Article February 3, 1934 Issue

True Ambition

[Written Especially for Young People]

HERBERT H. NORSWORTHY

The word "ambition" comes from a Latin word which signifies going around to solicit votes, and it was used with reference to candidates for election in Rome. Some of these candidates, no doubt, were eager to be elected, and so the word "ambition" has come to mean sometimes "an eager or inordinate desire for preferment, honor, superiority, power, or attainment." This mistaken sense of ambition generally includes a striving to get the better of others or to secure some special advantage. Such desire often impels people to commit extreme, rash, or even dishonest acts; hence the expression "mad ambition" is often heard with reference to one who may be taking great and perhaps unwise risks in order to achieve his object.

But in another sense of the word, a person without a right ambition would be unlikely to meet with any marked degree of success; and genuine success is desirable. Without success, one's purpose in life could not be fulfilled, real success being an essential outcome of reflecting Mind, the source of divine wisdom.

In order, then, to discover what true ambition is, we might ask ourselves, Why do I want to succeed? And the right answer may be found in Paul's words to the Corinthians, "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

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February 3, 1934
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