Hi what is the difference between zi zuo and perservance ?
Is zi zuo = perservance ?
Perseverence is like effort, patience, zeal and diligence... and may be done without attachment.
Zi zuo is like attached to desires and gain and fear of loss...
Anyone else wants to elaborate.
I thought of something but don't have the time to write yet.
Same..one can lead to one another...
Assuming perservance means 精进.
zi zuo is motivated by the attachment to the wordly stuffs.
A person is attached to something so he don't want to let it go.
But perseverence is the courage to proceed despite all the temptations and hindrance.
stubborn vs determined.
I think they're different.
Perseverence to me means trying your very best in whatever you do, but it can be done with no attachment to the results that followed. For e.g. I can do a project to my utmost, but if it still fails at the end, I won't be particularly upset about it, because I know I've done my best. It is only when you are 'zhi zuo' about the results that you keep thinking about it, and you get angry with yourself for not meeting the target. Therefore, my motto is - do your best without dwelling on the results.
Hence, I think perseverence is a good thing, but 'zhi zuo' is bad.
zi zuo is a mental state ,while perseverance is a worldly naming convention
Buddha taught us that zi zuo is a state of mind that harmful and obstacles to our liberation from samsara
one person may appear to persevere but never zi zuo (crave) for the end result .
That person is praised by the Tathagatha ...
Originally posted by werther:Hi what is the difference between zi zuo and perservance ?
Is zi zuo = perservance ?
To my understanding, perserverence is a strength to move on and continue with whatever we are doing, and as a forummer said 'determined'... but we must always observe whether there is attachment involved, like whether there is attachment, unwillingness or reluctance to lose something, etc. Is our mind obsessed with external seeking that it loses itself in the future and reduce this moment as a means to an end?
Whenever we do anything, don't let fear be the driving force.. Is there joy or is it fear or greed that drives you? Is there peace and contentment or resistance and discontent.
Ask yourself -- is there joy, enthusiasm, or acceptance in what you do? (see below) What is the state of consciousness or driving force of perserverence.
Always be aware of your inner state.. mindfulness/awareness is important, and whenever negative states/emotions/thoughts arise we must learn how to drop, dont let it pollute your inner state and affect what you do. Stay mentally clear and mindful and just do your best.
Eckhart Tolle: "The modalities of awakened doing are acceptance, enjoyment,
and enthusiasm. Each one represents a certain vibrational frequency
of
consciousness. You need to be vigilant to make sure that one of
them
operates whenever you are engaged in doing anything at all – from
the most
simple task to the most complex. If you are not in the state of
either
acceptance, enjoyment, or enthusiasm, look closely and you will
find that
you are creating suffering for yourself and others."
I hope the following helps:
AWAKENED DOING
Awakened doing is the outer aspect of the next stage in the evolution
of consciousness on our planet. The closer we get to the end of our present
evolutionary stage, the more dysfunctional the ego becomes, in the same way
that a caterpillar becomes dysfunctional just before it transforms into a
butterfly. But the new consciousness is arising even as the old dissolves.
We are in the midst of a momentous event in the evolution of human
consciousness, but they won't be talking about it in the news tonight. On our
planet, and perhaps simultaneously in many parts of our galaxy and beyond,
consciousness is awakening from the dream of form. This does not mean all
forms (the world) are going to dissolve, although quite a few almost certainly
will. It means consciousness can now begin to create form without losing
itself in it. It can remain conscious of itself, even while it creates and
experiences form. Why should it continue to create and experience form?
For the enjoyment of it. How does consciousness do that? Through
awakened humans who have learned the meaning of awakened doing.
Awakened doing is the alignment of your outer purposewhat
you do
– with your inner purpose – awakening and staying awake. Through
awakened doing, you become one with the outgoing purpose of the universe.
Consciousness flows through you into this world. It flows into your thoughts
and inspires them. It flows into what you do and guides and empowers it.
Not what you do, but how you do what you do determines whether
you are fulfilling your destiny. And how you do what you do is determined
by your state of consciousness.
