Where I Stand -- Roy Horn: Fulfillment of dreams can be the journey of a lifetime

IF YOU ARE YOUNG and reading this column, chances are you haven't yet experienced success -- at least not in the way people usually define it: Money, leisure, recognition. Maybe you're worried you won't be a success. Maybe you're wondering whether there's anything you can do to improve your chances.

If this is how you're feeling, take heart. There's a wise old saying from Japan that goes something like this: "The one who has all the trouble early on has all the success later on." This was certainly true in our case! But it might be helpful to ask, why is this so?

The answer has to do with inner satisfaction, the sense of well-being that comes from having accomplished something worthwhile. To achieve inner satisfaction, you must work hard and be willing to give. Don't even think of receiving -- nothing less than a 100 percent effort will do.

This is why success is so hard to come by early on; it takes a while to figure out what 100 percent is. Think of the classic illusion ... the endless chain of handkerchiefs that keeps coming out of the hat.

The giving of yourself is something like that. There's seemingly no end to it. It can try your patience. It can disillusion you. It can exhaust you. And then, just when you feel you've reached your absolute limit, the inner satisfaction -- the last handkerchief -- appears at last!

Our early days as a performing duo are classic. For weeks and months that seemed never to end, we crisscrossed the face of Europe, itinerant illusionists in continual pursuit of the next engagement. Everything we owned, which aside from props amounted to almost nothing, traveled with us in our tiny, well-worn automobile. At times we had to decide who ate better -- ourselves or our animals. The answer was always the same: our animals. Was this period difficult? At times excruciatingly so. Was it, ultimately satisfying? Gloriously so.

Siegfried and I gave the effort everything we had. But, then, we were also pursuing our dream -- which brings another insight about success: It has nothing to do with money and everything to do with love. Sound idealistic? Then look at those who've been working at something a little longer than you have. What distinguishes the successful ones? In all likelihood, they have been rewarded for pursuing their dreams.

As illusionists, this is the spirit we hope to awaken in every single one of our audience members, this delight in the prospect of where the imagination might take us, this willingness to let the heart take the lead. At a time when so much effort in so many areas is so narrowly focused on the bottom line, we find this yearning of the spirit gratifying.

If you are in school, the time to try to listen to your inner voice is now. If you have chosen a course of study for no other reason than to assure your financial security, watch out. You are flirting with failure, whatever assurances you may have been given. Are you on the path of giving, or are you simply on the take?

Let's go back to giving for a moment. After your first true experience of the inner satisfaction that comes from unrelenting effort, you will notice that your experience of inner satisfaction -- success -- begins to gain momentum, and that "100 percent giving" actually feels a certain way: Tasks begin to seem both very easy and very challenging -- at the same time! Easy because you wake up to what fulfills you. Challenging because you push yourself to the limit, always asking "what if" and then setting out to answer it.

Success is a series of stopping points on this road to "what if." When you look at it from this perspective, success is not a condition but a process. In our lives, nothing allows us to understand this more vividly than the work of the Siegfried & Roy Foundation to preserve the Royal White Tigers, the White Lions of Timbavati and other precious species for generations to come.

At what point does the work of preservation end? If we had been looking for an effort with an outpoint, we would have chosen something else. The satisfaction our conservation work provides us is profound, however, and as a measure of success, we can think of nothing better.

We all have the potential to fulfill our dreams. Start seeking your dream no matter what the consequences and you are already on the road to success. Of course, saying the magic word "sarmoti" helps! May you fulfill your potential to the utmost, and always remember to look for the magic that is all around you.

"In all of us is an elusive melody, which when heard and followed will lead you to the fulfillment of your fondest dreams."

Sarmoti.

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