The hundred year old oak tree provides home for robins and shade for me as I travel forward then back on my familiar creaky rocking chair, thinking of success and contemplating…
The first thought most have about success is to see it in material terms. Success in our society is often measured by how much we have or by getting what we want: wealth, power, and/or fame. When we reach our goals we feel successful. This can be anything from running a successful business, to correctly training a dog, to making a great cake. It may be attaining a high position in politics or entertainment. For some, success is reminiscent of the old tongue in cheek phrase: He who dies with the most toys wins. There is an old joke where a guy wants to be buried in his solid gold Cadillac. When he dies, he is placed in his car and lowered into the grave. One of his friends turns to the person next to him and says, “Now, that’s living.”
Are you old enough to remember the 1966 movie “Alfie” starring a young Michael Caine? The lyrics to the movie’s theme song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David begin with the words:
What’s it all about, Alfie?
Is it just for the moment we live?
What’s it all about when you sort it out, Alfie?
Are we meant to take more than we give
Or are we meant to be kind?….
These opening words raise the question, “What does it mean to be successful?” No material object, power, or fame, regardless of its beauty, worth, or prestige, can provide a complete understanding of what true success is. We need an additional measure of success.
The legendary UCLA Basketball coach, John Wooden, won more games than any other college coach in history. He defined success as follows: “Success is the peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you have made the effort to be the best you are capable of becoming.” (from Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success)
I had known John Wooden in the late 1960s. One day at lunch he shared with me that he believed success was an attitude, an attitude of caring, not just about ourselves but others as well. He said, “I want success on the basketball court; I want success for my players, and most of all I want to play a role in helping my players live meaningful lives.”
When we remove compassion from our actions they can become mechanical and even dangerous. If our only goal is to attain wealth, prosperity, or fame at any cost, “others” become things to help us attain our goal. When we do not have compassion in our lives success can go wanting. Where there is respect and compassion for others, activities become constructive, meaningful, and, therefore, successful.
Compassion for others is more than just words. Success takes more than good thoughts, it takes action. Good thoughts alone do not create success. I am reminded of the Peanuts cartoon when Charlie Brown and Linus see Snoopy sitting in the snow shivering. It is Christmas and it is cold. Charlie Brown says to Linus, “It is Christmas. We must help Snoopy.” So they walk over to Snoopy and Charlie Brown says, “Be of good cheer Snoopy.” Linus adds, “Yes, Snoopy, be of good cheer.” The last picture in the cartoon has Charlie Brown and Linus walking off with contented smiles on their faces and arms around each other as Snoopy sits shivering in the background.
Compassion is a commitment; a commitment that does not falter even when faced with negative or judgmental reaction.
“Friendliness and warmth toward others relax mental tensions and help us to dissipate fears or insecurity so that we can overcome obstacles. That is the ultimate source of success in life.” (The Dalai Lama, My Spiritual Journey, p.33.)
How we view our relationship to the world has a profound influence on our personal and social lives. How we understand the sharing of life and space with all that is living determines how we define success and express our consciousness. All of us express ourselves in ways consistent with our understanding of the world and our place in it. How we understand success determines how we conduct our politics, educate the populous, look at our economies, view the media and entertainment, and develop our relationships with other people and the natural environment. Socially, our success in working to secure goals is strengthened when supplemented with compassion. Such qualities are inherent in successful influence of political policies such as health care, hunger, equal opportunity for all, and the environment. These qualities determine what success is for us and our society.
These familiar words ring true: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matthew 25:31-36).
We are dependent on each other…no person is an island. Sincere concern for the health and welfare of others is essential to experience success at its best. To live fully our external and material success must be accompanied by the inner development and expression of the human values of compassion, tolerance, forgiveness, moderation, and self-discipline.
The English author, Nelson Henderson (1865-1943), is remembered for one sentence paraphrased from an age-old anonymous Greek Proverb: “The true meaning of life is to plant a tree under whose shade you will not live to sit.” This is successful living at its most profound level. In the afternoon may we sit in the shade of a tree and plant a tree in the morning.
Written by: Hartzell Cobbs
Hartzell Cobbs is the retired CEO of Mountain States Group (now Jannus, Inc.), a diverse nonprofit human service organization. He is the author of the recent book, RavenWind, that is available through outlets such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Archway Publishing. His first book, Thanatos and the Sage: A Spiritual Approach to Aging, is available through Amazon.
More about Dr. Cobbs’ latest book, Ravenwind…
From ancient lore, down millenniums, traveling through worldwide mythologies, legends, and folktales, the mythical raven is entwined in the history of mankind. Most researchers agree that about twenty thousand years ago the first Americans came from Siberia across the Bering Land Bridge to what is now North America. The Siberians and their shamans were accompanied by the mythical raven who mediated between the physical and spiritual worlds.
With the Siberian influence, Northwest Native American mythology speaks of the raven as creator, destroyer, and trickster. As in Siberia, raven soars on the wind between the great spirit/mystery and the physical world. Raven teaches respect for earth and the oneness of all that is.
In RavenWind, author Hartzell Cobbs offers at look at the raven’s role in world history and in Native American myths, legends, and folktales. He tells how the raven of folklore calls one to follow, to listen, and experience life with all its complexity, insight, ambiguity, contraction, and humor. With an emphasis on Native American tradition, Cobbs explores the presence of mythical raven in the mundane.
