Airs of Independence– At West End Gallery
He alone is great and happy who fills his own station of independence, and has neither to command nor to obey.
–Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Götz von Berlichingen (1773)
I can identify with this line from Goethe’s 1773 play. It expresses one of the better aspects of what I consider success to be. It’s dwells beyond money, belongings, real estate, fame or celebrity. Those things are sometimes actually hindrances to the kind of success I am talking about here. An excessive need for those things often creates a cage from which one cannot easily escape.
The success of which I speak is that which comes in achieving a level of independence where you can speak, think, and express yourself freely.
The type of success where you refuse to bossed or pushed around by others and have no need or desire to do so to others. You are at nobody’s beck and call, and no one is at yours.
The type where you define the what, where, when, how, and why of work and leisure for yourself.
The type of success where you have no need to explain anything to anyone but yourself. Well, and your most significant success other.
Reading this just now, I realized that this could in many ways describe a hobo, if there is still such a person. And maybe there is a certain degree of success in the independence of that lifestyle. It might not fall under your definition but under their definition it might well represent the pinnacle of success. Their ability to come and go as they please, to be beholden to no one, and to live by their own wits is something many of us seek in other forms.
I could go on with my list but I think you can fill in the blanks on this definition of success at this point. I have sometimes feel close to achieving this type of success. Actually, there are short periods of time where I am convinced of it.
But it’s a fleeting feeling. I find myself speaking and writing a little more guardedly than I would if I had the type of success that allowed me to be totally free. All too often I find myself feeling the need to explain or do things that I would rather not do.
But in those moments when I can break away from all these hindrances, I feel truly free. More successful than any amount of earthly wealth could provide for me. That is a pretty damn good feeling.
The kind of success I am willing to chase.
A little info about the Goethe play referenced at the top, which made me laugh early this morning. The 1773 play is about the life and exploits of the German adventurer/mercenary/poet Götz von Berlichingen, a colorful character who lived, feuded, fought, and killed from 1480 to 1562. Early in his career he lost his right hand and lower arm to a cannon blast and wore iron prosthetics for the rest of his life. It didn’t seem to hinder him much.
Götz von Berlichingen, both the man and the play, are best known for his so-called Swabian Salute. In response to being asked to surrender during one conflict, he is reported to have said, translated from Goethe’s words:
Me, surrender! At mercy! With whom do you speak? Am I a robber! Tell your captain that for His Imperial Majesty, I have, as always, due respect. But he, tell him that, he can lick my arse!
A surrounded soldier with an iron hand telling his opponent in the superior position to kiss his ass might well be the definition of a successfully free soul.
Here’s a tune in the same vein. This is the wonderful Diana Reeves adding her flair to the blues standard Ain’t Nobody’s Business (If I Do). Plain good stuff.
Götz von Berlichingen could identify with this tune.
Redtree Times 