The myth of doing, as I entitled my second book, refers to the illusion that there is something we can do to enable things to happen in our life. It is like a fleeting mirage of this “thing” we can do that is other than where our body just is in space, in its activity, its current state of being, the natural conditions in which we find ourself. This mirage-like image of a “doing” is so familiar to us we would normally never think to doubt its existence or validity. But it is absolute delusion. There is only the stream of time in coordination with a body’s presence in space. This is a nice example of nonduality.
The mirage exhibits as something we feel like we can see, touch, hold, a thing of specificity, the thing we need to do to make our overall goals come to fruition: a step to take, a move to make, a thought to have, a thing to say. But this object of activity is not real. Action can only ever be the exact natural state of one’s being in space in any given moment in time, which requires no effort. It’s all-natural, completely involuntary and thus necessitates no fabricated doing of any kind. Once conceived, a body simply lives inside its continual activity until its last breath.
Our actions are automatic. Because we cannot prevent them from occurring, there will never be any room or opening in time to impose some other kind of action onto a moment or situation. It’s not like we can move time, or our body out of the way. However, this is where the mirage slips in, arguing that it can save the day with its magical appearance and implementation despite the fluid current of time and life. This is pure illusion, though our ordinary way of thinking and believing.
Stare at your body and see how it never disappears from space if it is alive. Then try to find the mirage of imaginative doing that is so sure it can defy nature. Where is it? Where can it fit in and insert itself into the flow of your body’s ongoing movement in real time? Our actions are a permanent force of nature that are one and the same with our existence. We cannot escape our personal flow of bodily movement. Thankfully, it is enough. It will achieve everything we are ever meant to do. Let yourself see through this mental trickery and experience peace of mind.
Jill Eng 