You are a creator. The one who’s responsible for the future of this world.
The designer of life and yet a humble apprentice. You’re a servant with extraordinary powers. Ambition is your fuel.
How much of it do you have? Let’s talk about ambition.
Come and join me as I tell you this old, story untold of a world once cold
With roads to be chosen and souls to be sold, rivers to be crossed and gold to be hoard
You sure won’t be bored, as I tell you this tale, as it’s your story in the greatest detail
The story of the self, heals and repairs the burns we endured from the fires of hell
Once upon a time in an unknown domain, unknown to you and unknown to me
There was a fountain, hidden in a cave, surrounded by mountains, it still there remains
Have you ever heard of this fountain of light? And looked for directions to your left and your right?
Well if you haven’t, sit tight as you might, unite with the fountain you once left behind
And around it goes, tramping these roads, a rumour I’m told, low and behold
The beginning of the world with the birth of a light, piercing through clouds turning day into night
Or so I am told that on that day, the gods, created a soul, against all odds,
The worlds biggest luck, lighting struck, striking and bold
The world transformed as you broke the mould!
But memories fade, and you don’t remember, the things you’ve seen in all their splendour
And so you wake up as you surrender to this bundle you wrap up and wrap up to render
A garment or two as you do with your tools, the chalk walks the talk and square ruler rules
The clocks ticking supper, catch up on the news with some jazz and some blues until you blow out your fuse!
Snooze! A headache from last nights booze.
No dreams, no cues, no kisses from the muse
Projections of a future are few and fume away as you mule your way to a new day, it loops!
You begin to doubt your actions and thoughts, and examine the fruits that this tailoring brought
You bought all the tools along with some cloth and sought all the knowledge, you now have a lot
BUT what to do with it if its all locked up? And your time isn’t yours rush, hush and STOP!
Enslaved to the job as your minds all clogged yet you know there is more you can feel it in your gut!
So,
Echo’s of guilt approach you from far, the song of its sirens covers you in its tar
Helpless you are, resisting it with all the limbs in the world as you crawl to a fall
Down you go and around you go. As you slowly drown in the ground you grow roots
So strap up your boots as nature salutes the one who aims for the stars and shoots
What is this peculiar desire of the strange creature that we are? This desire to achieve…
Why do we generate dreams out of thin air and die trying to get there? Are we filling a void? Or are we expanding a possession?
Is ambition greed? A need to succeed, by taking from others without planting a seed?
Perhaps or indeed a generous act, enslaving yourself to the ideals you enact
Who is the ambitious tailor? What is the ambitious tailor?
We strengthen our stance in life by enriching ourselves. This enrichment is the result of continuous evaluation.
Evaluation is lead by questions and questions demand answers.
Answers are options, see them as doors and more will reveal as you further explore
They're all well connected, wherever you begin, and all will lead you to the fountain within
Explore the world to understand yourself…
But you cannot explore without interacting with the world. You cannot explore without an act.
Where would action be without ambition? Where would you be without action? However! Ambition without discipline is dangerous.
It breeds envy of those who have it as without discipline, nothing is gained, no gain maintained, only pain endured and pain retained…
Discipline creates routines! That’s your apprenticeship! The cycle of perfection!
It’s learning the skill of repetition and above all understanding the process towards mastery.
But bite your lip as here comes the flip:
You assume that routines, make space for the new, but the venomous spider is consuming you
It’s web of complexion simplifies life yet anything new is a bug to be spiked!
We can describe the process toward mastery as “The setting up of a pattern of behaviour, which through conscious repetition transforms into instinct”.
In other words, turning the conscious act into the instinctual. Anything beyond that becomes comfort. Too much comfort makes you rigid. It turns you into stone.
Mastery means explored territory. The question really is: where do we find anything to master in the first place?
Routines are old, and most of it known, gone are the days you got your mind blown
But sometimes, you’re kicked and thrown off your throne, and find your majesty in the unknown
The unknown…
We think we know how we’ll act in unknown situations. We don’t. We are as unknown to ourselves in the unknown as the unknown itself is to us.
And that is exactly why we need it. To see ourselves act in ways that surprise us. To have something to reflect on.
To discover things about ourselves that we would never have known about in explored territory. There is no adventure without the unknown!
There is no adventure without ambition! And yet there will always be an unknown waiting for you.
Now here is the thing: Your level of ambition determines how much of the unknown you're willing to explore. How much risk you're willing to take. The bigger the adventure, the more there is of the world and the less there is of you. That understanding my friend, is the foundation of humility.
But tell me Reza how life will improve, if by my exploration, yours will be too?
Knowing myself, what’s that to you? If in two different worlds, the truth we pursue?
