Firgun: The Hebrew Word for Sincere, Selfless Pride in Another Person’s Accomplishments

Reaching a moral peak and welcoming the purest goodness

A genuine, heartfelt, and sincere celebration of another person's success. This, I believe, is one of the moral peaks that a person can attain. "Being happy for our friend" in purity, without comparisons or jealousy, as well as without remembering their previous failures to normalize their success and without getting into battles with our thirsty-for-superiority self.

Photo by Joseph Pearson on Unsplash

Maybe while you are reading these words, you're remembering some memorized but fake thoughts to protect your "pretending-to-be-a-loser" self from falling into traps. For a moment, turn your face to your side, not forward. Look into your own heart and face. When was the last time you were so naively happy for someone? Without any nasty thoughts running through your mind.

It's just you and your thoughts, alone. You can be as open and honest as you want, and I believe you should. Even this confrontation will show you that the human soul is not so innocent at all. He plays games every day to protect his ego and his own land, forcing us to fight ourselves.

Experiencing pure goodness is a near-impossible challenge. Every day we put on our knight's robes and begin a new war. The war on the road to perfect goodness. Some days we have victories, and little by little, we are approaching the white lands of virtue. Some days, we're hit before we can even put on our war clothes, and on such days, the hope of the next day remains.

Rejoicing in the happiness of others is the most powerful tool for overcoming our ego's stronghold and approaching the good. If we can truly achieve this, if we can celebrate one another purely and without end, then we will go a long way towards the satisfaction and ease of being a good person.

Firgun is the Hebrew word for being proud of someone else's success. There is even a special day to celebrate it: July 17, World Firgun Day.

I fell in love with firgun. I should print it on a large paper and tape it to the wall opposite my bed. If see it every day, I will never forget, instead, remind myself of that miraculous healer continuously.

Being completely in tune with another person. The ability to walk hand in hand. In a brotherhood or sisterhood. Knowing that they can also be happy for you. A true juxtaposition with another person would be a unique richness in a post-modern world where individuality reigns and loneliness devastates us. It's a pure emotion, a sensation that cleans all the spiderwebs and dust in our soul, ventilates it, and brings freshness.

I understand and accept that such perfect goodness is not something that can happen every day; human nature is not suited to it. But what about giving it a shot some days? From now on, I’m beginning to consciously put effort into observing myself and also forcing myself to purely celebrate others.

I hope that one day I will be able to meet with my dear reader, understand their feelings even though I can't see their face, and connect with them so that we can be genuinely happy for each other.

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Thanks for reading!

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