Detaching from results does not hinder your enjoyment of doing the work you feel called to do. Instead, it liberates you from worrying about the outcome, which frees you up to savor the present moment instead of looking past it.
Buddha stated that the core message of his teaching was, “Nothing should be clung to as me or mine.” Indian guru Nisargadatta Maharaj sagely added that enlightenment was also reachable through the mindset of “Everything should be clung to as me or mine.”
Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.
Blaise Pascal
These seemingly competing statements present a compelling paradox of perspectives; yet, upon closer examination, they coexist in perfect harmony. Buddha’s dictum implies the complete vanquishing of the ego; Nisargadatta’s maxim assumes total identification with spirit. The issue is emphasis, not equivalence.
Spiritual maturity lies in the readiness to let go of everything. The giving up is the first step. But the real giving up is in realizing that there is nothing to give up, for nothing is your own.
Nisargadatta Maharaj
As your surrender to divine will deepens, the stronger your conviction that all that truly matters is adding love to the world and serving God and humankind through your life’s work. Anything that distracts you from these purposes gradually loosens its hold on you.
Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice. Better than knowledge is meditation. But better still is surrender of attachment to results, because there follows immediate peace.
Bhagavad Gita 12:12
Whatever you do, do it for God, do it to serve the world. Until you escape from Planet Me, you will never evolve to the higher consciousness necessary to understand and appreciate the meaning and purpose of detachment.
ABOUT PHIL BOLSTA
Phil is the author of Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything, a collection of 45 inspiring, life-changing stories from prominent people he interviewed, including Joan Borysenko, Deepak Chopra, geneticist Dr. Francis Collins, acclaimed sportswriter Frank Deford, Dr. Larry Dossey, Wayne Dyer, Dan Millman, Caroline Myss, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, Dr. Bernie Siegel, James Van Praagh, singer Billy Vera, Doreen Virtue, Neale Donald Walsch, and bassist Victor Wooten.
Here is a three-minute video that introduces you to Phil and his book. Click here to buy Sixty Seconds. Click here to ask Phil to add you to his e-mail list for updates on his blog and books.
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Sixty Seconds was one of three finalists in the General Interest/How-To category at the 12th annual Visionary Awards presented by COVR (Coalition of Visionary Resources) in Denver on June 27, 2009.
Tags: detach from outcomes, do your life's work, spiritual, surrender to divine will
November 29, 2009 at 4:12 PM
From the title, I assume what you mean is something like: “it’s the journey that matters, not the destination”. Or from a popular contemporary song, “It’s The Climb”.
This goes against the grain of this very Machiavellian world where “the end justifies the means” and people do not care whose toes or heads they step on just to obtain their goal, because so-called modern norms will hail them as heroes. Most of the time however, people will really remember you not for what you achieved per se, but for how you treated them along the way.
This is also like your article “Be Present, Be Powerful, Be Timeless!”, where one pays attention to the various “distractions” He sends our way as we pursue the goals we set for ourselves, as most of the time we will be judged by Him by how we meet His “distractions” and not our own pre-set goals.
It is also a philosophy of life to treat each challenge that gets sent our way as a character-building opportunity that adds color to our life. It is also the difference between coping with a problem, or embracing and living it.
Each of our lives is as evanescent as those sort-lived particles being studied under great expense in particle colliders; just like the particles, it’s the trace we leave behind during our short life that matters, and this is the basis of others’ memories of our life.
November 29, 2009 at 4:36 PM
I agree, ArrVee. It’s all about relationships. In the end, all that matters is how you treated others.