Do Not Adorn Yourself With Foreign Feathers

You often meet people who adorn themselves with foreign feathers instead of earning their own. They declare other people’s triumphs as their own and bathe in the applause they receive from ignorant onlookers. They think that no one would ever discover their secret and they feed on the blind approval they receive. But the thing is, as much as you lie and deceive, your conscience is always one step ahead of you and knows the truth.

There are many known cases while others go unnoticed. It’s still common. One of the most common ways people adorn themselves with foreign feathers is plagiarism, be it on term papers, doctoral theses, songs or literary works.

Plagiarism uses someone other than the author’s work, ideas, or words without explicitly indicating where the information came from.

Behind plagiarism lies the need for recognition

There are also people who lie about their identities to advertise how important and valuable they are. They keep telling lies and inventing a life for themselves that they want, or they go overboard to make themselves seem more important than they are. Some in this game are capable of anything to quench their thirst for approval.

If you overlook their deception, which includes self-deception, you will likely identify a need for outward recognition. A need for recognition so intense that they have to lie because reality does not live up to their claims. The ends justify the means for them, and if that means getting appreciation for someone else’s accomplishments and praise for someone else, they will not shy away from it.

But that means they are feeding on something fake. Your audience does not applaud you or your creation. They are applauding someone else’s creation and that is a painful truth to live with. A truth that screams at your conscience every day when the illusion disappears and the lies can no longer hide the truth.

Achieve your own achievements to get closer to your true self

So why not just achieve your own success? Why should you get approval from other people’s? What better gift than receiving sincere and sincere applause for something you have created? When you are applauded and hugged for who you are and what you have created, then it is balm for your soul.

All creations, all art, are inspired by something previous, nothing can be shaken about that. But that doesn’t change the fact that what comes from you can be real and authentic. Because everyone is influenced and inspired by other things, and it is the big picture that leads to their performance. But there is a key difference between drawing inspiration from other people’s work and shamelessly copying it.

Cheating on yourself and others means moving away from your essence: you want to be someone you are not. You refuse to try to create something original. You give in to something simple, but at the same time you give your conscience a reason to punish you.

Lying is the opposite of authenticity

This false, insincere bliss usually does not last very long. Your days are numbered. In the end, every lie is ruthless. Every lie usually ends in failure, exposing the impostor, who often has to lie again to avoid being discovered.

When you achieve your own successes, you will be more authentic. You will get closer to your true self, with all your light and all your darkness. The product you create is yours, and it will come from your mind. You will create the truth and that will set you free. Without having to deceive and hide, free from the weight of receiving something that is not yours. Plus, there is a strong reason to be proud of yourself. Freddie Mercury summed it up like this:

“In the end, I think those who are natural and authentic always win.”

Most of all, it is real to triumph over yourself. There is no greater triumph than pursuing your own essence!