Get To Work

Sacrifice now, with no expectation of what might come, and be content with whatever does.

The aim is the work, not the return.

Today’s work and nothing more.

Whatever that work may be.

My future, a distant land I cannot control, is born from countless ingredients spanning the ages. Some I can control, most I cannot. What I can do, fortunately, is work right now — this second, and the second after that.

Suppose the work be worthy, well crafted, meaningful, and soulfully brimming with cosmic purpose. In that case, I increase my chances for the outcomes that follow such labor. Should I cut corners, take shortcuts, and make excuses, then whatever comes will likely be related to the effort. Either way, I have no right to judge the return. I can only choose to work, or simply be busy, or do neither.

The only expectation I have of myself, others, and nature, is cause and effect.

I know nothing of what will happen, but I know I can work. I know when I’m making excuses. I know when I’m trying. Whatever the result, favorable or otherwise, satisfaction is my only option. My only consolation is the work itself, and it exists now, at this moment.

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster,” Kipling says in ‘If.’ “And treat those two impostors just the same.”

All I can do is work as hard as I’m willing. There’s even no point in hope. Hope is a distraction from the effort; it doesn’t appreciate the blessing of the present. Hope is what you feel before you feel let down. Work is what you do when you’re free of expectation, entitlement, and ego.

Pick a path, a worthy aim, and get to work. Expect nothing. Hope for nothing. Want nothing. Just work.

Dedicate today to the work. Sacrifice now, with no expectation of what might come, and be content with whatever does. For wisdom wants nothing more than the work to occupy and strengthen the body and mind.

“The wise man,” Seneca said, “lacked nothing but needed a great number of things, whereas, the fool, on the other hand, needs nothing (for he does not know how to use anything) but lacks everything. The wise man needs hands and eyes and a great number of things that are required for the purposes of day-to-day life; but he lacks nothing, for lacking something implies that it is a necessity and nothing, to the wise man, is a necessity.”