Positive Health Online

Reproduced with permission from

www.mydigitalfc.com/2016/true-success-and-happiness

We are in the grip of a new, inundating wave. Success. The idea is to pursue and realize the ‘achievement badge,’ pronto. The less the wait, the better it is at the al­tar of accomplishment. Not the timeless thought or call for action, that relates or qualifies, as to what honours and triumphs we are aiming at, as philosopher Seneca underlined, following which we must embark on a cle­ar roadmap by which we can ac­hieve them with fidelity and fortitude. Yet, the spin-off of our modern, frenetic life is perceptible - that notwithstanding our frenzied ‘run’, there comes a point in ev­eryone’s life of ‘that failed’ quest for gold at every step. For one simple reason - all of us, as belated wisdom would tell us, need help and guidance, in our journey through time. This holds good for folks, who are the most successful - they too would benefit from reminders and fresh articulations of truth. More so, because they ought to rethink, redefine, refocus and strive for excellence - in tune with change.

Now, the big question - is there a universal condition that guarantees success? As Tom Morris, a professor of philosophy, puts it, all of us ought to cut through the maze - this, he emphasizes, is indispensable for meeting our everyday challenges and to turning our beliefs into practice and aspirations into realities. This is primarily because the most common malady of our time is a ‘distorted understanding of success’. In Morris’s words, “Genuine achie­vement should begin with something in the inner life of thought, feeling, imagination and judgment and provide for our moving into a form of success in the outer world that will resonate deeply with our innermost needs and values.”

The next question is, yet again, palpable. How do we attain both harmony and balance necessary for true success and ha­ppiness? A desire for success in any activity should be well defined and enhanced by a broader perspective on what it takes for success in life - one that draws sustained inspiration from the great thinkers of the past and bears continued relevance in the troubled tim­es th­at we now live in. In other wo­rds, the search for qualified success is a philosophical tou­chstone, a straightforward, yet profound ‘Armageddon’, with the kind of success that is ava­ilable to every human being. One that each of us is endowed with - to using our talents and following our heart and not eq­uating wealth, fame, power, or social status with success. As Morris explains, “A spiritual malaise within any person inevitably infects relations between and among persons, preventing them from being the best that they can be.”

What does this connote, from the point-of-view of achievement? That you and I ‘own’ the power of imaginative vision, self-talk, inner self-reminders, gu­sto and envisioned goals. Besides, nature has integrated into our lives, at the most fundamental level, a sense of tradition - clear conception, confidence, concentration, consistency, emotional commitme­nt, good character and a wholesome capacity to enjoy the process.

What’s more, most philosophers have, since time immemorial, identified four fundamental expressions of human life, viz., the intellectual dimension, which ai­ms at truth; the aesthetic dimension, wh­ich aims at beauty; the moral dimension, which aims at goodness; and the spiritual dimension, which aims at god. Yet, there’s no halfway house with them. As Benjamin Disraeli exemplified, “The secret of success is constancy of purpose.”

This article is reproduced from

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