Édouard Manet:
Beggar with a Duffle Coat [Philosopher] (1865/67)

" … might be an improvement."

I tried to imagine Success as something other than a result of some kind of competition. I failed.

I tried to imagine Success as something independent from winning or losing. I failed.

I wondered if Success could even exist for a person who was not in nearly constant competition with himself. That jury's still considering.

Perhaps Success is an artifact of a particularly primitive kind of thinking, the same one which cannot imagine any engagement beyond zero-sum games.

If I think on Success too much, it seems to become a meaningless measure.

If I focus on Succeeding, I might be insisting upon losing something far more important than winning ever could have been.

I'm slipping into my cave this morning, wondering how a world without Success or failure might be an improvement.

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Tags: #Success, #PureSchmaltz