The Joy of No Purpose

I used to feel dreadful if I felt what I was doing had no real purpose. I would avoid meaningless tasks and activities, choosing instead to fill my mind with theories of philosophy or art or politics. I wanted to be intellectually stimulated and to feel that what I did in life had some higher, loftier purpose. I was always hunting the great, good purpose: a deeply important and meaningful reason to get up in the morning and do whatever it was I was put on this earth to do.

So, I was very surprised to discover that after awakening, one of the really deep and yet ordinarily joyful side effects is the satisfaction to be found in doing for its own sake. To find that doing the laundry can be its own reward, that mundane tasks of cleaning, tidying and even the repetition of daily activities and routines that used to feel so soul destroying in my younger years are now strangely satisfying and fulfilling.

When I was younger, I was so afraid of doing the same thing day in, day out, over and over. These days, that is not so much of a problem. In fact, there is great joy in the simple, repetitive tasks of everyday life. It’s clear to me now that is because there is a great deal more being, in my doing. I am more at one with what I do and so there is less resistance to it. Less mental abstraction or commentary. It’s all so much less complicated. Being, in that sense, really is the answer to everything.

Problems in your relationships? Be more and do less. Struggling with motivation at work? Be more and do less. Feeling anxious and stressed? Be more, do less.

Being is not something we do. It is something we are. And that really takes no effort at all. We don’t need any special qualifications or attributes to be what we are. It is already happening. And this is the great shock, the great joke of awakening. Because, when we finally wake up out of our conditioned self, we come to see that what we had longed for has already, always been happening. We WERE it, all along. We have been longing for our own being – something that has always been happening.

Coming to see that we are what we have been seeking brings a whole new dimension into our daily lives. With being in the foreground, any mundane activity becomes a beautiful prayer or mediation or simple a celebration of life. And THAT, is the joy of no purpose. Each activity is its own purpose. Everything becomes and end in itself. It is clearly seen that the way truly is the destination.