“Fame is proof that people are gullible.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have you ever wondered why some celebrities have a cult-like fan-following while some people do not prefer the same celebrity? While a person may have talents, how they are represented creates an impression.

Taking Emerson’s quote in expansion to this, he says that when people become famous, it’s often because others have been easily convinced of their worth or talent, even if these qualities are exaggerated or unfounded. In other words, fame can be a product of people’s tendency to believe in hype or to be easily impressed.

Similarly, when people hear something or see something on TV that strongly suggests a so-called fact, they believe it without proof. Sometimes, the proof can be misrepresented, and sometimes, all it takes is the media to stir something up, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Some people choose to be gullible. They are not bad people by definition but at the same time are easily swayed by the words that float around them. Such people need to improve on their Spiritual Quotient (SiQ) before they can develop a perspective not from the eyes of gullibility but from spirituality.

What does it mean to be spiritual and simple at the same time?

Simplicity means clarity where the mind is not clouded by a mist of confusion. One does not have to seek everyone else’s opinion or check their horoscope for the day. Simplicity is devoid of theoretical constructs where the mind no longer wishes to wander into the forest of uncertainty. 

Thus, when one embodies simplicity 

and is spiritually heightened, 

the need to push for answers 

to unnecessary questions is dissolved.

For instance, let’s look at an incident where the media is stirring up scandalous news about a celebrity. The news is that the celebrity is pregnant out of wedlock. The moment the news is spread across different channels, you see how social media takes it up by storm. There are comments about the right to one’s choice and opinions shot from one hater to another.

People are incessantly talking about who the father could be, whether is he married, whether is he not, whether is he younger, or whether is he older. The celebrity in question and her values are put to the test. Her family is questioned, her friends are interviewed, and opinions about her nature are asked of her exes.

In all the commotion, no one really wants to know whether or not the celebrity is truly pregnant. By the end of the second so-called trimester, news was leaked that the celebrity was only trying to gain momentum for a movie about to be released.

Meanwhile, people who were fooled by the news are the same ones now, moving on from the scandal to the movie, and what it could be about.

Gullibility is like a roller coaster 

taking you from one height to another 

but not before dropping you steep 

into a world of lies and goose chases.

Therefore, if you want to stand by your V.I.P. (Values, Identity, or Purpose), enhancing your SiQ will help you gain clarity. This clarity dissolves all confusion and deactivates the wandering eye of your mind from creating goose chase diversions.