Life is short. Senses are limited. Time is fleeting. Challenges are many. Distraction are innumerable.
In this predicament of human life, it is essential to realize two things primarily -
1. An awareness of what is essential and what is not, and
2. The Essentials are invisible.
It certainly is of prime importance not to spend this precious life in non-essentials. But the dilemma is how to create that insight to spot the essential, and discard the non-essential. I think to be able to overcome this challenge, one has to deal with both the points above simultaneously. One leads to the other. I guess there would not be any prescription to follow to be aware of what is essential and not. But certain examples below might be able to put certain instances on the table.
For example for a warrior, the actual fighting is non-essential. What is essential is the cause he is standing for.
For an original painter, the canvas, or the brush is not non-essential. They are dispensable. He can switch to any better brush or medium. Rather what is essential is the idea he is trying to paint.
In a relationship, the personalities involved are non-essential. But what is essential is the invisible virtue of understanding, compassion, kindness, empathy that binds two personalities. Moment the fabric of these invisible essentials are broken, the relationship tears apart. Again the same personalities might enter into similar relationships with others. But then the fabric that is essential for any relationship remains the same. Personalities change - non-essentials are ever changing. But what is essential remains the same.
For a writer the medium he uses to write is non-essential. The language he uses is non-essential. But what is essential is that invisible archetype he is dealing with in his mind and heart. It is that experiment he is having in his mind, that commotion happening in his heart, leading him to write, resulting in the flow of a poem or a novel, is what is essential.
It is interesting to observe the amount of time and energy we squander on non-essentials. The endless pursuits to have more power, money, fame, friends, well wishers, kinships, etc that man engages in, appears non-essential to me. These aspects of daily life are just mere reflections of something invisible which is totally from a different plane. Rather than focusing on the source, we get distracted into the dissipated reflections of that. We spend time in the questing of having more and more the artifacts of something at source. That source emanates from our own being. It arises from our own understanding, our own heart and mind. I am not hinting a way to solitary exclusion. Certainly it might be a way for some. But it is not necessarily the most optimum way for all, atleast not for me, for sure. These dry artifacts are important for me. But along with having these dry artifact, the awareness that these are non-essential, and they link to something which is at core, which is invisible, is at heart of things.
Many great thinkers have spent most of their lives in figuring out a way to be centered into this invisible essential - the source. One effective way the ancient civilizations invented for themselves, to solve this existential problem, might have been the creation of the idea of God, and developing the capacity of man to concentrate on that Ideal. What might be more apt than to have a concrete projection of an Archetype in form of a personal God-head, or an abstract idea. At least there is a point in which a person can refer to when she wants to relate to those essentials.
But, I think, this whole creative experiment defeats itself, when this idea of God is treated in exclusion to daily living. When God is treated a separate entity from one's own self, and one's own actions, and the innumerable interaction one has with others, in one's daily life. When God limits Himself to that small corner in one's living room, or a building in exclusion, one calls a temple, He fizzles out to the domain of non-essential. The whole purpose and the toil of all the ancient masters get defeated. I think that one-pointed focus on the essential, should be maintained in one's daily activities, and voluntarily one has to exclude from her awareness the non-essentials.
I try to practice it at my work, and personal life. Yes, I fail multiple times. But, again I try to stand up, shirk off the dust, and start walking again on the path. I think the key is - Finding out the essential, and one pointed concentration on the essential. At work, the issue at hand, the problem being faced is essential, and anything and everything coming our way piggybacking the issue are non-essentials.
Even when dealing with work and life, work becomes non-essential, and life is what is essential. To clarify, I have experienced people who kill life in name of work. By killing life I mean, for them there is no room for compassion, kindness, empathy, love, joy, respect, loyalty, or humanity, when it comes to work. Humans become just a means, a resource, a robot to churn out a result. If the result does not meet a pre-determined expectation, the doer is considered worthless. The dignity of a person is attached to how much capital is created by the person, or how much productivity gain is produced by the person, and how much the person has been able to make a corporation's cult which is given fancy names as "Operating Systems" or "Standard Operating Procedures". It is interesting to see that many times, we are incapable to differentiating a man from his role, or artifact he produces out of an action he is forced to do at his job.
The problem remains the same. It is about being distracted with the non-essential, and losing the sight of the essential.
To simplify, I carry with myself a logo to remind me every moment of the essential. For me the essential is - Love. It is fraternity, compassion, understanding, respect, objectivity, friendship, individuality, and respecting that sacred space for the self, and the other.
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