The Tao of Spartacus Jones

Nothing eats away at your soul more insidiously or more surely than the acceptance of unearned and undeserved accolades. It's dishonest, of course. That's reason enough not to do it right there.
But it's also spirit-stunting because you can't pretend to be something and actually BE that something at the same time. It's the difference between "air guitar" and actually playing a guitar.
And people who get good at pretending rarely get good at anything else. Too much energy spent maintaining the facade.
Elvis's black belt.
Evander Holyfield's decision against Lennox Lewis.
George W. Bush being "president," or "commander-in-chief."
And the beat goes on...

How many times have I seen it in a class, for example, where the primary focus was to pass THE TEST and get your ticket punched instead of really learning the material? Particularly true of "required" classes.

There's an odd thing that few people seem to understand: that the motivation for doing something may have NOTHING to do with extrinsic rewards. Not money, not fame, not praise, not belonging, not comfort, not even physical survival. Sometimes you do something just because it's who and what you are, how you've decided to live, in order to act autonomously adequately, appropriately and artfully in the world. Abraham Maslow refers to this as "self-actualization."

This is not to say one disdains praise out narcissistic perfectionism or false modesty.

There's a song, by Sting, that's one of my favorites. Part of it says this:

He deals the cards as a meditation
And those he plays never suspect
He doesn't play for the money he wins
He doesn't play for respect
He deals the cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden law of a probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance

I know that the spades are swords of a soldier
I know that the clubs are weapons of war
I know that diamonds mean money for this art
But that's not the shape of my heart....


In a film called THE YAKUZA, there's a moment in a scene in which a former yakuza is trying to explain to a "gaijn" about "giri," or duty and why he must obey his code of honor and do what honor dictates, fulfill his obligations, his "giri," instead of just "walking away" as the Anglo suggests the yakuza could do.
The Anglo says, "If you nobody's MAKING you do it, you don't believe in any heaven or hell. So what do you believe in that makes you do it?"
The Yakuza replies. "Giri."

If I have to choose, I'd rather deserve honors I don't receive than to receive honors I don't deserve.