Doing nothing leads to nothing. Interestingly enough this message hits people in fascinating ways. There is something about this statement that really creates a spark inside of people’s hearts. Some are inspired by it, others are inflamed. Many are quick to judge and disagree while others cheer it on with glee.
Many will say that doing nothing is important, others will claim it is a necessity to maintain harmony and balance, while some will state it is required to accomplish great things. My question is how? How does it do any of these things? When we do nothing, it invites entropy into our existence, and as a consequence, we start accepting stagnation as normalcy. The longer we remain stuck in place the more difficult it becomes to escape. We become complacent in our misery as we accept our strife as a healthy way to live our life.
Of course, not everyone who says this has a life that is rife with stagnation and entropy. What most people identify as nothing is actually stillness and rest. I agree with that. I believe stillness is essential, but it is not the willful act of doing nothing. When we choose to exist in the meditative state of rest it is with the purpose of being able to do something. This is the act of doing something that leads to something. There is value in stillness, it can replenish us, reveal the areas in which we are lacking, and guide us to contemplate life in ways that lead us to experience incredible delights.
A Rabi's Tale
I realized the importance of boredom after listening to an interview with a Rabi some years ago. He said he thought his life was peaceful until he went on vacation. He said he had forgotten how it felt to be bored because his life was so busy. He was at a retreat sitting within a beautiful body of water surrounded by tranquility, and he was miserable. He had allowed himself to acclimate to the busyness of existence to such a degree that sitting still became a chore. When he realized the degree of misery he had imposed on himself, he changed how he approached life and his daily tasks.
To be fair the statement is vague and presumptuous
So, what am I actually talking about?
The function of the message is to serve as a motivating force to remind us that if we invest nothing into our future, there will be nothing to reap. We have to plant seeds into the earth if we seek to have something to harvest. Doing nothing leads to nothing. If we want something important, we have to work for it. This applies to all avenues of our existence. Life, as I sure you know is more than lollipops and sunshine, it can be great and divine, magnificent and marvelous, but it can also be horrendous and horrible. Sometimes we need a few words to remind us that we can seize the second, make a decision and take action. Even doing something that is small is infinitely greater than doing nothing at all.