success!

Does the eye succeed in seeing, the ear succeed in hearing, the tongue succeed in tasting, etc.?

Does the rose succeed in being red or smelling sweet?

Does the pig succeed in oinking?

Do any such things or more like them fail?

The word success is partly defined as

the achievement of something that you planned to do or attempted to do

Do seeing, hearing, tasting or other attributes include planning? Are they attained?

Do any of them bring with them the implicit completion that "success" carries with it -- the ahhhh of satisfaction; the blue ribbon of a job well done; the period on some hopeful sentence; the been-there-done-that relaxation of the mind?

It seems to me that no one runs around claiming "success" about such matters any more than a rose would bask in its own sweet smell. In such realms, success is neither bad nor good ... it is simply irrelevant; it doesn't compute; it doesn't belong.

And perhaps that is the rich and fulfilling lesson of spiritual discipline:

YOU

CAN

NOT

SUCCEED.

Life is not a success story. It's just a story that never begins.