08 Apr The biggest mistake: The illusion that personal gain is made up of crushing others. (WAYNE W. DYER)
THE SIX MISTAKES OF MAN
The illusion that personal gain is made up of crushing others.
The tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or cor-
rected.
Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish
it.
Refusing to set aside trivial preferences.
Neglecting development and refinement of the mind, and not ac-
quiring the habit of reading and study.
Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
(106 B.C.-43 B.C.)
Roman statesman and man of letters, Cicero was Rome’s greatest orator and its most articulate philosopher. The last years of republican Rome are often referred
to as the Age of Cicero.
Cicero was once called the father of his country. He was a brilliant orator,
lawyer, statesman, writer, poet, critic, and philosopher who lived in the century be-
fore the birth of Christ and was momentously involved in all the conflicts between
Pompey, Caesar, Brutus, and many of the other historical characters and events
that make up ancient Roman history. He had a brilliant and long political career
and was an established writer whose work was considered the most influential of
its time. In those days, however, dissidents were not treated kindly. He was
executed in 43 B.C., his head and hands displayed on the speaker’s platform at the Forum in Rome.
In one of his most memorable treatises, Cicero outlined the six mistakes of
man as he saw them evidenced in ancient Rome. Twenty centuries later I repeat
them here, with a brief commentary. We still can learn from our ancestors of antiq-
uity, and I trust my corroboration of Cicero’s six mistakes will not lead to my head
and hands being displayed at our national speakers forum!
Mistake #1: The illusion that personal gain is made up of crushing others. This is a
problem that unfortunately is still with us today. There are two ways to have the tallest building in town. One way is to go around crushing everyone else’s buildings, but this method seldom works for long because those having their buildings razed will eventually come back to haunt the
crusher. The second way is to work on your own building and watch it grow. And
so it is in politics, business, and our own individual lives.
Wisdom of the Ages
Wayne W. Dyer
