Successfulness Defined

“Success is always temporary. When all is said and done, the only thing you’ll have left is your character.”
–Vince Gill

Today, when one is considered “successful,” that person is usually labeled as such according to some external criterion. This is only natural, for along with the majority of the human race you have the tendency to judge a book by its cover. What you perceive or observe through any of your five senses is oftentimes interpreted as reality or truth. And the problem, however, is that when you distinguish that which is success to you, you are only scratching the surface.

To show you that there is a greater success, one that goes beyond all of this stuff, let me enlighten you for a moment.

First of all, I must admit that there’s nothing wrong with external symbols of success. But the reality is that things like these are in and of themselves sheer opinions; are they not? An expensive sports car is just a car. A gold diamond encrusted watch is just a watch. The vice-presidency of a large corporation is just a title. A fat bank account is just a bunch of numbers. And a goal achieved is but a moment in eternity.

These things do not constitute true success. They are opinions or external measurements of success.

To prove my point, here’s a forinstance: Try to give a luxurious 50-foot yacht to a Tibetan monk and then see what he thinks about your wonderful gift let alone what he’ll do with it. “Nice firewood,” he’ll probably say.

The same goes for the opinions you hold. If owning an expensive sports car means a lot to you, do you think, “That car is success” or “buying that car will make me successful?” Of course not. What you are truly saying, though, is that the car represents success or that it symbolizes success, affluence, or whatever.

The problem, however, is that the car is not only a personal symbol but also a symbol one wishes to project to the outside world. Besides only being a means of transportation, which in my estimation is also debatable, a sports car doesn’t have any value in itself except for the value that it has been given - by others as well as by you. This is where the ego often gets in the way. If you owned one, more than likely you are trying to show how successful you are rather than just “being” successful.

A sports car doesn’t have any intrinsic worth. To make it valuable, you must give it value - and that’s your value. And your value is what you want other people to notice. So, it all boils down to self-esteem. And this goes for anything in the material or physical world. Your goals, your achievements, or your performance are infallibly tied not only to how you feel about them but how you want others to feel about you.

This is the reason why all external forms of success are merely constituted of opinions. Success represents different things to different people, and a symbol is only an expression of a feeling about success and does not constitute this true success I am referring to. Therefore, success is but an illusion and this illusion is the cause of so much frustration, anger, pain, and lack we see in the world today.

The point I’m trying to make here is that success is not what happens on the outside, because anything that exists in the physical dimension is what it is. It is a symbol of an opinion. It doesn’t mean anything except for the meaning it has been given and, on top of all that, only to the person this meaning comes from.

If you give your value to some external thing, it is because you are seeking to bring value to your life somehow. Whether it’s drugs, alcohol, sex, or, of course, success, you are trying to increase your self-image through some external process. If so, that means that deep down inside you feel you don’t have any real value - which, of course, is absolutely false.

Your real value, your spiritual successfulness, is the source of all that you are. It is your greatness, your true potential, this higher part of you that makes you truly successful, and is so with our without symbols. It is with “in” you and not with “out’ you.

For example, if you feel that you are worthless without these external symbols, or in other words if you are projecting your inner value through outer “things” (be it accomplishments or possessions), you are ignoring your inner value. In plain English, you don’t believe in yourself.

If the value you assign to that which is outside of you is meant to replace that which comes from within, then you are never going to feel fulfilled no matter what. You must replace it constantly. This is what Wayne Dyer calls the “Psychology of More” because you will never be satisfied. You will always want more since you are but merely leasing some outer value.

Like a drug, external success will only be temporary. And once you come down from the high, you will constantly crave your next “hit.” Similarly, that thing you consider as success is but an illusion, a form of stimulus, for true successfulness, which is your spirit, comes from within - not from the outside.

Therefore, to answer the question “What is true success?” here’s the million-dollar answer: True success is none other than the simple ability you have to connect with that “You” within. That’s it. Nothing more and nothing less. While material, physical, or “visible” success is made up of things such as outcomes or acquisitions, what I call true success is the ability you have to continuously reach your highest spiritual potential. It’s how successful you are inwardly rather than how successful you are outwardly.

It is real success.

It is spiritual success.