Doing is Extension of Being
In a wild open field I bet the flower doesn’t feel ashamed of being a beautiful blossoming flower just because there’s a formless, scent-less weed growing next to it. Many people ask me - how can I face all the suffering of poverty I meet in India and in other Third-World countries I visit. Because for them it’s not possible, it’s too much to bear.
I remember from my own life that when things were going really well for me I sometimes felt uncomfortable fully expressing how happy I was, or going into great detail about something that led to some form of success, just because the person I was talking to was struggling and not having the same experiences or feelings in his/her life. If, for example, I was talking to a friend who was struggling financially, I wouldn’t go into details about something I did that won me a substantial financial reward.
This view is not beneficial, not for the one who’s “made it” - made a life of freedom, or happiness, or any form of abundance - and not for the one who “suffers” from any sort of lack. The path to abundance is not in what we are Doing, but in how we are in our Being. What we do is always an extension of our being, and not the other way around.
The roots of feeling good in life cannot come from comparing our life to someone else’s life. Comparison in any shape is a mind-state of lacking. If I compare my level of happiness to some else’s, then I am the one who carries the consciousness of lacking, simply because it means I haven’t learned yet to fully embrace who I am, and it’s expression. When I embrace who I am, I radiate and transmit a sense of satisfaction and happiness. These are the kinds of things that will attract other people and may give them the inspiration to look for what I was looking for, not necessarily for what I did.
We can never replicate 100% another situation. Science has all kinds of statistical measures to reflect “errors” and deviations because there’s no way to replicate 100% exactly the same thing. In life, if you’re looking to change something, the only thing you can change is yourself. So if you feel embarrassed by your success or your happiness, if you feel down because you see someone else feeling down, if you feel difficulty in face of someone else’s suffering, then ask yourself - what kind of relationship do I have with his/her suffering. If your relationship is one of shame, or blame, or greed for example, then you can work to change it. You cannot be someone else’s resolution, but you can radiate and shine the light simply for who you are, not for what you do.
Two years ago I left my home country to travel around the world with my partner. A colleague told me not long before I left that I gave him inspiration by “taking my freedom to follow what I want”. For him, it wasn’t about what I did but about who I was by doing that. The roots for anything manifesting in our lives lie in who we are. Just as the flower cannot give its roots for the weed to become a flower. But it can spread it’s fragrance and inspire.
