All Our Efforts To “Improve” Life Are Absolutely Worthless, But Herein Also Lies The Salvation
Might our “undying hope” actually be what’s causing us so much suffering?What if what we all think we’re doing to “improve” our lives in the way of more “movements”, “social justice”, “social change”, “laws”, “regulations”, “policies”, etc., or any kind of inner “self-improvement” is really absolutely worthless and has absolutely no effect at all on the overall consciousness of humanity or the state of affairs on the planet? What then would it mean to “let go of it all?” What then would it mean to let go of all hope?
If there’s anything “to do” at all to “improve” our lives, it’s “not doing.”
This is quite hard to hear let alone accept for we devote so much of our life’s energy to this constant “pursuit” of “the more” and “the better.” It’s what presently gives our lives meaning and purpose, it’s what our whole culture and society is built upon. However, it doesn’t appear that anyone has ever stopped to ask whether this type of behavior has ever really brought about any true and lasting change. From this vantage point, it appears that although we may move in what might be perceived to be a “progressive” direction, we also appear to repeatedly sliding back to the “non-progressive” side some how. In fact, it appears as though we are eternally caught between these two opposing poles. Indeed, the phenomena of psychological time appears to be humanity’s curse.
Are we not continuing to repeat the same deadly and destructive behavior on this planet we always have? The methods of devastation and destruction have appeared to change(for the worse) while at our psychological core we humans have remained fundamentally the same as always — mired in self-centered concern.
But alas, we have the hope that “someday”, at some future point in time, we will finally get it all right. We’ve been going around in this circle for as far back as can be recalled. We don’t yet see that the act of “hoping” for a better future is precisely the thing that prevents it from ever occurring. Our “hope” then may be viewed as our eternal curse. Perhaps it may finally be time to take a step back and examine the entire situation as a whole and see if maybe we can just simply notice, or see what our problem is?
if what we’re doing to better our lives has no “positive effect”, then the fear we have of “letting go” and “loosing it all” which lies at the center is totally and completely unfounded as it also means that there is no “negative effect” to be had by letting it go because there was never anything to be had by holding on to it in the first place.
We appear to be engaged in the constant struggle in one way or another to “make things better” and “improve” them where we’re always looking to either fulfill, or uphold some projected goal or ideal. Not only does what we do to “improve”(…whatever) ultimately have no effect, it may also be seen as actually perpetuating and adding to the problem. We do not yet collectively see that this process itself creates division and breeds conflict both within and without, and we do not yet see that the reason for this is our unawareness of the nature of thought.
Therefore, if what we’re doing to better our lives has no “positive effect”, then the fear we have of “letting go” and “loosing it all” which lies at the center is totally and completely unfounded as it also means that there is no “negative effect” to be had by letting it go because there was never anything to be had by holding on to it in the first place. Therefore we are free to “just be” without continued striving. If there’s anything “to do” at all to “improve” our lives, it’s “not doing.” It’s by “not doing” that we have a chance of seeing.