A reversal of your priorities comes about when the main purpose for
doing what you do becomes the doing itself, or rather, the current of
consciousness that flows into what you do. That current of consciousness is
what determines quality. Another way of putting it: In any situation and in
whatever you do, your state of consciousness is the primary factor; the
situation and what you do is secondary. “Future” success is dependent upon
and inseparable from the consciousness out of which the actions emanate.
That can be either the reactive force of the ego or the alert attention of
awakened consciousness. All truly successful action comes out of that field
of alert attention, rather than from ego and conditioned, unconscious
thinking.
THE THREE MODALITIES OF AWAKENED DOING
There are three ways in which consciousness can flow into what you
do and thus through you into this world, three modalities in which you can
align your life with the creative power of the universe. Modality means the
underlying energyfrequency
that flows into what you do and connects your
actions with the awakened consciousness hat is emerging into this world.
What you do will be dysfunctional and of the ego unless it arises out of one
of these three modalities. They may change during the course of a day,
although one of them may be dominant during a certain stage in your life.
Each modality is appropriate to certain situations.
The modalities of awakened doing are acceptance, enjoyment, and
enthusiasm. Each one represents a certain vibrational frequency of
consciousness. You need to be vigilant to make sure that one of them
operates whenever you are engaged in doing anything at all – from the most
simple task to the most complex. If you are not in the state of either
acceptance, enjoyment, or enthusiasm, look closely and you will find that
you are creating suffering for yourself and others.
ACCEPTANCE
Whatever you cannot enjoy doing, you can at least accept that this is
what you have to do. Acceptance means: For now, this is what this situation,
this moment, requires me to do, and so I do it willingly. We already spoke at
length about the importance of inner acceptance of what happens, and
acceptance of what you have to do is just another aspect of it. For example,
you probably won't be able to enjoy changing the flat tire on your car at night
in the middle of nowhere and in pouring rain, let alone be enthusiastic about
it, but you can bring acceptance to it. Performing an action in the state of
acceptance means you are at peace while you do it. That peace is a subtle
energy vibration which then flows into what you do. On the surface,
acceptance looks like a passive state, but in reality it is active and creative
because it brings something entirely new into this world. That peace, that
subtle energy vibration, is consciousness, and one of the ways in which ti
enters this world is through surrendered action, one aspect of which is
acceptance.
If you can neither enjoy or bring acceptance to what you do – stop.
Otherwise, you are not taking responsibility for the only thing you can really
take responsibility for, which also happens to be one thing that really
matters: your state of consciousness. And if you are not taking responsibility
for your state of consciousness, you are not taking responsibility for life.
ENJOYMENT
The peace that comes with surrendered action turns to a sense of
aliveness when you actually enjoy what you are doing. Enjoyment is the
second modality of awakened doing. On the new earth, enjoyment will
replace wanting as the motivating power behind people's actions. Wanting
arises from the ego's delusion that you are a separate fragment that is
disconnected from the power that lies behind all creation. Through
enjoyment, you link into that universal creative power itself.
When you make the present moment, instead of past and future, the
focal point of your life, your ability to enjoy what you do – and with it the
quality of your life – increases dramatically. Joy is the dynamic aspect of
Being. When the creative power of the universe becomes conscious of itself,
it manifests as joy. You don't have to wait for something “meaningful” to
come into your life so that you can finally enjoy what you do. There is more
meaning in joy than you will ever need. The “waiting to start living”
syndrome is one of the most common delusions of the unconscious state.
Expansion and positive change on the outer level is much more likely to
come into your life if you can enjoy what you are doing already, instead of
waiting for some change so that you can start enjoying what you do.
Don't ask your mind for permission to enjoy what you do. All you will
get is plenty of reasons why you can't enjoy it. “Not now,” the mind will say.
“Can't you see I'm busy? There's no time. Maybe tomorrow you can start
enjoying....” That tomorrow will never come unless you begin enjoying what
you are doing now.
