by Crimson Boudoir

Created on: October 20, 2009

What exactly is a successful life? Is it only equated with monetary value? Is a successful life also synonymous with recognition from the world or are these two aspects only a part of the answer? And perhaps not the only one?

Western Society has a particular way of measuring success. It is about having. Having things, money, possessions. . It is also about being known. But not everyone who has gained these things believed that this is so. With all of his amassed fortunes, Rockefeller said that he felt the poor had it easier than the well to do.

"The poor still believe that money will bring happiness. The rich already know that it doesn't." Within his statement, there is the hint of his being unfulfilled. Can one be successful but ultimately dissatisfied?

The word "success" comes from the word, "successor". The etymology of the word, can be traced back to the 13thcentury and means "one who comes after", from the Latin word, "Successus". It is not until the 16thcentury, that the word takes on a new meaning. From then on, "Success" is connected with "happy outcome", and "accomplishment of a desired end". We would all appreciate these things in our lives. But, it is not always possible.

The trappings of a word like "success" is that it is often closely used with a word that is its' polar opposite.

"Failure".

This word is traced to 1225 from the old French word, Fallir, "to fail" and its' definitions "to miss, be lacking, not succeed" and can be found also from the Latin word, Fallereto"be lacking or defective". But it is not until the late 1600's; from Anglo-Norman origins that the word was first used as a noun and from "Fallier" is the word, which we use to describe someone who has not done well for themselves, "Failure".

No one from the oldest to the youngest wants to be considered a failure. This word is loaded with judgment like a proverbial finger pointing at us all. Yet, it seems that if we are to take the word "success" as it is used today, connected with gaining what we most desire, with that illusive "happy outcome" as it's result, not many of us have been able to measure up.

William James was a pioneering American Psychologist and Philosopher, whose godfather was Ralph Waldo Emerson, and whose brother was the famous writer, Henry James. He summed up his opinion of "success" to his friend, H.G. Wells in 1904, by saying; "The moral flabbiness born of the bitch-goddess success-That-with the squalid interpretation put on the word "success" is our national

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