! at David Whyte's "Ambition" facebook.com/photo.php?fbid
"Ambition ultimately withers all secrets in its glare before those secrets have had time to come to life from within and then thwarts the generosity and maturity that ripens the discourse of a lifetime’s dedication to a work"
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I also really enjoyed "Friendship," another essay in the same compilation ("Consolations"):
"A friend knows our difficulties and shadows and remains in sight, a companion to our vulnerabilities more than our triumphs, when we are under the strange illusion we do not need them."
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The comments on ambition remind me also of in autotranslucence.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/bec
"You can’t keep your gaze tightly fixed on the outcome you want because it will lock your mind onto the strategies you currently have for meeting them, which by definition probably don’t work"
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Same, broken link for me
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I quite disagree with this sentiment. Ambition is the trigger for discovering these secrets and making use of them. Far easier to imagine that people without ambition fail to dedicate a life to any work at all than to think that ambition has spoiled great work.
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Somehow I agree with both of you! I guess the trouble is really that his claims need qualification. I think he's gesturing at a clinging, grasping sort of ambition, which seems to suffocate… but you're right that the solution is certainly not sloth! More joyful responsiveness…
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I've always been amused at those who admonish us to avoid ambition, which is, oddly enough, their ambition.
I simply point out those without ambition don't generally accomplish much, and rightly discard them.