When you say, I enjoy doing this or that, it is really a misperception. It
makes it appear that the joy comes from what you do, but that is not the case.
Joy does not come from what you do, it flows into what you do and thus into
this world from deep within you. The misperception that joy comes from
what you do is normal, and it is also dangerous, because it creates the belief
that joy is something that can be derived form something else, such as an
activity or thing. You then look to the world to bring you joy, happiness. But
it cannot do that. This is why many people live in constant frustration. The
world is not giving them what they think they need.
Then what is the relationship between something that you do and the
state of joy? You will enjoy any activity in which you are fully present, any
activity that is not just a means to an end. It isn't the action you perform that
you really enjoy, but the deep sense of aliveness that flows into it. That
aliveness is one with who you are. This means that when you enjoy doing
something, you are really experiencing the joy of Being in its dynamic
aspect. That's why anything you enjoy doing connects you with the power
behind all creation.
Here is a spiritual practice that will bring empowerment and creative
expansion into your life. Make a list of a number of everyday routine
activities that you perform frequently. Include activities hat you may
consider uninteresting, boring, tedious, irritating, or stressful. But don't
include anything that you hate or detest doing. That's a case either for
acceptance or for stopping what you do. The list may include traveling to and
from work, buying groceries, doing your laundry, or anything that you find
tedious or stressful in your daily work. Then, whenever you are engaged in
those activities, let hem be a vehicle for alertness. Be absolutely present in
what you do and sense the alert, alive stillness within you in the background
of the activity. You will soon find that what you do in such a state of
heightened awareness, instead of being stressful, tedious, or irritating, is
actually becoming enjoyable. To be more precise, what you are enjoying is
not really the outward action but the inner dimension of consciousness hat
flows into the action. This is finding the joy of Being in what you are doing.
If you feel your life lacks significance or is too stressful or tedious, it is
because you haven't brought that dimension into your life yet. Being
conscious in what you do has not yet become your main aim.
The new earth arises as more and more people discover that their main
purpose in life is to bring the light of consciousness into this world and so
use whatever they do as a vehicle for consciousness.
The joy of Being is the joy of being conscious.
Awakened consciousness then takes over from ego and begins to run
your life. You may then find that an activity that you have been engaged in
for a long time naturally begins to expand into something much bigger when
it becomes empowered by consciousness.
Some of those people who, through creative action, enrich the lives of
many others simply do what they enjoy doing most without wanting to
achieve or become anything through that activity. They may be musicians,
artists, writers, scientists, teachers, or builders, or they may bring into
manifestation new social or business structures (enlightened businesses).
Sometimes for a few years their sphere of influence remains small; and then
it can happen that suddenly or gradually a wave of creative empowerment
flows into what they do, and their activity expands beyond anything they
could have imagined and touches countless others. In addition to enjoyment,
an intensity is now added to what they do and with it comes a creativity that
goes beyond anything an ordinary human could accomplish.
But don't let it go to your head, because up there is where a remnant of
ego may be hiding. You are still an ordinary human. What is extraordinary is
what comes through you into this world. But that essence you share with all
beings. The fourteenthcentury
Persian poet and Sufi master Hafiz expresses
this truth beautifully: “I am a hole in a flute that the Christ's breath moves
through. Listen to this music.” 1
ENTHUSIASM
Then there is another way of creative manifestation that may come to
those who remain true to their inner purpose of awakening. Suddenly one
day they know what their outer purpose is. They have a great vision, a goal,
and from then on they work toward implementing that goal. Their goal or
vision is usually connected in some way to something that on a smaller scale
they are doing and enjoy doing already. This is where the third modality of
awakened doing arises: enthusiasm.
Enthusiasm mans there is deep enjoyment in what you do plus the
added element of a goal or a vision that you work toward. When you add a
goal to the enjoyment of what you do, the energyfield
or vibrational
frequency changes. A certain degree of what we might call structural tension
is now added to enjoyment, and so it turns into enthusiasm. At the height of
creative activity fueled by enthusiasm, there will be enormous intensity and
energy behind what you do. You will feel like an arrow hat is moving toward
the target – and enjoying the journey.
