Success vs. Joy
- XXVIII -
Success Can Blind
Once a person becomes famous, a bunch of sycophants automatically try to gather around him. They attempt to bask in the glory of the well-known individual and keep feeding his ego by constantly praising him. This kind of
adulation can go to a person’s head and blind him to reality.
I have often wondered what would happen if a champion is immediately whisked away from the location where he has won a tournament and made to remain in isolation – no media, no fans. By denying him access to praise, adulation,
and sycophancy, I believe he would come back to win over and over again and also remain uncorrupted.
If I did not have a single impurity in my mind, I would perhaps be able to make a break of 5,000, as against my current world record of 1,276.
There is an eye-opening account of the early days of Walter Lindrum – the greatest billiards player of all time. When the Australian took up the game at age 13, he played with a single ball for one full year. Then, during the following year, he played with two balls. It was only in the third year that Walter’s uncle gave him the full set of three balls. His very first break, it is said, was a century. Also, he played alone, practicing at least 12 to 14 hours a day. He experienced very little social interaction.
Walter is said to have remarked “nobody will ever be as great as me. Nobody will ever be able to meet my standards, because nobody is foolish enough to play 14 hours a day, every day of the week, every week of the month and every month of the year.”
Why would most of us be unwilling to do what we are good at for 14 hours a day? The answer is that once an individual has achieved a certain level of excellence, then he spends time signing autographs. He tends to become complacent and starts looking for joy in materialism, from the extra so-called goodies that come with fame and social success. He will start forgetting the fact that joy lies within.
These nouveau successes want to be in the media and be made to feel important by commenting on topics they know little or nothing about – it could be on ecology, poverty, the economy or the war in Iraq. That is not all. Having earned money, they remain busy spending it, often on stuff they don’t really need. This is how many achievers have been corrupted. This is how they end up doing what they think they should be doing instead of doing what had brought them true joy and satisfaction in the first place.