The Successful Man’s Path To Lasting Satisfaction

If one examines with a sharp scalpel the foundations of his desires, he discovers that they rest upon foundation of hope.

If one examines this hope with incisive detail, he discovers that it rests upon a need.

If one examines this need with the utmost clarity, he discovers that it rests upon a bed of pleasure.

Man does not truly seek Success.

For there is no independent entity known as “success.”

He seeks the trimmings of success.

He seeks the fragrance of success.

He seeks the implications of success.

He seeks the lidocaine-like effects of success, that numb the pains of his insecurities.

He seeks the feeling of importance from being accepted into the successful circles.

To seek such things is neither right or wrong.

Their only liability lies in their inability to bring Lasting Satisfaction.

The unsuccessful man seeks success.

The successful man seeks Lasting Satisfaction.

And having once attained it, it is only he who is in the position to discover that it is not success, but Satisfaction that he has been seeking all along.

Not having found lasting satisfaction, he turns to temporary pleasures. Hoping that, through volume and in their aggregate, he can patch together a semblance of satisfaction.

Not having found lasting satisfaction, he resorts to the surrogate of self-adornment.

He adorns his intellect by filling it with information from books. Information from science, philosophy, psychology, and finance. Information that he can carry with him in an invisible briefcase to social settings, and sprinkle his newfound knowledge upon his peers. This might cause them to think of him as highly intelligent. And their opinions about him give birth to pleasure within him. But having once started, he cannot stop. He must remain fully abreast of the latest trends and the breaking information lest he lose his coveted place in the social hierarchy.

He adorns his interiority through spiritual austerities.

He adorns his body through physical exercise and body-building.

He adorns his look, his image, and the face he shows to the world.

For these are his currency to purchase the feelings of pleasure that arise when others view him in the way that he has carefully orchestrated.

The Sincere man needs no convincing that such things have not brought him lasting satisfaction.

And while a continuation of them would not be wise, neither would it be wise to seek their alternative.

For this would also be a pleasure chase, only in a different direction.

Chasing pleasures does not bring satisfaction, as your own experiences have taught you.

But following prescriptions toward satisfaction do not bring satisfaction either.

To a great extent, the Non-Way is the Way.

When all roads become blocked, the one that remains is The Truth.

When all chases have been abandoned, it is only the inevitable that remains.

Any and all attempts to discipline oneself eventually fail.

Willpower has no power in the search for Truth.

And prescriptions are the road to the sort of hell from which few men return.

If the prize is hidden in one out of the ten boxes. And you are told which nine are empty, the prize will soon be yours.

Do not force yourself to stop your chases. For if you do, your chase will simply move underground.

Continue to read your books.

Carry on with your self-adornments.

Keep the information flowing into you.

Allow yourself free reign to bless others with your great intelligence.

If you think my words to be motivated by sarcasm you would be mistaken.

For it is critical to understand that any attempt to force the mind against its habitual patterns is to incite it.

And this is a war that no human has ever won.

What will transform you will not be a prescription, but a Space.

A space between the action, and the motivation behind this action.

As you come face to face with the realization that the actions which you pursue do not bring you that which you seek, the motivation that compels it will begin to die.

While the space between this motivation and its corresponding action will begin to grow.

This space will become your new home.

And without the slightest effort,

It will become the bosom of satisfaction you have been seeking all along.

Namaste.