Approval

Egoistic Race

There is nothing to be achieved. Life is not an achievement, it is a gift. It has already been given. For what are you waiting? The door is open, and the host has already invited you. Come in!

Stupid idea: you are unworthy

The society has been telling you continuously, persistently, day in, day out, from your very childhood – in the school, in the college, in the university, in the church, the priest, the politician, the parent, the professor – they are all joined together to give you the idea that as you are, you are unworthy. That you have to do something, that you have to prove yourself, then only will you be worthy.

Slowly, slowly the idea settles, sinks deep in your heart, becomes almost your second nature, that just to be is not enough. Trees are enough, animals are enough, birds are enough – only man has this stupid idea that just to be is not enough.

We are giving people ideals and saying, “Unless you fulfill these ideals you will never be worthy.” And those ideals are impossible. We are giving people ideas of being perfect. And once the idea of being perfect enters in one’s being, it turns us into a neurotic.

Egoistic race: you feel you need to be approved

Everybody is an egoist… Nobody is there in the world to fulfill your ego; everybody is trying to fulfill his own. Who has time to fulfill your ego? And if sometimes somebody fulfills your ego, he must be fulfilling it as a means to fulfill his own.

Basically, everybody is interested in himself. As you are interested in yourself, others are interested in themselves. Just become aware of this.

Everybody is trying to compete, and in this competition, in this egoistic, ambitious race, one is destroying all that is beautiful… Everybody is asking others, begging: “Approve of me! Say something that gives me a good feeling about myself.” Hence, flattery works. Hence, everybody can deceive you just by flattering you.

And people go on doing things that they never wanted to do, but they go on doing them because that is the only way they can get the approval of others. Everybody is distracted from his destiny because others are looking, and they have a fixed idea as to how to approve of you.

You are asking from others like a beggar: “Approve of me!” – and they are also beggars just like you… Just a little alertness and one drops all begging. And with that, ambition drops, ego drops. One starts living.

We’re all in this together, and yet, it seems, everybody is fighting for himself. Everybody needs to have his ego jar filled up. Otherwise he feels miserable.

We are all beggars. We all want our needs fulfilled, and to get there, we need the approval of others.

Let that sink.

Because we are unworthy we need the approval of others to feel worthy. And because everybody is in that same boat, everybody feels the same and is constantly looking for approval. Beggars are asking beggars for approval.

At the root of this circus: the idea that you are not enough.

The exit door: the understanding that as you are, you are enough.

And the key lies in acceptance.