Hexagram 52 > 23
It's tempting to think of your current goal or objective as the apple on the tree that will mentally, physically, and spiritually satiate you.
*This* accomplishment will be the one that in some ways makes your personal imprint on the world a lasting one.
But to accept that possibility is to simultaneously deny the sand trickling down through the hourglass, while also denying that the hourglass itself will one day cease to exist.
To consider these things can strike someone down with the virus of existential crisis, or it can be a key jagged in just the right ways to be your way to unburdened wrists.
Knowing that your accomplishments will never be enough to satisfy you, and never be enough to immortalize you, has the potential to be a balm in a world that makes its suffering currency from your constant craving and striving. It can dull the blades that we swear will cut us forever.
What follows are questions that have helped me to see things in a more clear-headed way about my own striving (and suffering), and I hope they do the same for you.
Thought Exercises
Think about every famous or successful person you know of
How many days a week do you think of them?
How many days a week do you use or consume what they made?
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Think about how many people from 100, 200, 500, 1000 years ago that you still think about, or whose work (or contributions) you interact with
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Think about the people that you believe changed the world for the better
How often are they still talked about in public spaces?
How often do you think about them?
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Think of your accomplishments in the past year
How many do you think of every week?
How satisfied were you, and are you now, by what you accomplished?
What accomplishments from over a year ago do you still remember?
Were they satisfying enough that you're still fulfilled and satisfied by them?
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Think about how many books you've read
How many do you still think about on a daily, weekly, monthly basis?
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Think about how many things you wanted and got in the past year or past five years
How many still satisfy and fulfill you?
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Think about how many good things your family members have done for you
How often do you still think about those good deeds?
How many of those good deeds still act upon your life in a positive way?
How satisfied are you by those good deeds as you read these words today?
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Think about events, people, places, and things that you've wanted, or wanted to experience over the course of your life
How many of those things, once attained, satisfied and continue to satisfy and fulfill you today?
How many of those things that you've never attained, or experienced, impact your life today because of not getting or experiencing them?
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Final Thoughts
To some, these thoughts may be depressing.
To some, the response may be thoughts of 'what's the point of everything?'
To me, the point is there is no point, and it doesn't mean anything that there isn't any point. It's the making it mean something that will cause you a mental puncture wound.
But, it's natural to make it mean something, and I'm not immune to doing so.
But (again), I find it helpful to get reminders like this.
When held in your mind, or when these thoughts are dwelled in, you can get a sort of balm, that makes the stings, sting a little less so.
We're people that don't get oxygen from accomplishments and prominence.
The dead aren't served by esteem in any way that makes their bodies reform, and oxygen fill their lungs again.
And the dead outnumber us.
While we're here, though, we have the chance to engage in relationships that enrich us, even if our memories make the images blurry, and sounds distorted, when we think back on these people we loved.
Impermanence may *seem* scary, but it's been with us even before we were born. It's what gave us the opportunity to have open eyes, and laughter echo from our mouths.
Metaphorical and real trophies will never satisfy us, but experience can enrich us. If we just allow ourselves to stay with it a little bit, instead of straying into the past or the future.
Easier said than done, but it's as close as we'll get to peace.
I wish us all luck in trying.