To an onlooker, it may appear that you are under stress, but the
intensity of enthusiasm has nothing to do with stress. When you want to
arrive at your goal more than you want to be doing what you are doing, you
become stressed. The balance between enjoyment and structural tension is
lost, and the latter has won. When there is stress, it is usually a sign that the
ego has returned , and you are cutting yourself off form the creative power of
the universe. Instead, there is only the force and strain of egoic wanting, and
so you have to struggle and “work hard” to make it. Stress always diminishes
both the quality and effectiveness of what you do under its influence. There
is also a strong link between stress and negative emotions, such as anxiety
and anger. It is toxic to the body and is now becoming recognized as one of
the main causes of the socalled
degenerative diseases such as cancer and
heart disease.
Unlike stress, enthusiasm has a high energy frequency and so
resonates with the creative power of the universe. This is why Ralph Waldo
Emerson said that, “Nothing great has ever been achieved without
enthusiasm.”2 The word enthusiasm comes from ancient Greek – en and
theos meaning God. And the related word enthousiazein means “to be
possessed by a god.” With enthusiasm you will find that you don't have to do
it all by yourself. In fact, there is nothing of significance that you can do by
yourself. Sustained enthusiasm brings into existence a wave of creative
energy, and all you have to do then is “ride the wave.”
Enthusiasm brings an enormous empowerment into what you do, so
that all those who have not accessed that power would look upon “your
achievements in awe and may equate them with who you are. You, however,
know the truth that Jesus pointed to when he said, “I can of my own self do
nothing.”3 Unlike egoic wanting, which creates opposition indirect
proportion to the intensity of its wanting, enthusiasm never opposes. It is
nonconfrontational.
Its activity does not create winners and losers. It is
based on inclusion, not exclusion, of others. It does not need to use and
manipulate people, because it is the power of creation itself and so does not
need to take energy from some secondary source. The ego's wanting always
tries to take form something or someone; enthusiasm gives out of its own
abundance. When enthusiasm encounters obstacles in the form of adverse
situations or uncooperative people, it never attacks but walks around them or
by yielding or embracing turns the opposing energy into a helpful one, the
foe into a friend.
Enthusiasm and the ego cannot coexist. one implies the absence of the
other. Enthusiasm knows where it is going, but at the same time, it is deeply
at one with the present moment, the source of its aliveness, its joy, and its
power. Enthusiasm “wants” nothing because it lacks nothing. It is at one
with life and no matter how dynamic the enthusiasminspired
activities are,
you don't lose yourself in them. And there remains always a still but
intensely alive space at the center of the wheel, a core of peace in the midst
of activity that is both the source of all and untouched by it all.
Through enthusiasm you enter into full alignment with the outgoing
creative principle of the universe, but without identifying with its creation,
that is to say, without ego. where there is no identification, there is no
attachment – one of the great sources of suffering. Once a wave of creative
energy has passed, structural tension diminishes again and joy in what you
are doing remains. Nobody can live in enthusiasm all the time. A new wave
of creative energy may come later and lead to renewed enthusiasm.
When the return movement toward the dissolution of form sets in,
enthusiasm no longer serves you. Enthusiasm belongs to the outgoing cycle
of life. It is only through surrender that you can align yourself with the return
movement – the journey home.
To sum up: Enjoyment of what you are doing, combined with a goal or
vision that you work toward, becomes enthusiasm. Even though you have a
goal, what you are doing in the present moment needs to remain the focal
point of your attention; otherwise, you will fall out of alignment with
universal purpose. Make sure your vision or goal is not an inflated image of
yourself and therefore a concealed form of ego, such as wanting to become a
movie star, a famous writer, or a wealthy entrepreneur. Also make sure your
goal is not focused on having this or that, such as a mansion by the sea, your
own company, or ten million dollars in the bank. An enlarged image of
yourself or a vision of yourself having this or that are all static goals and
therefore don't empower you. Instead, make sure your goals are dynamic,
that is to say, point toward an activity that you are engaged in and through
which you are connected to other human beings as well as to the whole.
