Welcome back to the 1st Law Newsletter - Friday Edition.

In this email:

• Fierté vs Orgueil

• Levels of Success

• Ralph Waldo Emerson on Success

Fierté vs Orgueil

Pride is the cardinal sin which gives rise to the rest of the 7 deadly sins. The first sin ever committed was an act of pride when Satan refused to recognize God as his lord. However, the English definition of pride is generalized and overused. In other languages, there is a common distinction between positive and negative types of pride, e.g. French with fierté vs orgueil. In English we have the overused pride, and the uncommon vainglory.

Orgueil (vainglory) is obsessive, being boastful or prideful about things that can be taken away from us, or that we have not earned. Conversely, fierté is a sense of pride and accomplishment that is earned through hard work. To have fierté, or to be fier, what you are proud about must be intrinsic and unable to be taken away from you. For example, an accomplishment, but never the material reward. Once you become prideful about your possessions or your title or your ego gets too big, you have exceeded humble and justified pride and passed into the cardinal sin of vainglory.

Stay humble and earn your pride through hard work. Never have excess pride about the things that can be taken away from you. The only thing you can really be proud of is the person you have become and the person you would be if all your material possessions were taken away from you.

The Evolution of Success

There is a difference between success and Success. One is a physical state, while one is a state of mind.

The first level to success is what one has. This is what most of us are focused on. We all want that Lamborghini, or the mansion, or the nice clothes, and attaining them may feel like we have made it. However, this is just the first step to true Success.

The second step is what one does. Do you ever wonder how the greatest people spend their time? How do they act? How do they speak? How do they think? This is the second step on the road to Success. Realize that the material possessions may be nice, but the true fulfilment is from how you act and spend your time, not how you spend your money.

The last step on the road to true Success is to become a successful person. I often hear accomplished people say something along the lines of: ‘Its not what I have now, its who I am now’. It makes sense. If you have gone through the steps, you are undoubtably a different person. If you took everything away from a truly Successful person, they would get it back quickly. Elon would have a new company within a week, Taylor Swift would have a new hit album and a multi-million dollar streaming deal within six months, and Trump would own an apartment building within a year.

First, look successful. Then act successful. Then you can Be Successful.

Ideas from Power vs. Force by David R. Hawkins

Ralph Waldo Emerson on Success

It is what you have done and who you have become that matters. Strive to be a positive member of the human race and leave the world better than when you came into it.

Thanks for reading!

Lucas