Brian Johnson explores Yogananda's teaching that action, not thought alone, creates success. Yogananda says be on fire with purpose. Johnson connects this to Aristotle's idea that virtue comes from doing, not thinking, and warns against being a librarian of the mind instead of a warrior.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic one. In our last couple ones we talked about some ancient wisdom and modern science on the subject of being highly successful people. As you may recall, we started with Heidi Gran Halvorsen's thoughts on the nine things successful people do differently. Then we spent some time with Aristotle and explored his thoughts on the importance of being a success in fulfilling our potential. Today I want to invite Yogananda back to the party to hear his thoughts on the subject. Let's check out our notes on his great little book, to be Victorious in Life. He tells us, and I quote, to activate the law of action, you must be active. Exercise your powers rather than ossifying in inertia. He says, so many people are lazy and lacking in ambition, doing the bare minimum of work to somehow live and eat until they die. Such a slothful existence is hardly worthy of being called life. Then he says, to be alive is to be on fire with purpose, to move forward with undaunted determination toward a goal. You must be enthusiastically active, make something of yourself and give something worthwhile to the world. It is because my master strengthened in me the conviction that I could be something that I made the effort to to achieve in spite of all the forces that tried to stop me. Finally, he says, many individuals think great things but do not act on them. However, it is the activity that creates the greatness. Unless you actually accomplish, you are not successful. It is not enough just to think success or think ideas, they must be demonstrated. To think you are virtuous does not make you virtuous. So thinking success does not make you successful. End quote. To which I cue the choir of angels to sing their sweet melody. And I want to note that Aristotle would of course agree with this line of thinking as well. Not only did Aristotle, as we discussed in our last plus one, challenge us to successfully fulfill our aims in pursuit of hitting the ultimate target of becoming a eudaimon. And he also tells us that thinking you are virtuous does not actually make you virtuous. We need to, as always, move from theory to practice. Here's how Aristotle puts it, and I quote him again. Just as at the Olympic Games, it is not the best looking or the strongest men present that are crowned with wreaths, but the competitors, because it is from them that the winners come. So it is those who act that rightly win the honors and rewards in life. And it's officially been way too long since I quoted Donald Robertson and his perspective on librarians of the mind versus warriors of the mind. So Here we go. Let's dig this gem up from the Philosophy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Check out those notes if you haven't yet. Where he tells us. The ancients conceived of the ideal philosopher, the as a veritable warrior of the mind, a spiritual hero akin to Hercules himself. But since the demise of the Hellenistic schools, the philosopher has become something more bookish. Not a warrior, but a mere librarian of the mind. Here's to being on fire with purpose, moving forward with undaunted determination toward our ultimate goal and ultimate victory. Not someday. Today. Let's go, hero.