Instead of seeing yourself as a famous actor and writer and so on, see
yourself inspiring countless people with your work and enriching their lives.
Feel how that activity enriches or deepens not only your life but that of
countless others. Feel yourself being an opening through which energy flows
form the unmanifested Source of all life through you for the benefit of all.
All this implies hat your goal or vision is then already a reality within
you, on the level of mind and of feeling. Enthusiasm is the power that
transfers the mental blueprint into the physical dimension. That is the
creative use of mind, and that is why here is no wanting involve. You cannot
manifest what you want; you can only manifest what you already have. You
may get what you want through hard work and stress, but that is not the way
of the new earth. Jesus gave the key to the creative use of mind and to the
conscious manifestation of form when he said, 'Whatever you ask in prayer,
believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”4
Originally posted by An Eternal Now:To my understanding, perserverence is a strength to move on and continue with whatever we are doing, and as a forummer said 'determined'... but we must always observe whether there is attachment involved, like whether there is attachment, unwillingness or reluctance to lose something, etc. Is our mind obsessed with external seeking that it loses itself in the future and reduce this moment as a means to an end?
Whenever we do anything, don't let fear be the driving force.. Is there joy or is it fear or greed that drives you? Is there peace and contentment or resistance and discontent.
Ask yourself -- is there joy, enthusiasm, or acceptance in what you do? (see below) What is the state of consciousness or driving force of perserverence.
Always be aware of your inner state.. mindfulness/awareness is important, and whenever negative states/emotions/thoughts arise we must learn how to drop, dont let it pollute your inner state and affect what you do. Stay mentally clear and mindful and just do your best.
I hope the following helps:
AWAKENED DOING
Awakened doing is the outer aspect of the next stage in the evolution
of consciousness on our planet. The closer we get to the end of our present
evolutionary stage, the more dysfunctional the ego becomes, in the same way
that a caterpillar becomes dysfunctional just before it transforms into a
butterfly. But the new consciousness is arising even as the old dissolves.
We are in the midst of a momentous event in the evolution of human
consciousness, but they won't be talking about it in the news tonight. On our
planet, and perhaps simultaneously in many parts of our galaxy and beyond,
consciousness is awakening from the dream of form. This does not mean all
forms (the world) are going to dissolve, although quite a few almost certainly
will. It means consciousness can now begin to create form without losing
itself in it. It can remain conscious of itself, even while it creates and
experiences form. Why should it continue to create and experience form?
For the enjoyment of it. How does consciousness do that? Through
awakened humans who have learned the meaning of awakened doing.
Awakened doing is the alignment of your outer purposewhat
you do
– with your inner purpose – awakening and staying awake. Through
awakened doing, you become one with the outgoing purpose of the universe.
Consciousness flows through you into this world. It flows into your thoughts
and inspires them. It flows into what you do and guides and empowers it.
Not what you do, but how you do what you do determines whether
you are fulfilling your destiny. And how you do what you do is determined
by your state of consciousness.
A reversal of your priorities comes about when the main purpose for
doing what you do becomes the doing itself, or rather, the current of
consciousness that flows into what you do. That current of consciousness is
what determines quality. Another way of putting it: In any situation and in
whatever you do, your state of consciousness is the primary factor; the
situation and what you do is secondary. “Future” success is dependent upon
and inseparable from the consciousness out of which the actions emanate.
That can be either the reactive force of the ego or the alert attention of
awakened consciousness. All truly successful action comes out of that field
of alert attention, rather than from ego and conditioned, unconscious
thinking.
THE THREE MODALITIES OF AWAKENED DOING
There are three ways in which consciousness can flow into what you
do and thus through you into this world, three modalities in which you can
align your life with the creative power of the universe. Modality means the
underlying energyfrequency
that flows into what you do and connects your
actions with the awakened consciousness hat is emerging into this world.
