King Sargon: Is it true thou art the richest man in Babylon?
Arkad: So it is reported your majesty, and no man disputes it.
King Sargon: How became thou so wealthy?
Arkad: By taking advantage of opportunities available to all citizens of our good city.
King Sargon: Thou hast nothing to start with?
Arkad: Only a great desire for wealth. Besides this, nothing.
King Sargon: Tell me Arkad, is there any secret to acquiring wealth? Can it be taught?
Arkad: It is practical your majesty. That which one man knows can be taught to others.
―Excerpt from Geroge Clayson’s The Richest Man in Babylon
***********
Whilst the dialogue above is focused on wealth, the principles revealed therein could be applied in several aspects of life. The first question is “what do you desire?” or if you have set a goal for yourself, as yourself “how much do I desire this goal.” Every step towards the achievement of goals should begin with a ‘great desire.’ If this is lacking, nothing will seem right in the process of achieving your goal.
One may ask “what actually can desire do?” Desire can make you accept and endure pain in order to gain your object of desire. It can make your temporary failures easy to bear. Summarily, we can say that desire bridges the gap between you and your goal in such a manner that whatever you encounter while pursuing your goal cannot break you.
Arkad took advantage of the opportunities available to all men of the city. We can interpret this by saying that these opportunities were available to all men but not visible to all men. Why? Desire is the lens that makes visible the opportunities available to us. It is just a slight change of the ontic nature of the opportunities that makes the difference – “Availability vs Visibility.” Desire! That you may See.
The last part of the discussion reads “what one man knows can be taught to another.” I consider this as a secret that has been revealed. The opportunity of learning from every man numbers among the greatest wastes in the world. First, a recognition that each person knows and has something to offer. Secondly, the humility to receive tutelage from the one who has proven expertise in a particular field of knowledge. This must not be that which is obtained from teachers or lecturers in an official school setting.
With great desire comes curiosity, with curiosity comes the recognition that you know not and that there are people who know. With such recognition comes the humility to seek knowledge from those who know because “It is practicable, what one man knows can be taught to another.” Take heed, however, that you do not tilt to the negative in the course of desire. As efficient as it is when applied positively, so it is when applied negatively.
What a material of un-ambiguity and preserveness of valuable knowledge regarding
unexpected emotions.
This is very interesting, You’re a very skilled blogger.
I have joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your
excellent post. Also, I’ve shared your site in my
social networks!
Everything is very open with a really clear clarification of the issues.
It was definitely informative. Your website is very useful.
Thanks for sharing!
I do not even understand how I ended up here,
however I believed this put up used to be great.
I do not recognise who you might be however definitely you’re going to
a well-known blogger in the event you aren’t already.
Cheers!
Ahaa, its pleasant dialogue concerning this post here at
this weblog, I have read all that, so now me also commenting here.
Hello mates, nice article and pleasant arguments commented at this place, I
am actually enjoying by these.
It’s remarkable for me to have a web page, which is beneficial in favor of my knowledge.
thanks admin
We are a group of volunteers and starting a new
scheme in our community. Your site provided us with valuable
information to work on. You’ve done a formidable job and our whole community will be grateful to you.
I was recommended this web site by my cousin. I am not sure
whether this post is written by him as no one else know such detailed about my difficulty.
You’re wonderful! Thanks!
I’ve been browsing online more than 4 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours.
It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my view, if all web owners and bloggers
made good content as you did, the net will be a lot more useful
than ever before.