Chop Wood, Carry Water...
From a recent conversation:
“Hey, I’ve had a big breakthrough!” she told me.
“Oh, really, tell me more,” I said.
“I have a belief that whatever I do has to be meaningful and purposeful. But what if there is no need for that, and we could just live a life that is fun.”
“Are you saying you have a belief that it’s your duty to do something that’s meaningful and purposeful in your life and it’s not allowed to be fun?”
“Yes, I feel like I’m driving my work the way I do because I believe I should be helping others and doing something good for the world. Now I’m wondering if that belief is limiting me. Why can’t I find ways to do things that are easy and fun? Having fun is also good. What if we don’t need to live purposeful lives and we’re actually just here for having fun?”
“What if there was a way you could keep doing the meaningful work you’re doing now but it could be fun while it’s also helping others?” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“Is it possible that it’s really about your relationship to the work and not about the actual work? You know, ‘Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.’”
(We had discussed this idea before)
“Oh, right. It’s not about the doing, it’s about the being.”
“Exactly.”
“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.
After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”
This is an ancient Zen koan which is designed by Zen teachers to mess with the student’s thinking. Koans don’t have fixed answers because the meaning depends on the mind of the student. One meaning I take is the idea that enlightenment (happiness, fulfillment, serenity, etc.) doesn’t depend on outside circumstances but on your internal state of mind.
Chop wood, carry water…
As the Buddhists say, a peaceful mind is a happy mind no matter what the external conditions, and when the mind is not at peace, you will be unhappy even if everything is going your way.
Chop wood, carry water…
In other words, happiness is a choice. It doesn’t come from changing what’s going on around you or by changing your daily work. It comes only from fundamental change to your internal way of being, to your internal landscape, to how you perceive the world.
Chop wood, carry water…
A teacher of mine who is a Buddhist monk provides this thought experiment:
Imagine you’re sitting on a train going through the countryside of Switzerland. Out the windows on one side of the train you can see beautiful vistas of fields and mountains and nature. On the other side you can see only ugly buildings, warehouses, and garbage. You have the choice to sit on either side of that train. Which side of that train do you choose to sit on?
That’s the choice you have in every moment of life. The circumstances outside are only the circumstances outside. It is your outlook and your viewpoint on them that determines your state of mind.
Chop wood, carry water…
In “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, Steven Covey says that because humans are self-aware, we can choose how we react to the things we encounter. It is in our power to decide how to behave in the face of different circumstances.
And as Viktor Frankl said,
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Therein lies our real power: the power to choose our reaction to the world.
Chop wood, carry water…
You can choose to make this hard work and drudgery.
Or you can choose to make every moment joyful and every accomplishment meaningful.
Choosing one way or the other is not about doing. It is about being.
Who do you want to be in the world?
Where do you want to sit on that train?
Chop wood, carry water…