What you do will be dysfunctional and of the ego unless it arises out of one
of these three modalities. They may change during the course of a day,
although one of them may be dominant during a certain stage in your life.
Each modality is appropriate to certain situations.
The modalities of awakened doing are acceptance, enjoyment, and
enthusiasm. Each one represents a certain vibrational frequency of
consciousness. You need to be vigilant to make sure that one of them
operates whenever you are engaged in doing anything at all – from the most
simple task to the most complex. If you are not in the state of either
acceptance, enjoyment, or enthusiasm, look closely and you will find that
you are creating suffering for yourself and others.
ACCEPTANCE
Whatever you cannot enjoy doing, you can at least accept that this is
what you have to do. Acceptance means: For now, this is what this situation,
this moment, requires me to do, and so I do it willingly. We already spoke at
length about the importance of inner acceptance of what happens, and
acceptance of what you have to do is just another aspect of it. For example,
you probably won't be able to enjoy changing the flat tire on your car at night
in the middle of nowhere and in pouring rain, let alone be enthusiastic about
it, but you can bring acceptance to it. Performing an action in the state of
acceptance means you are at peace while you do it. That peace is a subtle
energy vibration which then flows into what you do. On the surface,
acceptance looks like a passive state, but in reality it is active and creative
because it brings something entirely new into this world. That peace, that
subtle energy vibration, is consciousness, and one of the ways in which ti
enters this world is through surrendered action, one aspect of which is
acceptance.
If you can neither enjoy or bring acceptance to what you do – stop.
Otherwise, you are not taking responsibility for the only thing you can really
take responsibility for, which also happens to be one thing that really
matters: your state of consciousness. And if you are not taking responsibility
for your state of consciousness, you are not taking responsibility for life.
ENJOYMENT
The peace that comes with surrendered action turns to a sense of
aliveness when you actually enjoy what you are doing. Enjoyment is the
second modality of awakened doing. On the new earth, enjoyment will
replace wanting as the motivating power behind people's actions. Wanting
arises from the ego's delusion that you are a separate fragment that is
disconnected from the power that lies behind all creation. Through
enjoyment, you link into that universal creative power itself.
When you make the present moment, instead of past and future, the
focal point of your life, your ability to enjoy what you do – and with it the
quality of your life – increases dramatically. Joy is the dynamic aspect of
Being. When the creative power of the universe becomes conscious of itself,
it manifests as joy. You don't have to wait for something “meaningful” to
come into your life so that you can finally enjoy what you do. There is more
meaning in joy than you will ever need. The “waiting to start living”
syndrome is one of the most common delusions of the unconscious state.
Expansion and positive change on the outer level is much more likely to
come into your life if you can enjoy what you are doing already, instead of
waiting for some change so that you can start enjoying what you do.
Don't ask your mind for permission to enjoy what you do. All you will
get is plenty of reasons why you can't enjoy it. “Not now,” the mind will say.
“Can't you see I'm busy? There's no time. Maybe tomorrow you can start
enjoying....” That tomorrow will never come unless you begin enjoying what
you are doing now.
When you say, I enjoy doing this or that, it is really a misperception. It
makes it appear that the joy comes from what you do, but that is not the case.
Joy does not come from what you do, it flows into what you do and thus into
this world from deep within you. The misperception that joy comes from
what you do is normal, and it is also dangerous, because it creates the belief
that joy is something that can be derived form something else, such as an
activity or thing. You then look to the world to bring you joy, happiness. But
it cannot do that. This is why many people live in constant frustration. The
world is not giving them what they think they need.
Then what is the relationship between something that you do and the
state of joy? You will enjoy any activity in which you are fully present, any
activity that is not just a means to an end. It isn't the action you perform that
you really enjoy, but the deep sense of aliveness that flows into it. That
aliveness is one with who you are. This means that when you enjoy doing
something, you are really experiencing the joy of Being in its dynamic
aspect. That's why anything you enjoy doing connects you with the power
behind all creation.
