Don't Worship—Just Be Yourself

Zarathustra said to his disciples: “Why do you not tear apart my garland? You revere me—but what if the one you revere should fall? Beware lest a statue crush you! Now I bid you cast me aside and discover yourselves...”

You can respect someone without worshipping them. Once you begin to worship someone, you make it almost impossible to imagine yourself surpassing them. They become a god to you—and how could an ordinary mortal ever outdo a god?

Each of us is unique. No one else can take our place in the things we think and do. We each follow a path that no one else can walk in quite the same way. Whatever we achieve, however small, no one else could have achieved quite the same thing in our circumstances. We are each one of a kind.

You respect someone because they have worked hard, persevered, and endured hardship and pain to accomplish something you want to do but have yet to achieve. They are simply someone you can learn from as you make your own way in the world. Believe that with effort and persistence, you too can one day achieve what they have—or perhaps do even better.

Don't worship anyone. Just be yourself.