WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE  
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE   
WHITE PRIVILEGE NUMB  
Frank Stella, Harran II, 1967. Polymer and fluorescent polymer paint on canvas. 120 × 240 in. (304.8 × 609.6 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; gift, Mr. Irving Blum, 1982. © 2015 Frank Stella/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York



GOAL : EXPERIENCE 
FRANK STELLA : A RETROSPECTIVE 
You will disappoint many people in your life.


Do not worry about any of those people.



Worry about yourself. 



Move on.



Persevere.




Your spouse doesn’t belong to you. Your child doesn’t belong to you. Your best friend doesn’t belong to you. Your job doesn’t belong to you. Your business doesn’t belong to you. Your family doesn’t belong to you. Even the body that you live in doesn’t belong to you. The sooner we understand that nothing that we call our own belongs to us, the sooner whatever worries we may have will be eliminated. By taking a deeper look at the root of all the pain and struggles of humanity, one begins to realize that all of it is a direct result of our attempts to hold on to that which we feel we own. Our strong identification with and attachment to people, physical objects, ideas, and beliefs and seeing those external things as parts of us is the true cause of our misery. When we lose the possession of those external things, we feel as if parts of us were missing, leading to the feeling of extreme unhappiness, depression, and sometimes even the desire to end our life. But I have good news for you: From the time you were born, you have been whole. Even though you were born completely naked, with no clothes on your body, without friends, without a job, without money, sometimes even with no limbs, you were born completely whole. Wholeness is your original state that no external force can alter. When you lose a dear family member, you remain whole. When your long-term relationship or marriage falls apart, you remain whole. When you lose your best friend, you remain whole. When you lose a job that you worked in for many years, you remain whole. When you lose a business that you have built from scratch, you remain whole. When you lose a fortune that you worked so hard to earn, you remain whole. When you lose a status that you have worked so hard to build, you remain whole. When you lose an arm or leg, you remain whole. When you lose an argument, you remain whole. As soon as you come to a realization that nothing that you have claimed the ownership of was ever really yours, a great sense of peace will take over your entire being. You are truly whole regardless of whatever event takes place in your life. That doesn’t mean however that you should take for granted all of the beautiful things that are in your life: the loving and caring people that may surround you, the beautiful home that you may live in, the luxurious car that you may drive, the great material wealth that you may have accumulated, or the healthy body and mind that you may have been blessed with. On the contrary, appreciate them! Enjoy them! Be thankful for them! Give thanks! But do so without claiming ownership of any of the aforementioned and you shall not suffer when you can no longer enjoy them. Nothing in life is permanent. Nothing comes to stay. Everything, whether good or bad, comes to pass. It is a Universal Law. So, show plenty of gratitude and appreciation for all the blessings in your life but at the same time, don’t try to hold on to them during their departure. Once we accept the fact that nothing belongs to us, the whole of existence will belong to us. Once we stop chasing things, things naturally will come to us. To live life in such a way is to live in the state of constant happiness and eternal bliss.

BY AKIN OLOKUN