Here is a spiritual practice that will bring empowerment and creative
expansion into your life. Make a list of a number of everyday routine
activities that you perform frequently. Include activities hat you may
consider uninteresting, boring, tedious, irritating, or stressful. But don't
include anything that you hate or detest doing. That's a case either for
acceptance or for stopping what you do. The list may include traveling to and
from work, buying groceries, doing your laundry, or anything that you find
tedious or stressful in your daily work. Then, whenever you are engaged in
those activities, let hem be a vehicle for alertness. Be absolutely present in
what you do and sense the alert, alive stillness within you in the background
of the activity. You will soon find that what you do in such a state of
heightened awareness, instead of being stressful, tedious, or irritating, is
actually becoming enjoyable. To be more precise, what you are enjoying is
not really the outward action but the inner dimension of consciousness hat
flows into the action. This is finding the joy of Being in what you are doing.
If you feel your life lacks significance or is too stressful or tedious, it is
because you haven't brought that dimension into your life yet. Being
conscious in what you do has not yet become your main aim.
The new earth arises as more and more people discover that their main
purpose in life is to bring the light of consciousness into this world and so
use whatever they do as a vehicle for consciousness.
The joy of Being is the joy of being conscious.
Awakened consciousness then takes over from ego and begins to run
your life. You may then find that an activity that you have been engaged in
for a long time naturally begins to expand into something much bigger when
it becomes empowered by consciousness.
Some of those people who, through creative action, enrich the lives of
many others simply do what they enjoy doing most without wanting to
achieve or become anything through that activity. They may be musicians,
artists, writers, scientists, teachers, or builders, or they may bring into
manifestation new social or business structures (enlightened businesses).
Sometimes for a few years their sphere of influence remains small; and then
it can happen that suddenly or gradually a wave of creative empowerment
flows into what they do, and their activity expands beyond anything they
could have imagined and touches countless others. In addition to enjoyment,
an intensity is now added to what they do and with it comes a creativity that
goes beyond anything an ordinary human could accomplish.
But don't let it go to your head, because up there is where a remnant of
ego may be hiding. You are still an ordinary human. What is extraordinary is
what comes through you into this world. But that essence you share with all
beings. The fourteenthcentury
Persian poet and Sufi master Hafiz expresses
this truth beautifully: “I am a hole in a flute that the Christ's breath moves
through. Listen to this music.” 1
ENTHUSIASM
Then there is another way of creative manifestation that may come to
those who remain true to their inner purpose of awakening. Suddenly one
day they know what their outer purpose is. They have a great vision, a goal,
and from then on they work toward implementing that goal. Their goal or
vision is usually connected in some way to something that on a smaller scale
they are doing and enjoy doing already. This is where the third modality of
awakened doing arises: enthusiasm.
Enthusiasm mans there is deep enjoyment in what you do plus the
added element of a goal or a vision that you work toward. When you add a
goal to the enjoyment of what you do, the energyfield
or vibrational
frequency changes. A certain degree of what we might call structural tension
is now added to enjoyment, and so it turns into enthusiasm. At the height of
creative activity fueled by enthusiasm, there will be enormous intensity and
energy behind what you do. You will feel like an arrow hat is moving toward
the target – and enjoying the journey.
To an onlooker, it may appear that you are under stress, but the
intensity of enthusiasm has nothing to do with stress. When you want to
arrive at your goal more than you want to be doing what you are doing, you
become stressed. The balance between enjoyment and structural tension is
lost, and the latter has won. When there is stress, it is usually a sign that the
ego has returned , and you are cutting yourself off form the creative power of
the universe. Instead, there is only the force and strain of egoic wanting, and
so you have to struggle and “work hard” to make it. Stress always diminishes
both the quality and effectiveness of what you do under its influence. There
is also a strong link between stress and negative emotions, such as anxiety
and anger. It is toxic to the body and is now becoming recognized as one of
the main causes of the socalled
degenerative diseases such as cancer and
heart disease.
