Most of us appreciate praise, but it is disastrous to become dependent on it. If we are going to allow our security to be bolstered by the praise, appreciation and applause of others, we are done for. I have heard about a well-known movie star who goes to sleep at night with a tape playing recorded applause. This is going to make him more and more insecure.
Why should we get agitated if someone ignores us? There are, after all, advantages to being ignored. We can go anywhere in freedom. Nobody recognises us – how good it is! In life, there are occasions when we are ignored and sometimes forgotten. That is the time for us to remind ourselves, ‘Why should I need anybody’s attention?’ This is the attitude of the real mystic.
Even those of us who are the most sensitive to praise and appreciation can learn to be so secure within ourselves that the word ‘rejected’ can be expelled from our dictionary. The one person who will never reject us is the Divine within, and that is enough to make up for all the rejections we may have to undergo at the hands of everyone else.
