It's a big one. Fame and obscurity drive most people, because when we look at fame and obscurity, many people will put up with the negative ones, pain, loss and blame, if they're able to get fame, if they're very attached to fame. So when it comes to the eight worldly dhammas, Steve and I believe it's very important to look at this couple of fame and obscurity because it's the ego working very strongly. Most people don't want to be ignored and be "no one." They like to be "someone."
And even people who are so-called attached to obscurity, don't want the limelight, is that totally true? Because when it comes to wanting to be loved, at least in someone's eyes, then they usually start to see that they are also wanting fame, and then only attached to obscurity because they are afraid of blame, or have a limited idea of their potential. Fear to be obscure, it actually comes right down to wanting to be loved, wanting to be someone, wanting to be important.
In order to let go of some of this attachment to the fear of obscurity, it's helpful to reflect on the opposite, that is, the pleasure of obscurity. Because many people actually don't look at the pleasure of obscurity. Instead of being lonely, to look at it as solitude, and a great opportunity. When we had our land in Australia, the next property to us was called "Solitary," I nicknamed it "Solitude" instead. Because solitude to me has a very nice sound. Rather than not being noticed or being alone. So we have to see the benefits of solitude in order to get used to feeling okay with being obscure.
Another thing with the fear of obscurity is learning how to have compassion and love for ourselves. So we work on developing more confidence and ability to have love and care for ourselves, rather than needing so much the attention of others. Because that's a key place where it's coming from; needing the love and attention of others in order to feel one's self-worth. This is what I have observed. So we have to learn how to have more compassion and love for ourselves. Then we are approaching others in the world with a more giving attitude rather than a needing attitude. Another way to work with the fear of obscurity is learning how to take joy in our beneficial qualities and not needing the affirmation of others or others' attention.
The attachment to fame, wanting to be important; it's very, very important to look at this quality, because if one gets too attached to fame, a lot of one's good intentions can disappear. Many people in the world were originally motivated with a wish to help and have compassion for others, but when they got famous lost that intention somewhat, and then got attached to being famous and being someone. It's very, very dangerous so it's also very helpful if one's very attached to wanting to be famous to reflect on the Dukkha that famous people have, seeing that it's not really that much happiness, if one's terribly attached to it, negatively or positively.
In order to have less attachment to this, it's very, very important to know what one's intentions are, learning how to contemplate the eight worldly conditions and looking at one's intention, because as the Buddha was recorded to have said, "Intention, I say, is Kamma." When we realize that we get the results of all that we think, say and do, and that it's intention that creates beneficial or unbeneficial results for us, it's quite important to start to examine our intentions. Rather than just trying to find the pleasure and pleasant feeling of praise, pleasure, fame, gain.
These are all dependent on things that are not totally under our power to control. If we're going to find a happiness that is deeper, and not so dependent on others, it's quite important to start to examine our intentions and find a deeper happiness. In order to understand the happiness that is more superior to the happiness that comes from praise, pleasure, fame and gain, we have to examine our practice and what we know about happiness and what we know about suffering. Many people just accept their conditioned beliefs about these things and do not actually examine more deeply what is happiness, what is suffering.
Frequently they blindly go through life just reaching for what they have been conditioned to believe is happiness, and they push away what they have been conditioned to believe is suffering. But the reality of the situation is sometimes very different. So it's quite important to have strong practice investigating the Five Hindrances, and investigating the beneficial qualities of the factors of enlightenment and also the unselfish emotions. Ask ourselves, when we have unselfish emotions in the mind - is there pleasure or pain, is there suffering or unhappiness, or is there peace and contentment? When we have selfish emotions and wanting something that we don't yet have, what do we experience, do we experience happiness or do we experience Dukkha?
We need to have a deeper understanding of the Four Noble Truths, everything is so interrelated with the Dhamma! Intentions. We need to look at our intentions, investigate into happiness and suffering to understand what they really are. And we need to understand the dependent nature of happiness that comes from external conditions which these eight worldly dhammas are so wound up in.
And when we consider fame, it's just a lot of other people's opinions, isn't it? What is more important? Other people's opinions of us, or our opinion of ourselves? Why do we consider other people's opinions so important? Aren't we all just going to die anyway? And what do we own? According to the Buddha, all that we own is our Kamma. Everything else disappears and the people we seek to impress disappear also.
If you do want to be famous, at least it would be better to be famous for something good that you have done in the world, rather than something harmful that you have done in the world, but even that, wanting to be famous in that way is not the purest intention. So we have to try to develop a strong practice of investigating the eight worldly conditions, understanding what is happiness and what is suffering, and be less dependent on others and external impermanent conditions. We can learn how to develop more compassion and love for ourselves so that we don't need so much the attention of others. Then when we're with other people it's more of a giving than anything. And to try to keep our intentions purer because these are the sources of true happiness. In order to keep our intentions pure and have the courage to keep our intentions pure, we need strong principles. So it all comes back to the Noble Eightfold Path again.