“Authentic talent and true success do not only generate admiration or inspiration. They also awaken resistance, jealousy, envy, and hostility. This reaction is not accidental; it is inherent in the human condition. Because those who excel unintentionally expose the shortcomings and failures of others. Not everyone tolerates this with humility. Some project their frustration onto those who advance, rather than onto their own limitations.
Don’t expect only universal gratitude for your efforts. Expect also unfair judgment, slander, defamation, and attempts to morally diminish you by those who cannot match your merits. This was true even of the righteous one par excellence. As the Gospel of John says:
Ἐμίσησάν με δωρεάν.
“They hated me without a cause” (John 15:25).
Christ’s moral excellence did not only attract followers, devotees, and disciples; it provoked hatred in those who could not bear his light. Those who shine must accept the shadow they cast on others.
Plato warned of this in The Republic: the man who returns from the vision of the Good is ridiculed by those who never left the cave. Mediocrity fears what surpasses it and mocks what it does not understand.
Do not defend yourself with regrets or justify yourself to pettiness. Excellence stands on its own. Accept that being the object of envy is a sign that you have arrived where many would like to be. Do not stop your progress because of those who cannot bear to see it. Move forward with determination. Truth, ability, and integrity do not need witnesses to have value.
Prabhuji