That a good point! How does life improve when we explore our thoughts? How does knowing ourselves better improve anything?
Think about it. The more you discover about yourself, the more there is of you in the face of an ever expanding world. Exploring yourself enriches your soul. Obviously! It’s the rich soul who’s generous enough to give importance to others.
Without generosity there is no deep connection to anything and without a deep connection to others, there is no humanity.
You see, it’s the spirit of humanity that creates culture which we need to mediate our relation with nature as without this relationship there is no life, and if there is no life, then:
There is no life to be improved nor destruction to be feared. No pain to be avoided and no evil between ears
And who believes that, is rightly to be feared, as the rejector of that truth, towards evil is geared
We need an adventure to face resistance, Without resistance, we don’t push. We don’t get to know our limits. Ambition knows no limits.
We don’t know ourselves without knowing our limits. There is an idea that people don’t move towards better for betters sake, but away from misery for as far as they can. What if ambition is the force that we need to move away from that misery, for as far as we can?
So what is ambition? Perhaps an untameable feeling of dissatisfaction with the current state of being.
Or maybe it’s when the desire for adventure, discipline and encouragement find synergy. Ambition is believing in an ideal.
It’s putting standards into action and believing in action. Ambition is setting an example by pushing your boundaries and thereby the boundaries of humanity. Ambition is a confession: “I’m not enough AND I can do better”. Not to be confused with greed. Ambition is not psychopathy. It is not just the desire to have wealth and power. Or is it?
As you’re deeply staring in the swamps of your thoughts
A reflection reveals the you to unlock
The tears in this soil dear are all that appear
But out of this mud soon the lotus appears
And so it ignites! The spark of ambition! Positions you in life with the desire for a mission
When you awaken, nature awakens! And orients you upwards into the havens
Bringing in line your body and soul, in search for the fountain, you explore and patrol
Borders and unknowns folklore and roles acting with actors to carve out your own
You’re feared by others, as you start to define, the divine within you for the life down the line
Feared for judgement, as your thought lines align and refine overtime as your mining your mind
Sentences flow and sentence your crimes, for the times you left all those mountains unclimbed
So leave while you can and leave all behind, in search for the you which you have not defined!
Reza.
Ambition is what me pushes forward but also what breaks me. I have the ambition to become a bespoke tailor. But is that a realistic goal to achieve???
I am a carftsman, an artisan by heart and soul. I love tailoring and I should be proud of what I have achieved so far. I wear the garments I have created with proud. It gives me more selfconfidence. It is an expression of who I am. But is it enough to builld a profession out of a hobby running out of hand???? My work gets recocnized by professional tailors but I see all these little imperfections. A Dutch tailor and tutor asked me if I realize how good I am in tailoring. I am doubting. Progress goes slow, too slow in my oppinion.... Am I impatient??? Or arrogant to even think that I am able to learn and master a craft at age 53 autodidactically??? Books don't always tell their knowlegde. Often they are silent , don't leading my hands, even confuse my mind. On the other hand, the traditional model with a selfdrafted pattern finally looks like a bespoke coat.
Still, I am at a point to break, to let my ambition go. I don't have the feeling that I will be ready to make a garment at the highest standards for a client. I had a conversation with the tailor who makes the ceremony uniforms of the Dutch Royal Household. She told me that I am doing well. She also pointed out that it will take me at least five years after learning the craft propperly , to work on my own on a client. It is not in the skills of making/sewing. It is the skill of fitting garments.
At the moment I am buisy with tousers and the fitting is what is driving me creasy. working on number 6 in a row, the fit has improved but isn't perfect. Is it the pattern or the shaping with the iron, or both??? My mind is going mad. There goes my ambition. I am disapointed about myself, my skills, my ability to fix the problems. It paralyses me. the mountains of fabrics in my stash screaming at me, shouting at me to get started again. They want to be transformt into a garment as beautiful as possible, as they deserve. They want to comfort me, but I am stucked....
What about the enviroment you are living in as an aspiring tailor? The Dutch seem to have little appreciashion for tailoring. This is a factor that can turn your ambitions down also.
However, I hope by tomorrow I will gain back my ambition and my selfconfidence to pick up a piece of cloth and transfrom it into a wearable garment. The best garment I have made so far. I will make a humble start again, enjoying the process of creating with my hands. I keep pushing my standards taking into account not to overstrain myself (that's hard). And even if my ambition to become a bespoke tailor is too far fetshed, I will end up the best dressed man in Rotterdam!
Sorry to bother you with this. Have patience with me!
Thank you Reza and Mouwgli for all you efforts!!
Best, Martin