Ever heard this quote and wondered what the hell it meant?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBefore enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a common reaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes fragments of Zen philosophy spill into popular culture, and taken alone, they can be hard to decipher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But this one\u2019s a little Jedi snippet of wisdom that can benefit us all, when we know how to use it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you hate your job, traipsing in with gritted teeth, barely scraping through the seemingly pointless activities on your list? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or do jobs at home make you feel like your life force is slowly draining onto the floor like a big puddle of disappointment? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indeed, we all have our own versions of chopping wood and carrying water that are soul-sucking every time we have to do them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which is about when the dreaming kicks in\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe you envisage a better life, full of fun and freedom where you can leave such minutia far behind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You probably feel that if only you could reach this Valhalla, your life would be complete, a bed of soft little roses, caressing your cheeks with flowery whispers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever our individual take on the ideal existence, we believe that if we could just achieve it, everything would be different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, enlightenment; a state above the normal humdrum of life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But those wise old Zen monks knew different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. There’s no reason to strive when we realise that nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To me, the saying dispels the illusion that life would only be better if we had this or that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You see, whatever your existence of technicolour awesomeness, you still have to chop wood and carry water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are always shitty activities, no matter how incredible or successful you are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That why so many people, upon achieving their dreams, are disillusioned. They imagine they get to leave all the crap behind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But that’s not how this little rodeo works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even so, most people set an even bigger goal, imagining everything will be better once they achieve that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And so the cycle of suffering continues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What they haven\u2019t done (and the way to break this pattern) is to take this quote to heart and through some Zen magic, change their relationship with the world… <\/p>\n\n\n\n A process we\u2019ll explore more shortly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. We can appreciate the everyday miracle of ordinary life through mindfulness and presence.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The other great teaching from the quote pertains to ordinary life in all its glory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All those activities that we’re usually forced by guilt to do, can actually be pretty erm…great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And this is particularly relevant today, in an age where social media contends that life isn\u2019t worth living unless you\u2019re sitting on a tropical beach playing on your laptop or swimming with manta rays and your model girlfriend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The consumer and leisure industries have worked hard to indoctrinate us into pursuing new and novel experiences above all else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The zanier (and pricier), the better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve bought into this notion countless times myself, and still do when I consider how awesome it might be to complete the next activity on the bucket list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But what these adverts full of photoshopped families fail to mention is that after the initial thrill of the beach break or 5-star stay, we\u2019ll feel exactly the same as we do now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This quote reminds us that when perceived clearly, all experiences are equal in their subjective experience, whether you’re on a fancy cruise or scrubbing the toilet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So in effect, we no longer need chase the dragon and dopamine hits of stimulating experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather, we must simply progress beyond the psychological veil to enjoy the most routine activities as if newborns seeing for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Wisdom lies in the quotidian.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Once we stop trying to escape some activities or experiences for “better” ones and fully submerge into whatever we’re engaged in, profound insights emerge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We realise that it’s the normal activities that provide an extra helping of wisdom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Every day, via any avenue of experience, we get to observe our consciousness and it’s contents, including the frequent games it plays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We learn that rather than a highlight reel of spectacular experiences, the most mundane moments can be the best teachers and are ones to be savoured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Everything has changed on the inside but nothing has changed on the outside.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n All of this mind-bending might sound mightily heroic, but in essence, it\u2019s a very simple, down-to-earth process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And while everything changes internally for those lucky enough to have the realisation, externally, there are still dishes to be done and beds to be made. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s to say, the person changes, but the activities stay the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you ever seen a pretty Zen person doing normal, everyday things? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you notice anything different about them? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Often they just seem more peaceful, attuned to what they\u2019re doing and in the flow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In contrast, someone who\u2019s stressed seems to have mentally moved on from what they\u2019re doing to a million other things in their mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If they do return their attention to the present activity, they do it in disgust, preferring their imaginary future wanderings to the reality of the present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But, it needn\u2019t be this way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I hate to break it to you amigo, but if you\u2019re looking to walk on sacred ground when you finally transcend, you\u2019ll be looking for a long time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As the saying implies, even after achieving enlightenment, life remains the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There’s no mythical zone to enter, no fairy dust floating around; just the normal, everyday minutia of living, with all its quotidian tasks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Life and it\u2019s contents haven\u2019t changed, only your relationship to life has, through a fundamental shift in perspective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We can talk about theory until the cows come home, but how the devil does this quote work in practice? First, a little bit about the slippery little fish we call the ego: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many people feel that there\u2019s a little controller inside their head, called the ego, and a separate universe out there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Anything painful that happens out there is judged as bad by the ego. And boy, does it want us to avoid the bad feeling… <\/p>\n\n\n\n Comfort is the priority. After all, it\u2019s synonymous to survival, an aim the ego prioritises. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Zen teaches us that the ego and feeling of a external world are just mind-made creations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All we have are inputs, which our mind then interprets to paint a very real picture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, we\u2019re left with consciousness and it\u2019s contents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you appreciate this, you begin to perceive the world very differently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the effects of this perspective shift and weakened ego is that activities or events we once labelled as good or bad, become neutral. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We lost our reactiveness to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In this way, whether you\u2019re changing nappies or sipping cocktails becomes irrelevant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Diminishing the power of the ego through presence allows us to get interested in any activity we\u2019re engaged in, exploring it with compassion and curiosity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to understand this Zen quote in a profound and altogether more literal way, over and above words on a little shiny screen, it requires further work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To disarm ourselves from the illusions of the ego, we need to practice meditation, a technique to put us in touch with the machinations of our mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\nHow to use the quote<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The ego<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Moving forward with meditation <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n