Two years ago I wrote a post, "Humility: The Truth about 'My' Good Accomplishments." In that post, I recognized that everything I have created – my music, my books, my blog – none of that was "my" work, a product of my mind for which I could take sole credit. Indeed, the fact that I did view my work that way resulted in huge frustration when the work didn't get the recognition I knew it deserved; my ego was bruised.
Instead, I realized that my Buddha nature/the divinity within me/the universe was a major co-creator. I was more than a vessel, I put a lot of skin in the game, but I was guided to do what I did by the divinity within me. As an extreme example, that's why I was able to write a musically-praiseworthy requiem despite the fact that I had never studied music – just had played the piano all my life – let alone studied composition. While accomplishing that was a huge ego boost at the time, I realize in retrospect now that that was an example of my being guided by a cosmic force. The first conductor of the requiem said that it was amazing that I did everything a trained composer should do, yet I had no idea what I was doing. That was because of the guidance I received.
Recently I realized that I had completely forgotten that lesson. When creating work this past year, I was never mindful of the fact that I was being guided and that this was teamwork. I never thanked the lord/universe for helping me create the work. And I never asked for its guidance on how to get the work acknowledged. I was just operating on ego-power and was not successful in getting any of the work acknowledged, beyond the immediate circle of people involved. Exactly as had been the case with all my previous creative work.
Lesson: Without exercising appropriate humility regarding my work, acknowledging the guidance I was given by the universe, and asking for guidance on how to get the work broadly acknowledged, the promotion of my work will not be successful. I will follow this guidance not just regarding future work, but my past work as well.
Instead, I realized that my Buddha nature/the divinity within me/the universe was a major co-creator. I was more than a vessel, I put a lot of skin in the game, but I was guided to do what I did by the divinity within me. As an extreme example, that's why I was able to write a musically-praiseworthy requiem despite the fact that I had never studied music – just had played the piano all my life – let alone studied composition. While accomplishing that was a huge ego boost at the time, I realize in retrospect now that that was an example of my being guided by a cosmic force. The first conductor of the requiem said that it was amazing that I did everything a trained composer should do, yet I had no idea what I was doing. That was because of the guidance I received.
Recently I realized that I had completely forgotten that lesson. When creating work this past year, I was never mindful of the fact that I was being guided and that this was teamwork. I never thanked the lord/universe for helping me create the work. And I never asked for its guidance on how to get the work acknowledged. I was just operating on ego-power and was not successful in getting any of the work acknowledged, beyond the immediate circle of people involved. Exactly as had been the case with all my previous creative work.
Lesson: Without exercising appropriate humility regarding my work, acknowledging the guidance I was given by the universe, and asking for guidance on how to get the work broadly acknowledged, the promotion of my work will not be successful. I will follow this guidance not just regarding future work, but my past work as well.
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