Win-Loss Ratio
The idea of 'non-action', 'non-doing', 'letting things happen' is quite difficult to understand in a world in which appreciation and the fact of doing, gets us the rewards and accolades that we are so accustomed and conditioned to receive. Where do we put our effort? Which task will bring us the most value for the time we put into it? This is present-day thinking, a business approach.
Our time and our actions are so well bound up in the external world, and our performance in it takes up so much energy, that our purpose in life is based on a win-loss ratio, a 'what have you done for me lately?' attitude. It is not enough to be aware of what we cannot control, we must also attempt to control it, to render the loss we may experience less important.
We all want something free, but we also know that that freedom comes with a price, the price of playing a game that we've been taught is so crucial to life. Live without reward, do something that doesn't require a compliment, then you will see how ungrounded that external world is. It is the creative power that we've come to rely on that is the reason for our inability in this; it lacks anything real and yet everyone is well aware of the faults or the obstacles that keep them from succeeding. No one believes they've won unless they have something to show for it. What comes through our not being able to do finds power only in what is done. In the end, what we have truly set our sights on, one day gives us cause to look past it.
Douglas Thornton
Comments
Post a Comment