Not Wanting And Not Doing, Two Keys To Oriental Philosophies

To Westerners, not wanting and not doing seems crazy to us. In fact, we live doing the opposite: active and eager. However, stillness and detachment are two keys to Eastern philosophies and, for that very reason, they mark one of the great foci of difference with Westerners.

For Zen and other currents of thought, not wanting and not doing are a source of power. On the contrary, attachment and the desire to influence everything, or react to everything, is noticeably weak. These two keys in Eastern philosophies are sometimes misunderstood. They are confused with neutral passivity or conformity.

There are also those who feel that life without desires that invade people is not life. Or if it is, in any case it is very boring. Intense emotions are a goal for many Westerners, to the point that they invent ways to put themselves in danger just for the pleasure of being shocked inside. Faced with this, there is a question: how valid are these two keys to Eastern philosophies for a Westerner?

Not to do and not to want

Detachment and contemplation are key in Eastern philosophies. This can be clearly seen in the Tao, a book that has been read and appreciated by all cultures, in different historical times. There it is stated: ” The soul without desires sees the hidden , the soul that always wants sees only what it wants. ” This synthesizes the eastern perspective on attachments.

For Westerners, desire is what drives action. This, in turn, is what leads to an achievement. And achievement is equivalent to bliss. Why then is inaction one of the keys in Eastern philosophies? As the Tao points out, Orientals think that desire distorts the perception of reality. It leads to self-deception and enslaves. Somehow, reality seems to prove them right. Just as it is desired, it is acted and it is achieved, then a void remains that calls into question the desire itself.

Faced with inaction, another key in Eastern philosophies, the Tao points out: “Can you keep the water still and clear so that it reflects without clouding? ”It means that not doing allows reality to manifest itself in a more transparent way. Make it visible. Action, on the other hand, interferes with that natural flow of things. Therefore, we arrive more expeditiously to the truth when we contemplate reality and let it be.

Not wanting, one of the two keys in eastern philosophies

For Eastern philosophies the absence of desire gives great power. Whoever wants something, in one way or another, becomes a slave to that appetite, or goal, or desire. He makes his life dependent on having or achieving what he wants. Also not to lose it, or keep it.

This is in itself a situation that leads to distress. This refusal of the Orientals is analogous to the western phrase that says: ” Rich is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least .”

The power to resign gives great strength to the human being. Neutralize or nullify all forms of conditioning based on fear of losing something. A good part of our Western anxiety comes precisely from those fears that things will not turn out the way we want, that we will not achieve what we want or, perhaps, that the undesirable will happen. And the undesirable is undesirable, because it supposes the deprivation of something that we classify as important to us.

Don’t, a source of truth

The non-doing of the Orientals does not refer to being frozen in the face of all circumstances. Rather, it is a non-doing related to allowing each of the realities to take its own course. This is based on the conviction that each reality in the universe has its own dynamics and should not be interfered with.

Not doing is one of the keys in Eastern philosophies, because it is established that what must happen will happen. We can intervene, but this will not alter the essential course of events. They are uselessly wasted energies that will not significantly change reality.

Not wanting and not doing are ways to get to the truth. This is a truth about ourselves and the universe that also inhabits us. They allow us to capture everything in a more transparent way and help us to be more free. That is why they are faculties that the Orientals call to cultivate, mainly to avoid suffering.