You Have Nothing
“No man is crushed by misfortune unless he has first been deceived by prosperity.” -Seneca
In the ebbs and flows of nature we often experience periods of profound happiness and excitement. This is the way of life. These are usually balanced out by periods of relative stagnation or even suffering; that’s part of life, too. Underlying both of these states is a peaceful core. This core is always there but we often forget it in favor of positive excitement or negative brooding.
We especially run into trouble when we credit ourselves for our own good fortune. It’s important to work hard and do whatever you can to live fully each day, but when you begin to associate your ego with your accomplishments, you misconstrue your purpose in the world. We own nothing; anything we grab at is only ours temporarily. As such, we should be grateful for whatever we encounter and understand that we are not to thank for our own accomplishments.
This is the difficulty of the ambitious mind— it always wants to grab the next thing, the greater achievement and bigger goal, and so it’s never satisfied. Those who appear to be chasing satisfaction are often also further away from finding it than those who just louse around, precisely because they set the difficulty level for life at its maximum setting. Shooting fish in a barrel is easy; deep sea fishing requires patience and acumen— and luck. Stepping back and not obsessing over external motivations helps us make the most of hard work and ambition.
If you are going to chase after goals and worldly satisfactions, do so with the understanding that you are who you are regardless of your standing. Those who achieve great wealth, fame or acclaim often forget who they are with nothing. We have to remember who we are with nothing because that’s who we really are. People wonder why they achieve their wildest dreams and find themselves miserable— it’s because they forget their true self.
Meditation helps us access this true self. It’s beyond the ego and beyond the material world. Getting to know it better helps us stay level-headed whether life ‘out there’ seems to be soaring or plummeting. Understanding the limits of the ego helps us know ourselves better and not to overvalue times of prosperity. Those who identify themselves based on their possessions and achievements are committing a form of suicide in which they risk losing their sense of self should these external things suddenly disappear. It’s why people go crazy when they lose their jobs, spouses or savings. They forget who they are with nothing.
No matter who you are, envision yourself as a mere body. Tibetan monks often meditate on their own deaths and the decomposition of their own bodies, a way of reminding them that they’re on Earth temporarily and nothing they do or have can change the facts of life and death. When we make peace with this, we’re ready to handle everything life throws at us, no matter what.
