Once upon a time, a guru asked his disciple to paint two similar paintings on to separate sheets of paper.
He was then ordered to go to the city and hang the painting on a wall, together with a marker and the following inscription: "Please mark the painting where you like it most."
In the evening he went to bring the painting and found out it was covered with marks.
"Everyone like my painting!" thought the disciple who became suddenly very pleased that his training had been so successful.
The next morning, the guru requested his disciple to hang the other painting in the same fashion, but this time with this instruction: "mark places you don't like."
In the evening the disciple discovered the painting was also full of marks, and he became very sad.
The guru then told: "Never mind, yesterday you were happy and today you are sad, and both paintings are the same."
The disciple then realized it was futile to pay attention to other's praise and criticism, and that he should just do what he had to do the best way he could.
As Friedrich Nietzsche rightly said -
What can everyone do? Praise and blame. This is human virtue, this is human madness.
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