Being Right is Just a Story

There is nothing that strengthens the ego more than being right. Being right is identification with a mental position - a perspective, an opinion, a judgement, a story. For you to be right, of course, you need someone else to be wrong, as so the ego loves to make wrong in order to be right. (Eckhart Tolle)


In my job as a financial strategist I have to question prevailing market assumptions. It is a lonely business, and it is a neurotic one too. Mostly we have to distinguish ourselves from people who just repeat whatever it is you can read in newspapers. When the trend change finally occurs that we analysts were predicting for a while, these commentators change positions as if it was the most natural thing in the world. We risk ridicule all the times, but these folks who always lean into the wind are somehow always right. I have always asked myself why it has to be so hard. Today I realize that the business I am in helps me to become aware of the presence of my ego.


I like to be popular too and I certainly crave to be right. I consider it hell to be proven wrong, and unfortunately this is part of the business I am in too. Eckhart Tolle's quote therefore talked to me. Today I understand that this craving to be right is also the ego talking, but you know what, it is me! Maybe the pain of being wrong will never go away. Maybe this is just my nature, and I have to simply accept that I am proud and a perfectionist in my own way. What has changed in me though, I no longer quarrel with the folks that I arm-wrestle with. Sometimes they are on my side, sometimes they are against me. They are not my enemies though, they are merely messenger's of the WAY.

I hope I will remember this post when luck is finally with me and everything is going my way professionally. Nice as this high feels for me personally, I don't aspire it because I know how fickle the situation is. I aspire to be free from this ups and downs. Being right is a story, just as being wrong is. I appreciate my job for teaching me this wisdom. Day in, day out, it makes me aware of my ego. It's an awakening story of sorts. One day this pressure cooker will end and my self will be transformed because of it.