I was thinking today about the way we conduct ourselves generally. Workplace politics with constant striving for advantage, clashing of egos. In the gym, the subtle pressure that you should be working harder, lifting more, etc.
I asked myself; Why? You can engage in all the politics you want in the office to “get ahead”, eventually you have to retire you have to hand you position to someone else. Same with the gym, there is a limit to what you can lift, how fast you can run, etc. This limit can only diminish with age, eventually you’ll have to back off.
Eventually we all die, we enter the world with nothing and guess what we take with us, so why on earth bother? The more I look at it, the more I see the futility of all the striving for these goals that are as real as a puff of smoke.
We strive for things to try and make us happy, even Buddhist can strive for enlightenment, but that just makes it one more chain. I wonder what would happen to society if everyone realised the futility of this?
An interesting thought exercise, yes?
October 18th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
I agree. It’s difficult to not get so involved, both physically and mentally, in so many events and with so much striving. The ego wants to be part of things, doesn’t it?
Imagine what would happen to the stock market without so much striving.
I agree, too, that striving for enlightenment is futile if it’s done in a grasping sort of way (but I don’t know that from experience). What’s important to me is practicing as best I can and letting things unfold as they may.
Paul
October 20th, 2007 at 12:19 am
Okay, yes, interesting. But I don’t think Buddhism says you shouldn’t strive, just that you shouldn’t get attached the outcome. Otherwise, we might give up all hope, as you suggest–including the hope for happiness. Cheers, PaL
October 28th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
One thing I’ve noticed is that good things that make life enjoyable, like good health and awareness are things that are only achieved by hard work. It’s true that in the end we lose it all, but in the meantime we have to live here.