Is recognition going to enable us to take wing and soar in the skies? Or, will it merely result in inflated images of ourselves? Will affluence signal the end of our problems and conflicts within ourselves or will it compound them? The impact of recognition and affluence may not be what we imagine it to be. Simple lives may become complicated and complex. This is because we may get deluded by the recognition and affluence we achieve.

If I am contented, complete, joyful and peaceful here and now, why should I crave recognition? What do I stand to gain from it? If the world stands on its head at my command, have I therefore achieved a greater command of myself? Have I become more serene and joyful, peaceful and contented? Or, have I succumbed to the delusion of omniscience and omnipotence, of superiority and infallibility? Why do we seek the recognition of another, whether it is a particular someone or adoring multitudes? Are we seeking a validation of our self worth? If we are, does this mean that our self worth is not intrinsic and needs validation by another?

If we constantly need adoration and approval from another to validate our self worth, are we not in a state of helpless and hopeless dependence, forever dangling on the edge of a steep cliff with an imminent fall? Are we not completely vulnerable and fragile, weak and vacillating, dependent and at the mercy of another? If we are, of what use are adoration and adulation, celebrity and glamour, recognition and success?

I need to realise that my self worth is intrinsic, unrelated to recognition by another. I need to realise that it is my fragile self image, the impostor of an ego that demands and clamours for attention and importance. My deepest self, my awareness is at ease at all moments and in all situations. In happiness and sorrow, success and failure, the substratum of my very process of observation remains unaffected and unchanged. In this constant luminosity, serenity and unalloyed bliss of pure awareness which is my deepest self, I witness victory and defeat with an equanimity that transcends both. In this state, I soar with the wings of joy and contentment. Further, it is my natural state. The presence or absence of recognition, of events, of people, of objects, of possessions – all these are irrelevant to this awareness that is complete and blissful all by itself. This is what I am.

Why then do I seek "recognition"? Am I seeking an imaginary and fleeting self image, seeking to be inflated in a futile attempt to eclipse the sun? Am I a doll made of salt trying to measure the depth of the ocean? The tricks of the mind are amazing and endless. If one is anchored in awareness, they are even entertaining and amusing. The absurdity of the quest for recognition is clear.

Now, why do we seek affluence? I seek affluence for the pleasure and comfort of the body, creature comforts to enjoy. Why not? Affluence can and does make our lives comfortable and enjoyable at a physical level. However, when we seek to make it a cushion against imaginary troubles, we are only establishing the imaginary troubles more securely within our minds. The mind has its own unique power and can bring about events corresponding to thoughts consistently held. Our anxiety for our own safety and security in the form of accumulation, possessions and affluence may signal the beginning of troubles of our own creation. It is as absurd as a man preparing for a war in times of peace. He is disturbing his own serenity and joy, here and now, in preparation for a remote threat that may never come. There is an innate sense of insecurity that needs investigation.

We need to retreat into solitude and silence, into stillness and tranquillity to watch the phenomenon of insecurity in our own minds. The notion of more money and more possessions being the panacea for all ills may be an erroneous and learnt notion, reinforced by repeated reminders from an ignorant and materialistic society. Anxiety for an unseen future and fear of imaginary monsters which do not exist anywhere, except in our own overworked imagination, may lead us to cling to illusive notions of affluence as a saviour and guide on life's journey.

While poverty is certainly not a virtue, it is also not a vice. It is a state of hardship that is immediately remedied by the availability of material resources and money. Yet, the poverty of our thinking, the poverty of vision, the poverty of our mind may be harder to overcome. It may represent subtler and stronger obstacles. These may bind us with invisible and intangible cords that can neither be wished away nor be untied by the accumulation of wealth. In our anxiety and fear, have we made a God of useless pieces of paper and metal? In a skewed and frenzied focus on imaginary dangers, have we failed to see the obvious? The craving or even the urge for affluence needs to be examined and understood. The defining yardstick for our lives should be our own peace and joy, equanimity and contentment. This is felt within our own hearts and defies measurement and definition. To soar on the wings of joy and contentment, this very moment, set measurement and definitions aside and experience your innate perfection and freedom, awareness and understanding, bliss and joy.