Having Goals

We are often taught that we need to set goals so that we have mileposts that we can work towards.  It’s a fundamental part of our lives; in every facet of life, we have some achievement that we aspire to.  Books are written about how to optimize goal setting, and it’s always been one of the pillars of success in our societies.  The mantra of the day is to be goal oriented.  But all of this is only valid from a relativistic point of view.  What happens when we let go of the urge to control and relax into a deeper sense of surrender?

This will sound counterintuitive because powerful people will tell you that they did not achieve their status by relinquishing control.  Quite the contrary, they often worked tirelessly to achieve their own goals, competed aggressively, and clawed their way to the top.  And they are working just as hard to stay at the top.  But that doesn’t mean they are happy.

That rings true, but it’s still not easy to get out of the driver’s seat.  We all have certain things we want to get done, and it takes ardent effort with a focus on personal goals.  We experience our everyday reality in a relativistic and material way, and so if that is the perspective then yes, we should have our goals.  At work, we can’t get by without having goals and in fact we are measured by them.  But just as an experiment, we can find a benign area of life where we can try to let go of the need to control.  Maybe with our teenager, or that volunteering activity, or when on vacation… just try to let things take their own course and see what happens, without judgement.

Despite our ordinary dealings with each other, the underlying truth is that life is happening.  Under the skin of stock market traders, life is going on.  All we have to do is stop for a second, set aside our daily problems, and ponder a simple thing like a leaf.  Have you ever seen a sped-up video of a plant growing?  It’s fascinating; just life expressing right in front of our eyes!  In that context, it makes no sense to ask if there is a goal.  It’s just life doing what life does.

If we can just paraphrase Osho for a moment: In an ultimate sense, there is no goal.  Life simply is, and what we think of achievement is just a projection of the ego.  In our constant drive to gain money, power, even knowledge, we lose touch with life and its wisdom and its inherent intelligence.  As we chase after these things, life and its energy slip away like sand from the palms of our hands.  Just see, how many people say so on their deathbed.  Just see, the goal is always in the future and life is always right here.

Watch video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sH41GWY0CU