We arrive in this world with empty hands and we leave with empty hands, the world tells us we need to possess have more than others it may be virtue or it may be money; it does not matter what you use to deal it could be worldly, or may be otherworldly. But be very smart, otherwise you will be exploited. Exploit and don’t be exploited that is the subtle message given to you from being at your mother’s knee. It is instilled into you at every step of your education. A true education will not teach you to compete It will not teach you to come first it will teach you to co-operate it will teach you to be loving and creative without comparing yourself to others. It will not teach you that you can be happy only when you are winning. You can’t be happy just by winning and in trying to win you go through such misery that by the time you become the winner you are consumed by misery By the time you have reached your goal you have gone through such misery that misery becomes your second nature. You don’t know any other existence; so even though you have become the first, you remain cautious, anxious, and afraid. It does not change your inner quality at all. A true education will not teach you to be the winner. It will tell you to enjoy whatever you are doing, not for the result, but for the act itself. Just like an artist or a musician… You can paint a picture in two ways. You can paint to compete with other artists; you want to be a Claude Monet or Edgar Degas Then your painting will be mediocre, because your mind is not interested in painting itself; it is interested in being the first the winner, the greatest artist in the world. You are not enjoying it; you are only using it as a stepping stone. You are on an ego trip, and the problem is that to really be an artist, you have to drop the ego. To really be an artist, the ego has to be put aside. Only then can existence flow through you. Only then can your hands and your brush be used as vehicles. Only then can something of superb beauty be born. Real beauty is never created by you but only through you. But if you are too interested in the ultimate result of being famous and the best artist in the world, that you have to defeat all other artists, then your interest is not in painting; painting is secondary. And of course, with a secondary interest in painting you can’t paint something original; it will be ordinary. Ego cannot bring anything extraordinary into the world; the extraordinary comes only through letting go of the ego. And so is the case with the artist. So is the case with everybody. The ego can give us the illusion of happiness. Once the ego is gone contentment should follow. :rose: