so anarchist I refuse to make to-do lists because its clearly an attempt of present self to assert authority over future selves.
— Slope of Function (@SlopeOfFunction) July 8, 2018
Other people are bright; I alone am dark. Other people are sharper; I alone am dull. Other people have a purpose; I alone don’t know. I drift like a wave on the ocean, I blow as aimless as the wind. I am different from ordinary people. I drink from the Great Mother’s breasts.
Q: Would you care to sum up the purpose of meditation? A: Well, meditation is dealing with purpose itself. It is not that meditation is for something, but it is dealing with the aim. Generally we have a purpose for whatever we do: something is going to happen in the future, therefore what I am doing now is important — everything is related to that. But the whole idea of meditation is to develop an entirely different way of dealing with things, where you have no purpose at all. In fact, meditation is dealing with the question of whether or not there is such a thing as purpose, And when one learns a different way of dealing with the situation, one no longer has to have a purpose. One is not on the way to somewhere. Or rather, one is on the way and one is also at the destination at the same time. That is really what meditation is for. (p 83)
Whatever happens; may it happen! Whichever way it goes; may it go that way! There is no purpose!
There is no purpose, means that there is no one overriding, overarching, all inclusive – ‘purpose’. God is not working ‘His’ purpose out. There is no such ‘God’ and no such ‘purpose’. Reality is simply the dance of emptiness and form and compassion is the recognition that everything is its own purpose of itself. Each moment of reality is perfect as it is.
There are several poor ways of practice that you should understand. Usually when you practice zazen, you become very idealistic, and you set up an ideal or goal which you strive to attain and fulfill. But, as I have often said, this is absurd. When you are idealistic, you have some gaining idea within yourself; by the time you attain your ideal or goal, your gaining idea will create another ideal. So long as your practice is based on a gaining idea, and you practice zazen in an idealistic way, you will have to time actually to attain your ideal. Moreover, you will be sacrificing the meat of your practice. (p57)
A great scientist has no objective in his research; if he were merely seeking a result, then he would cease to be a great scientist
Belief is based on the idea of acquisition, and the desire to obtain results through action. You are seeking gain; you are being moulded by sets of beliefs based on the idea of gain, on the search for reward, and your action is the result of that search. If you were in the movement of thought, not seeking an end, a goal, a reward, then there would be results, but you would not be concerned with them.
— Mikael Brockman 🥸 (@meekaale) July 7, 2021
Sarvakarmaphalatyâga . . . Years ago, having written this spellbinding word in capital letters on a sheet of paper, I had tacked it to the wall of my room so I could stare at it throughout the day. It remained there for months, until I finally took it down because I realized I was becoming more and more attached to its magic and less and less to its content. Yet what it signifies: detachment from the fruit of action, is of such importance that anyone who had truly possessed himself of it would have nothing more to accomplish, since he would have reached the one valid end, the real truth that annihilates all the others and exposes their emptiness, being empty itself, moreover—but this emptiness is conscious of itself. Imagine a greater awareness, a further step toward awakening, and he who takes it will be no more than a ghost, a phantom.
slaves do things for the sake of goals; free people proudly waste their time
— Sport of Brahma (@SportOfBrahma) August 4, 2019
Landau argues that being too much of a workaholic, or too goal-oriented, can render people particularly vulnerable to what he calls, “the paradox of the end,” which is the empty feeling that can occur upon achieving an aim.
When, in accord with this, movement follows the law of heaven, man is innocent and without guile. His mind is natural and true, unshadowed by reflection or ulterior design. For wherever conscious prupose is to be seen, there the truth and innocence of nature have been lost.
INNOCENCE. Supreme Success. Perseverance furthers. If someone is not as he should be He has misfortune, And it does not further him To undertake anything.