Unlike stress, enthusiasm has a high energy frequency and so
resonates with the creative power of the universe. This is why Ralph Waldo
Emerson said that, “Nothing great has ever been achieved without
enthusiasm.”2 The word enthusiasm comes from ancient Greek – en and
theos meaning God. And the related word enthousiazein means “to be
possessed by a god.” With enthusiasm you will find that you don't have to do
it all by yourself. In fact, there is nothing of significance that you can do by
yourself. Sustained enthusiasm brings into existence a wave of creative
energy, and all you have to do then is “ride the wave.”
Enthusiasm brings an enormous empowerment into what you do, so
that all those who have not accessed that power would look upon “your
achievements in awe and may equate them with who you are. You, however,
know the truth that Jesus pointed to when he said, “I can of my own self do
nothing.”3 Unlike egoic wanting, which creates opposition indirect
proportion to the intensity of its wanting, enthusiasm never opposes. It is
nonconfrontational.
Its activity does not create winners and losers. It is
based on inclusion, not exclusion, of others. It does not need to use and
manipulate people, because it is the power of creation itself and so does not
need to take energy from some secondary source. The ego's wanting always
tries to take form something or someone; enthusiasm gives out of its own
abundance. When enthusiasm encounters obstacles in the form of adverse
situations or uncooperative people, it never attacks but walks around them or
by yielding or embracing turns the opposing energy into a helpful one, the
foe into a friend.
Enthusiasm and the ego cannot coexist. one implies the absence of the
other. Enthusiasm knows where it is going, but at the same time, it is deeply
at one with the present moment, the source of its aliveness, its joy, and its
power. Enthusiasm “wants” nothing because it lacks nothing. It is at one
with life and no matter how dynamic the enthusiasminspired
activities are,
you don't lose yourself in them. And there remains always a still but
intensely alive space at the center of the wheel, a core of peace in the midst
of activity that is both the source of all and untouched by it all.
Through enthusiasm you enter into full alignment with the outgoing
creative principle of the universe, but without identifying with its creation,
that is to say, without ego. where there is no identification, there is no
attachment – one of the great sources of suffering. Once a wave of creative
energy has passed, structural tension diminishes again and joy in what you
are doing remains. Nobody can live in enthusiasm all the time. A new wave
of creative energy may come later and lead to renewed enthusiasm.
When the return movement toward the dissolution of form sets in,
enthusiasm no longer serves you. Enthusiasm belongs to the outgoing cycle
of life. It is only through surrender that you can align yourself with the return
movement – the journey home.
To sum up: Enjoyment of what you are doing, combined with a goal or
vision that you work toward, becomes enthusiasm. Even though you have a
goal, what you are doing in the present moment needs to remain the focal
point of your attention; otherwise, you will fall out of alignment with
universal purpose. Make sure your vision or goal is not an inflated image of
yourself and therefore a concealed form of ego, such as wanting to become a
movie star, a famous writer, or a wealthy entrepreneur. Also make sure your
goal is not focused on having this or that, such as a mansion by the sea, your
own company, or ten million dollars in the bank. An enlarged image of
yourself or a vision of yourself having this or that are all static goals and
therefore don't empower you. Instead, make sure your goals are dynamic,
that is to say, point toward an activity that you are engaged in and through
which you are connected to other human beings as well as to the whole.
Instead of seeing yourself as a famous actor and writer and so on, see
yourself inspiring countless people with your work and enriching their lives.
Feel how that activity enriches or deepens not only your life but that of
countless others. Feel yourself being an opening through which energy flows
form the unmanifested Source of all life through you for the benefit of all.
All this implies hat your goal or vision is then already a reality within
you, on the level of mind and of feeling. Enthusiasm is the power that
transfers the mental blueprint into the physical dimension. That is the
creative use of mind, and that is why here is no wanting involve. You cannot
manifest what you want; you can only manifest what you already have. You
may get what you want through hard work and stress, but that is not the way
of the new earth. Jesus gave the key to the creative use of mind and to the
conscious manifestation of form when he said, 'Whatever you ask in prayer,
believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”4
BTW the quotes on Awakened Doing are from A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle.