, hardly satisfied, we always want more and more, and whenever I reach that one point that I want, I'll come back to the base line of where I start not getting satisfied.
"Someone else's opinion on me doesn't have to become my reality", that's one of the motto I live on, and for me this is very reasonable and flexible for me. IF I don't see the reasonableness of what people tell me to change, I won't change, regardless of how many of them that ask me to change, majority isn't always right anyway. (Read my article about "Is it a crime to be single?") On the other hand, when I see the sense of what I have to change for better, I'll comply. One can't always be right, I can't either. But to choose a path that is not mainstream, It is commonly understood that many will probably think I am weird. For me, as long as I don't hurt them, then it's none of their business, especially towards ones that voice their opinions based on their own interests and not the mutual or the greater good interest. Hence, majority people's definition of success, has no effect on me, cos their perspectives need not become my reality.
I relinquish some of my ambitions, at least this is what I am doing now. I relinquish my scholarship, some job offers, all the master degree offers, that can bring prestige or worldly applaud to what I believe as vanity for now, and I prefer to pursue something better. I do believe what Solomon says in bible in Ecclesiastes 1: 2- 7 "All Human striving is fleeting and temporary". The Hebrew word translated “vanity” refers to something empty, futile, meaningless, of no substance, or of no lasting value. I don't want to aim such high education, or high prestige, nor do I want to base my life of materialism. Materialism is, in fact, a hindrance to happiness and satisfaction. Then again, I am not judging those who pursue that, cos some indeed "make use" of that and help humanity, and if that is genuine from heart that's even better. And sadly, tho exist, but it's not often the case.
Then, does it mean it is wrong to have a good time or to earn money? No, it is not. Laughter, or having a good time (what money offers too, self pleasure, I do enjoy that too, I am no robot! >_< ), may help take the mind off one’s problems temporarily,and it is indeed pleasurable and fun and nothing is wrong with all those, even the Bible implies this notion: “Go, eat your food with rejoicing and drink your wine with a good heart.” (Eccl. 9:7) .No doubt we have taken pleasure in watching a gorgeous sunset or a colorful rainbow. Perhaps we have marveled at the beauty of a star-filled sky on a dark night. Or we may have stood in awe at the grandeur of magnificent mountain peaks. Even the fragrance of flowers and the freshness of a new morning can be exhilarating. It is only proper that we should find pleasure in these many good things, clearly there is nothing wrong with wholesome pleasure. Watching movies, listening to songs, and reading books are just some of the many fun things as well.
But the problems do not go away. So trying to find true happiness by merrymaking/ pleasure is “insanity”; it makes no sense. Similarly, “rejoicing” does not solve life’s problems. Merriment and pleasures are thus contrasted with the happiness that results from having a certain spiritual fulfillment.
Well, does it mean, that if we relinquish our high ambitions, we won’t develop any longer? My answer is NO, because we’ll still develop mentally, emotionally and spiritually, depending on whether we still read, watch or learn. There are always other medias to develop, not necessarily high education, prestige, and other mainstream so called of success, cos most of the time, we are prone to becoming arrogant that way. What I am trying to say here is, what is so called good ambitions by people is not always the compulsory thing to follow, albeit not wrong. No one can patronize us. And I can't and I don't want to patronize either, it's always good to have goals. :P
For me, I have another goal to achieve, but a humble goal, that is to develop my spirituality, finding the truth, to be able to reach base line, being able to be satisfied, not necessarily easy, but that's what I am striving for. still I have to educate myself a lot in order to achieve it, something that most common people won’t comprehend. Among the many benefits of heeding this Scriptural counsel is the one mentioned at Ecclesiastes 5:12: “Sweet is the sleep of the one serving, regardless of whether it is little or much that he eats." To whom should I serve? Humanity? God? Of course, in time I can provide better answer for that...
Generally speaking, ambition means “an eager or inordinate desire for preferment, honor, superiority, power, or attainment.” The desire to achieve prominence is very strong. Even some persons succumb to it. At one point’s of people’s life, our necessities change. And I myself have experienced it, that my goal has changed, I’m not really who I used to be. I can say I was more ambitious in the past, with a lot of worldly ambitions, and wishes… They say, Never stop till we reach the top, and I did believe in that and did my best to achieve what I wanted in life. However, I have come to realise one thing, that if we lean upon the thingamabobs of this worldly system, our core satisfaction isn’t accomplished. Cos, the rule is simple: Human basic inclination is self-centred, hardly satisfied, we always want more and more, and whenever I reach that one point that I want, I'll come back to the base line of where I start not getting satisfied.
"Someone else's opinion on me doesn't have to become my reality", that's one of the motto I live on, and for me this is very reasonable and flexible for me. IF I don't see the reasonableness of what people tell me to change, I won't change, regardless of how many of them that ask me to change, majority isn't always right anyway. (Read my article about "Is it a crime to be single?") On the other hand, when I see the sense of what I have to change for better, I'll comply. One can't always be right, I can't either. But to choose a path that is not mainstream, It is commonly understood that many will probably think I am weird. For me, as long as I don't hurt them, then it's none of their business, especially towards ones that voice their opinions based on their own interests and not the mutual or the greater good interest. Hence, majority people's definition of success, has no effect on me, cos their perspectives need not become my reality.
I relinquish some of my ambitions, at least this is what I am doing now. I relinquish my scholarship, some job offers, all the master degree offers, that can bring prestige or worldly applaud to what I believe as vanity for now, and I prefer to pursue something better. I do believe what Solomon says in bible in Ecclesiastes 1: 2- 7 "All Human striving is fleeting and temporary". The Hebrew word translated “vanity” refers to something empty, futile, meaningless, of no substance, or of no lasting value. I don't want to aim such high education, or high prestige, nor do I want to base my life of materialism. Materialism is, in fact, a hindrance to happiness and satisfaction. Then again, I am not judging those who pursue that, cos some indeed "make use" of that and help humanity, and if that is genuine from heart that's even better. And sadly, tho exist, but it's not often the case.
Then, does it mean it is wrong to have a good time or to earn money? No, it is not. Laughter, or having a good time (what money offers too, self pleasure, I do enjoy that too, I am no robot! >_< ), may help take the mind off one’s problems temporarily,and it is indeed pleasurable and fun and nothing is wrong with all those, even the Bible implies this notion: “Go, eat your food with rejoicing and drink your wine with a good heart.” (Eccl. 9:7) .No doubt we have taken pleasure in watching a gorgeous sunset or a colorful rainbow. Perhaps we have marveled at the beauty of a star-filled sky on a dark night. Or we may have stood in awe at the grandeur of magnificent mountain peaks. Even the fragrance of flowers and the freshness of a new morning can be exhilarating. It is only proper that we should find pleasure in these many good things, clearly there is nothing wrong with wholesome pleasure. Watching movies, listening to songs, and reading books are just some of the many fun things as well.
Well, does it mean, that if we relinquish our high ambitions, we won’t develop any longer? My answer is NO, because we’ll still develop mentally, emotionally and spiritually, depending on whether we still read, watch or learn. There are always other medias to develop, not necessarily high education, prestige, and other mainstream so called of success, cos most of the time, we are prone to becoming arrogant that way. What I am trying to say here is, what is so called good ambitions by people is not always the compulsory thing to follow, albeit not wrong. No one can patronize us. And I can't and I don't want to patronize either, it's always good to have goals. :P
For me, I have another goal to achieve, but a humble goal, that is to develop my spirituality, finding the truth, to be able to reach base line, being able to be satisfied, not necessarily easy, but that's what I am striving for. still I have to educate myself a lot in order to achieve it, something that most common people won’t comprehend. Among the many benefits of heeding this Scriptural counsel is the one mentioned at Ecclesiastes 5:12: “Sweet is the sleep of the one serving, regardless of whether it is little or much that he eats." To whom should I serve? Humanity? God? Of course, in time I can provide better answer for that...
To me ambition is not necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, it all depends on the underlying motivation behind it.Someone who moves to Hollywood to become famous and rich is obviously motivated by vanity and materialism.Someone who's ambition is to be a great teacher or doctor or some other profession that can help people has more noble motivations, it's still ambition like the person wanting to be a movie star but obviously this ambition is a good thing.When I think of ambition I remember Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs we learned in psychology.People have all kinds of needs starting at basic things like food,clothing and shelter moving up to their highest needs of self actualization, doing the best you possibly can in whatever areas you think most important.To me self actualization is ambition, some people are more motivated in this area but everyone is trying to achieve it to some degree.I also believe ambition can be influenced by the society you live in.I guess what I'm trying to say is I think ambition can be a good thing, it's what gets us out of bed in the morning, Whether it turns out to be a noble or selfish thing depends on the person's values, your ambition is a reflection of your values.
ReplyDeletePaul
Well-said again, Paul. Ambition is indeed not a bad thing. My self-actualization is just not really based on what mainstream thought of success. There's always such definition of success that majority will hold onto, like being famous, having certain noble/ successful jobs, like big businessman, doctor, lawyer (that's what my society mostly imposes) and many other more, to the most point, you gotta earn considerable amount of cash, i.e materialism then. What you are saying here, Paul, is very flexible, without judging at all, and I share similar outlook. And I mostly feel moved by your comment of "Whether it turns out to be a noble or selfish thing depends on the person's values, your ambition is a reflection of your values". I can't help but agree with you on this. Thank you, Paul.
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