I recently posted the following on facebook to get some feedback on something that came to mind during my morning meditation:
“Legit question… not trolling: Is it possible to be simultaneously grateful and at peace with what is, while being driven to achieve? If so… what motivates you other than a dissatisfaction with what is? If one is truly at peace, what purpose does improving what is serve?“
– Jason Kellie : facebook, 07/2020
I had several responses. Some thought provoking, some prompting more questions, some chastising. I quite literally spent my entire morning and most of my afternoon in contemplation and discussion attempting to comprehend (mental) what I already understood (spiritual).
If you find that odd, you’re not alone. There are very few people in my life who have the patience to entertain my obsession with thinking things through so deeply, and even they grow tired of listening to me ramble on a topic incessantly until that ah-ha moment occurs for me… hence the chastising. lol
I think first I need to try and explain how the question arrived to provide context. Recently my world fell apart. I will likely address this in another post but at the moment there are no words to adequately convey the devastation. Di’Last describes it as hitting “rock bottom” and I think that’s a good enough way to say it for now. As a result, I challenged myself to reject everything I thought I knew and everything everyone else accepts as right or wrong and rebuild myself brick by brick. I say this to give you some perspective on how genuine my questions are… how child like… how unassuming… how blank the origin.
I had come to the conclusion that peace comes through an acceptance of what is. A realization that control is by and large an illusion, and the relinquishment of that self delusion frees your mind from obsession. This took me down the path of achievement. It may not be immediately obvious how one arrives at achievement via the concept of acceptance, so I’ll explain myself.
I have a habit of rephrasing things in simpler form to either confirm validity or ridiculousness and “contentment” seemed an adequate synonym for acceptance. Past me (I call him Ralph) looked down on contentment. Contentment was passive and lazy and showed lack of ambition. Ambition was based on drive and determination and desire for achievement… and thats where I hit the bump in the road so to speak. I could no longer in good conscious deem contentment as “bad” if peace was “good”. Simultaneously how could one label achievement as “bad”? And I know… that’s not immediately obvious either since achievement isn’t exactly in the top ten antonyms for contentment so bare with me for a moment and I’ll explain again.
I queried myself for the reason we seek to achieve. What is the motivation for wanting to accomplish something… anything… if one is content? Another synonym perhaps… how about satisfied? Yes, satisfaction seems descriptive of contentment which seems descriptive of acceptance which is the way to peace… okay train of thought complete… If the goal is peace, and you are satisfied with what is… you win. Peace has been achieved. Nothing need be accomplished… no actions need to be taken save what it takes to maintain what is. Only if you are dissatisfied with what is does the need for achievement exist. For what need is there to improve upon that which you are satisfied with, other that the goal of achievement itself? This now, is how we will come to label achievement as “bad”.
One responder advised that Achievement itself IS the path. A fascinating suggestion and one I had to parse through. What if you achieved peace through the pursuit of achievement? In other words… what if the way you received peace was was through the act of achieving? The effort… the work… the drive as the method of peace. Isn’t that a beautiful and seductive notion? One no longer has to accept anything right? I mean with drive and determination you can bend and mold things the way YOU want them to be and be damned with how they are. My conclusion? No thank you.
This is the myth of the middle class. This is the alter at which America worships. Our idols who started with nothing but a dream in their parents garage and grew their empire into riches untold. Work harder than anyone else is willing to work and keep on keeping on. Never give up… never surrender! Right? Why is it then that such a saying as “money doesn’t buy you happiness”exist? Why is it that so many of the worlds religions despair over the difficulty for the successful to enter into paradise or to be reincarnated as a higher being or to pass on to the next realm?
See… the pursuit of achievement itself… not a singular achievement mind you… but a pursuit of the act of achieving is to set a goal for a never ending and restless state. Peace is a restful state and with achievement as your means of peace you must constantly be achieving something. This is of course unsustainable and therefore unattainable… meaning you can NEVER be at peace.
You’ve been busting your tail, reaching for the stars, and putting in the effort… and as a result you can now afford to purchase that new Tesla everyone is talking about. Why does it suddenly feel hallow and unfulfilling after a short while? Because what you were celebrating, valuing, pursuing was the work, the effort, the act of achieving itself. So your mind tells you that you are dissatisfied because you are not at peace, and you are not at peace because you are no longer achieving, and so back to work you must go to achieve even more… the Tesla seems like it wasn’t enough to us because it was never the goal in the first place.
So what’s the answer to the question then? If the pursuit of achievement is not the path to peace then what is? I had already begun to consider acceptance as the path to peace but how can just accepting things the way that they are bring me happiness? “There are quite a few non-ideal things going on in my little world let alone the great big wide world… not to mention the things outside of my ability to perceive them in this universe… how is that supposed to make me happy?” I shouted into the phone.
I had been thinking about this all day and it was really beginning to irritate me. Two people very close to me could just tell by my vibe that I was getting deep into this, and their suggestion was to pull back, stop, understand (spiritual) that not everything is to be comprehended (mental), and just take a deep breath and smell the roses. It was Di’Last on the phone with me and as usual… from this place of understanding (spiritual) she made an observation that brought me to comprehension (mental). She said “Well, shouldn’t it be more like a balance? I mean, happiness and peace are not the same thing.”.
An explosion in my mind like a white/blue super nova filled my thoughts with brilliant color and I realized I had assumed a synonym without having thought it through. Happiness wasn’t the goal… peace was. Happiness is an extreme at one end of a beam with sadness on the opposite end, and as long as we have a balance of those in our lives with neither tipping the other past our ability to tolerate it, we can then be satisfied, content, or accepting of what is. And acceptance is the way to peace.
Peace is achieved by actively and consciously not taking any action to interfere with what is, and accepting that what is, is already in balance and harmony with you. Small actions need only be taken to maintain balance and harmony (body, mind, spirit) but NEVER to interfere or attempt to influence opportunity. We do not seek perfect balance, or perfect harmony… for perfection is as unattainable as constant achievement, and peace is a restful state.
So then the answer is: No. You can not be at peace with what is while being driven to achieve. There is zero reason to take action if you are at peace, content, satisfied with what is. If you are driven to achieve, improve, make better ANYTHING… a state of dissatisfaction, discontent, or non acceptance with what is has occurred.