Have you heard the expression:
“To the victor belong the spoils.”
In the old days, the soldiers who won a war had license to pillage the villages. The winners could take anything they wanted. They stole. It was considered that they had the right. It was considered that taking from another made the winner notable and worthy.
Spoils, in this case, mean the winnings. The winner gets the winnings. That makes sense only in the world because the thinking is that a winner triumphs, so he must win something. In Truth, whatever a victor’s winnings may be, he hasn’t won anything. The world says he won. What he has won may be nothing except a few pats on the back and a swelling of his ego. This is a poor profit from winning. The victor may have the wool pulled over his eyes. He has been fooled. Of course, people fool themselves. The idea of winning can become insatiable.
This idea of being the foremost reminds Me of Sleeping Beauty’s wicked stepmother who had to be the Fairest in all the land. She had to stand out. If she had to be the winner, others had to lose. She plied a certain kind of war. Her life certainly was made up of selfishness. In such a case, what can be won but controversy?
Nothing wrong with a good-hearted good-spirited playing of a game. Play well. One team won, the other lost, so the world says, yet both teams have played well. Congratulations!
We can say that to the Holy belong the spoils. In this case, the Holy are those who seek good for all. The Holy are humble. They gained the advantage of humility. Humility says that it’s all right for someone else to get there first. From the moment the Holy became holy, they win everything. Holiness is the prize. Holiness is Wholeness. Wholeness is simple. There aren’t all the extraneous doo-dads that have been added. Holiness is not performance-minded. One who has gained Holiness is thinking of more than himself or of his team and of pride in ownership. Holiness doesn’t sacrifice anything. Holiness comes out ahead.
With married couples, when someone has to win, both lose.
Perhaps when you were in second grade, you had the best penmanship. For the moment you won over everyone else. You didn’t ask to be singled out. You have a very dear sweet memory. May you have many.
Yet no wonder there is such a tendency in the world to think that happiness is awarded to you from outside. The world cultures the idea that you have to wait for happiness to be bestowed upon you. In fact, it is you who bestows happiness upon yourself. No one can give you happiness. Someone can try as he may, and he can’t make you happy. He can dance on his head, and he can’t make you happy. Only you can make yourself happy. Everyone has to claim his own happiness. Happiness is self-appointed.
Happiness isn’t delivered to you, not really. You are the one who sits waiting for happiness. If it doesn’t arrive the way you want it to, you conclude that you are unhappy. Truly, happiness is something you choose. You decide it. You declare it.
This reminds Me of a young dauphin in a story. When the dauphin was to be punished for misbehavior, his friend and companion had to take the dauphin’s punishment. This is how it was in the world at that time.
Yet when the young dauphin became ill and was dying, he asked whether his friend could die in his place. The dauphin’s bereft mother and father, the King and Queen, had to tell their son that no, his friend cannot die in his place.
So it is with happiness as well. No one can give you a passport to happiness. This you have to do for yourself.