Have you ever heard the phrase “15 minutes of fame”? If you have then you know it’s an expression that was originally coined to represent when someone suddenly becomes famous for something, usually because they were in the right place and time where a large number of people were present. And while many often wish for this, believing their lives would permanently change for the better because of it, most who have ever experienced it typically never see it last, instead fading from any notoriety just as quick as they entered it.
Seeking “15 minutes of fame” has actually been on the rise over the past two decades with the increase of tabloid journalism, the paparazzi, and the Internet. From the people who try out for reality shows, dressing up in strange outfits or performing in odd ways, to those doing something similar in postings they put out on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube, it seems like everyone is searching for ways to instantly gain celebratory status these days.
And many often do, except as I mentioned already, that status tends to disappear as abruptly as it came on more than not. Remember William Hung who performed “She Bang” on American Idol that left the world laughing for a short time at how out of tune he was? But then there’s others like Ken Bone who recently gained his notoriety when he asked Hillary Clinton a question during the presidential debates while wearing a very bright red sweater. So far, his quick rise to fame continues to persist on some level with being asked to appear in a number of public engagements. But even then, will he still be remembered a year from now?
I bring this topic up only because the many who seek this 15 minutes of fame truly feel they’ll find fulfillment in life by gaining this. Even I too must admit that I’ve often wished to be instantly vaulted into stardom because of being in the right place and time and thought that if I was, I’d feel so much better about my life.
But in all honesty, achieving any type of fame, even 15 minutes of it, will only begin to resuscitate the very thing I’ve worked at reducing over the past bunch of years, that being my ego. You see, I’ve learned along the way that it’s my ego that always kept me from discovering and living out my spiritual calling. And it’s my ego that has always led me to believe that fame and fortune would bring me all the happiness I could ever want. But while I may not have ever achieved the fame part, I have with the fortune side of things and for all the time I did, I remained feeling unfilled in life.
So, for as much as my ego has often flirted with the notion of gaining my “15 minutes of fame” one day, thinking it will change my life for the better, I know deep down within me, it won’t. Because that craving for something like that only comes from the emptiness I feel inside, an emptiness that I know can never be permanently satisfied by any person, place, or thing that suddenly becomes a part of my life.
That’s why I do my best now to not seek temporarily happiness through anything like instant fame because I know that in getting it, that I’ll still be left in the long run with that void within me, even if it was to somehow last for more than those 15 minutes. Which is why I really have been pursuing nothing more than God’s will for my life as of late. Because ultimately, I judge that in following that, that no matter what happens, whether I gain 15 minutes of fame or remain relatively unknown for the rest of my life, that I’ll find true fulfillment…one which will last regardless of whatever circumstances life may ever bring me…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
