There Is Nothing Left to Do

Abstract

Like a contented stone [#808] Every thing comes, every thing goes.I or rather It rests.There is nothing I have to do.It is easy.[#2511] Imagine that you discovered that what really creates satisfaction in life has nothing to do with achieving goals, or even with acting in any specific way.Imagine that you discovered this not in some intellectual or philosophical way, but as an unexpected and entirely nonconceptual form of inner knowledge.Interestingly, many meditators report that during an episode of pure awareness, their goal hierarchy dissolves: All is well; there is nothing left to do.There is a quality of acceptance and contentment, and sometimes it begins to extend into the practitioner's life as a whole.This quality of acceptance and contentment overlaps significantly with the phenomenology of "existential ease" introduced in chapter 1.The need for "narrative self-deception" (chapter 17) may be attenuated, gradually liberating the meditator from her constant urge to stabilize the long-term self-model by constructing a thematically coherent life story in a never-ending search for meaning.Other experiential features typically coemerging with this quality are relaxation and peace, love and gratitude, soundness, ego dissolution, and dignity.Here are six examples: 1661 [. ..]There was simply nothing left to be done.All ambition and grasping seemed absurd and counterproductive.There was deep abiding acceptance of the world as it was, and of myself in the world.1942 [. ..]Suddenly I realize that there's nothing to do.I don't have to do anything.When I meditate I don't have to do anything.I don't have to seek anything.I notice my thoughts, which could very well go on a search and find 14 There Is Nothing Left to Do