Inner Work

For the week of August 29, 2005

Doing This

All day long, every day, we are always doing something, even if it is just relaxing. Sometimes we do what we enjoy or find meaningful, sometimes we do things we would rather not be doing, and at other times we have a neutral attitude. From the point of view of the spiritual path, one significant problem with what we do occurs when we just go through the motions of an action without really engaging ourselves in it, without really being there for it. We let too much of our life happen without our participation, without being the one who is doing it. We allow ourselves to do things by habit, by momentum, and by autopilot. Such a passive, disengaged way of living only yields half a life.

This is not only a matter of being, of awareness. The doing matters. Acting as the agent behind our actions brings a new and unsuspected dimension to our ordinary situations. We enter whatever action is taking place in this moment as the one who is doing it. It is a matter of will: attention and intention, choice and responsibility. The act emanates from us. You become the immediate source of your actions. You are the one who is doing “this,” whatever “this” happens to be.

Of course, there is a higher, sacred Source, with Whom we can seek to align our actions. But to that Source we bring the offering of our own individual will. The practice of “doing this,” as described above, is one important way to develop our will. In becoming the source of our own actions, we create the possibility of opening our will to the Divine Will.

For this week, practice “doing this.”

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