Being Point

Tag: purpose

  • Victory Is Not Victorious If It Means Violating What You Stand For

    Victory in its most meaningful sense is aligned with higher purpose.  A passage from the Bible says, “For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”  In other words, can you truly be victorious if you win all the worldly games, but forfeit yourself?

    A spiritual component of victory can deepen our understanding of what it means to win. Obviously, winning at all costs is inconsistent with moral or ethical conduct.  Victory is not really victorious if it means violating your conscience and what you stand for.

    In our culture, we are often given mixed messages about what comprises victory. There is huge emphasis, for example, on financial accomplishment, yet often people who achieve great things financially find that their financial victories don’t guarantee  happiness.

    What are your standards of conduct in seeking victory / winning / fulfillment / accomplishment?  Is there just one moral code regarding your victories, or do you have different rules for personal and business?  What role, if any, does spirit – however you define it – play in your life regarding victory?

  • “Perfection Is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More To Add” ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    You may know one of my favorite writers, Antoine de Saint-Exupery. He said, “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

    His writing is beautifully lyrical, yet it is not fussy or overdone. The notion of reducing something to its essence is powerful. We can debate about whether or not perfection actually exists, but the * feeling * of perfection definitely exists . . . and it’s well worth paying attention to.

    Consider something in which you’re engaged. How would it be well-served by taking away something? For example, taking away demands on a relationship, decoration in a room, embellishment in a story, or requirements for you to live up to everyone else’s pictures of how your life * should * be.

    We might find, as Saint-Exupery implies, that less is more . . . and that beauty and perfection are a function of brilliant and intentional refinement. How might the beauty of the situations mentioned above be revealed by removing anything that does not serve the highest and best purpose of the situation itself?