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Nothing to do VS Nothing you can do
betaboy
Veteran
in Philosophy
There is a difference. If a person believes there is nothing to do, he will at best force himself to do nothing. That never works. But if a person believe there's nothing he CAN do, then 'doing nothing' will be natural rather than forced.
DO helps a person to understand that there really is nothing a person can do. Your birth wasn't in your hands - it was determined by two strangers. Your life isn't in your hands. It is determined by circumstances, other people, your capacities, and a million other variables.
If we carefully observe ourselves and the world around us, everything seems like an automatic process, including our free choices and actions. Besides, there is DO - A depends on B, B depends on C, and so on, which means nothing is truly independent enough (or free enough) to do anything. So our 'doing' itself could be a myth, only used for conventional purposes. Like describing a dream etc. .... doesn't make the dream real.
This sort of understanding will make a person do 'wu wei' with ease. Else, it's gonna be a struggle.
DO helps a person to understand that there really is nothing a person can do. Your birth wasn't in your hands - it was determined by two strangers. Your life isn't in your hands. It is determined by circumstances, other people, your capacities, and a million other variables.
If we carefully observe ourselves and the world around us, everything seems like an automatic process, including our free choices and actions. Besides, there is DO - A depends on B, B depends on C, and so on, which means nothing is truly independent enough (or free enough) to do anything. So our 'doing' itself could be a myth, only used for conventional purposes. Like describing a dream etc. .... doesn't make the dream real.
This sort of understanding will make a person do 'wu wei' with ease. Else, it's gonna be a struggle.
2
Comments
And more's the point.... why?
Is it necessary...?
In what is, nothing is resolved & everything is resolved.
Both the paradox of doing and being unravel. Stillness and movement become obsolete.
Yes you can. Non-self doesn't mean we cannot do things. It means that when things change how we don't like them that we get upset. We can eat a raisin. When the raisins are gone we get upset.
From an obvious sense there is a self who can eat the raisin. But we see non-self emotionally when change upsets us.
You wouldn't be alone, in your reluctance to let go of thinking as a way to insight and wisdom. It was terrifying for me, at first, to set a timer for 15 minutes, place butt on cushion, and sit quietly with this miasma. I'd much rather throw a ball and watch my mind chase it down.
I know you really do desire the end of suffering for yourself. You won't find it by thinking about it. Your thinking is what got you in such a mess in the first place, and your thinking won't get you out of it.
Beneath the mental masturbation there is a peace and silence. That's where you'll find the wisdom you crave, after a while.
:buck:
to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you've held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, how can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.
Even when we meditate we are doing something... It's why we can say we meditate.
Isn't this self identification?
I think DO helps a person understand that life works in cycles, but that does not mean we should do nothing. The Buddha taught a way out of this cycle. We have to make a choice.
If a person wants to believe their actions is meaningless that's their choice, but whether it's meaningless or not, we don't even know that yet. You have the option to give it meaning.
I guess we need more general banter topics? :screwy:
Constipated zen is the bane of the beginner. They do indeed discipline and force, no matter how many admonitions to sit attentive and relaxed.
My sister with her yoga practice says it took her ten years of 'intense' practice to understand how trying too hard, not relaxing is not yoga. Every class we are taught 'go as far as is comfortable, relax in the posture'.
Theoretical zen is just laziness though . . .
:wave:
Nver assume anything about anyone.
It makes an ass out of U & me.....
Time for some Nippapañca... Time to stop over-conceptualising.
What's this Thread about?
I think the opposite can also be true, concerning what a person believes and what comes from it. I find that it DOES work for some when thinking there is nothing to do, and thinking there is nothing that can be done can make some people feel defeated or nihilistic.
The point being is that these distinctions cannot be made in general terms and are person to person.
I personally don't think most can do action through non-action easily, most people have very distorted views of perfected spontaneity, and instead use it as an excuse to rationalize certain behavioral patterns.
Sartre put forth that Existence precedes Essence, because we surge up in the world (we don't know why but we're here) and only after that simple fact of existing, our life is a "becoming," a sort of empty canvas that gains in meaning as you paint it.
"Life has no meaning a priori... It is up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing but the meaning you choose," he wrote.
We did not choose to come here, but we can choose to make the most with what we have. We can choose from moment to moment what our life will be like by focusing on attending to what really depends on us to change. That attitude is more empowering than just thinking you are a toy in fate's hands. There is a lot you can do about your life.