So Is Being Successful Help Being Enlighted Or Just Make Ego More Bigger?

[Mohsinuddin]

I know since i was kid i thought i was the best of the best. I was really competitive but after I turned 24-25 and watched some of the self help videos I realized it is not good to thing like that all the time. I would really appreciate you guys opinion on this one. Do I really have to make my Ego bigger before get to enlightenment or not being successful and being en-lighted?

Thank you!

Edited February 14, 2016 by Mohsinuddin
spelling mistake

[Ricksta]

Dear Mohsinuddin

Truly an insightful question!

I have a story to tell first about the Buddha that I read somewhere, unfortunately I don't remember where so I cannot give the appropriate credit, but anyway here goes:

So as legend has it the Buddha started out as a prince and heir to a vast kingdom. He was exposed to all the pleasures of life and had his fill of wine, women and song. Nothing was withheld, except the knowledge of death. Once he inevitably came across a dying person he learnt of death and then, in an effort to move past this experience he left the palace. Leaving behind the life of luxury he entered into the forest and joined an ascetic community where he survived off very little sustenance and meditated the whole day long, searching for truth. This carried on for some time until he apparently came across a musician, teaching his son to play. The musician explained to the son that if you pull the strings too tight, it will snap. If the strings are too loose, it won't make music. It has to be just at the right tension before any music can be played. At this point the Buddha relinquished the ascetic life, restored his body and proceeded on to enlightenment by following a sort of middle ground.

 

To answer your question, unless you have been successful, you don't really have anything to renounce. In order to reach for enlightenment you will inevitably have to let go of your wordly success, but unless you have achieved some form of it, you won't authentically be able to let anything go.

So go forth and be successful. Be the best, and strive hard for it and achieve it. Once this is done you will authentically be able to move past it, not before.

[Beam]

Being successful or unsuccessful is a outward sign our inner world.
Successful people have often been raised that way or have payed for self help in the past and now have great people skills.

Success is all in the head

Edited August 27, 2016 by Beam