I thought Gandhi said it best in his commentaries on the Gita:
We should do no work with attachment. Attachment to good work is that too wrong? Yes, it is. If we are attached to our goal of winning liberty, we shall not hesitate to adopt bad means. If a person is particular that he would give coins to me personally, one day he might even steal them. Hence we should not be attached to even a good cause. Only then will our means remain pure and our actions too.
And then re-reading the first chapter of 'The Power of Now,' I came across this:
Instead of ''watching the thinker'' you can also create a gap in the mind stream by simply by directing the focus of your attention into the Now. Just become intensely conscious of the present moment. This is a deeply satisfying thing to do. In this way you draw consciousness away from mind activity and create a gap of no-mind in which you are highly alert and aware but not thinking. This is the essence of meditation. In your everyday life: you can practice this by taking any routine activity that normally is only a means to an end and giving it your fullest attention so that it becomes an end in itself.
Full circle. Two years. Means with no attachment. Means as an end in itself. Amen.
There are times in one's spiritual life when serendipitous moments occur. This is not only that, but a new beginning as well. Maybe more on that aspect tomorrow.
~Peace to All and One,
Son Rivers
3 comments:
This really struck a chord. Focused attention on the NOW, for me, always brings in a sense of gratefulness and thanks. It is cascading feeling that magnifies the beauty of the moment and each miracle of awareness. If it s flower, the beautiful expanse of a cloudless sky, the chirping of a bird, the gait of an elderly person moving along, it is miraculous. Focused attention, mind chatter-free on simply being is like bathing in the goodness of life and it creates thankfulness and the realization of grace, love and mercy.
One Love
To take action for its own sake without being focused on the end result is a joyful way to be. And as a bonus, the action itself will proceed without impediment. It will be free of the weight of our hopes and fears for its success.
Many thanks for an interesting post.
Thanks Psiplex and Simon.
I am atill reeeling a bit from the understanding of this, and I mean to write further next week. But I remember when reading Tolle two years ago, I saw his means as ends as a spiritual practice in order to reach some end. It's actually hilarious to me as I write that out. But I see now that it truly is the end itself. Not a practice at all.
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