Doing Dishes
Zen asks us to do a very strange thing. It asks us to ‘act without acting’. What does this mean? I’ve explained it in other articles, such as the article on Wu Wei, but sometimes we need a practical example to make things clear.
Let’s get straight. ‘Intentionless Action’ seems to be a paradox. What we’re being asked to do is to live our lives with no goals in mind. The reason? Clinging to these goals creates a state of constant anxiety, where we structure our physical and mental life so that we will either ‘succeed’ or ‘fail’. If we succeed, we’re pleased, and if we fail, we suffer. This cycle of ‘up and down’ may seem normal to us, but it is precisely what the Buddha was talking about when he spoke of Dukkha, or what we might call Samsara, or ‘suffering’. The message here is that we don’t have to bounce around like that – there is another state of mind in which there is no suffering.
But if we have no goals, then we’d never get anything done! We’d just laze around and drink beer and watch TV!
The funny thing is that someone with no goals can never be lazy – their life is always active and participatory. When we have goals, we move between times of frantic activity, trying to accomplish our aspirations, and times of stress-relief, where we ‘escape’ into television, alcohol, music, vacations, or ‘zoning out’. Even TV and alcohol aren’t necessarily bad – but when we use them to escape from our hectic lives, it’s a sure sign that something is seriously wrong.
So. How can we ever accomplish anything if we have no goals?
Let’s imagine that you have a stack of dishes in your sink. There are two ways to approach the task of doing the dishes.
In the first, which represents our usual method, we look at the dishes, sigh, and roll up our sleeves. They have to be done, after all! But since we really don’t want to do them, we feel resistance to the task. We want to get them done as soon as possible, so that we can move on to other things that are worthwhile. What we’ve done is created goals. Our goal is to get the dishes done, and since we’d like to get them done fast, it gets very frustrating when we encounter that burnt crusty area on the pan that just won’t wash off, or we drop a wine glass and have to take an extra few minutes to extract all the shards of glass from the sink. Sometimes we can work ourselves into quite a frenzy doing the dishes!
This goal of finishing the dishes is very similar to many other goals in our lives, because it promises something better when the goal is accomplished. We feel that when we get into the perfect love relationship, or attain financial independence, or get our degree, or retire – when our goal is attained, we can really start Living. Until then, we just have to make the best of a mediocre situation.
But there is another way to do the dishes. We walk over, and we just attend to doing the dishes. We don’t have to get them done. We just wash the dish we’re washing. It’s that simple. And because we’re paying attention to doing the dishes, we actually get them done faster. And because we’re being mindful, we probably won’t break that wine glass. In the end, we actually accomplish the ‘goal’ more efficiently because we weren’t intent on finishing.
In this way of living, maybe I’ll just do one dish. With no goal in mind, I’m perfectly free to do that. I’m not holding myself to any standards whatsoever. This not only makes it easy to embark on tasks in the first place, but it also means that I’ll probably end up doing them all anyway. Why? Because when my mind isn’t distracted with all the things it could be doing, it can attend to what’s actually going on. And believe it or not, doing dishes is actually an amazing experience. That is, it’s an amazing experience if we are actually Present when we’re doing them.
Much of our life is like doing dishes – the only way we can be agitated is if our mind is focused on results, on the future, or on our many goals and aspirations. Focusing on these things does not make us more productive – it actually makes us less productive because we’re spending the majority of our energy in constant patterns of circular thought and worry. If we can experience Now, we find that the only really important moment is the one we’re in.
This requires a complete overhaul of our standard ways of functioning. We can think that these standard ways are the only ways that things will ever get done in this world, and then, suddenly, we’ll be doing the dishes and we’ll recognize that the only thing that makes the experience unpleasant is that we’re eager to get done with them. That’s when, perhaps for the first time in our lives, we’ll actually do the dishes, and realize that this is what we’ve been missing out on our whole lives. We’ve been ignoring the actual sensation of Living and instead focusing on the fantasies in our imaginations – all the futures that may or may not come to be. But the saddest part is that even if those futures do come to be, we won’t be there to enjoy them, because we’ll never have learned to experience Where We Actually Are.
Whether you’re doing the dishes, preparing for the biggest business presentation of your life, or approaching your own death, there is only one place to be – Now – the place where everything is actually going on.
Explore posts in the same categories: Being Present
June 4th, 2007 at 3:47 am
Kenton’s Note: Apologies, Curtis, for the small edits here, but I’m trying to keep the site readable for a few of my younger readers and their parents. Thanks for your understanding. I’ve replied to your comment below.
“Let’s get straight. ‘Intentionless Action’ seems to be a paradox. What we’re being asked to do is to live our lives with no goals in mind. The reason? Clinging to these goals creates a state of constant anxiety, where we structure our physical and mental life so that we will either ‘succeed’ or ‘fail’.”
You are an a*&$%@ if you believe this s%$@&.
“What we’re being asked to do is to live our lives with no goals in mind. The reason?”
Isn’t trying to live with no goals in mind an intention? So basically, you are too dense to understand that everything you do has an intention. Abandoning all goals to get free from anxiety and stress, is doing something for a reward, and the only way one can honestly feel relieved from doing this is if you are an idiot.
=Curtis
June 4th, 2007 at 6:28 am
after awakening from being struck with 12700 volts of electricity due to an industrial accident, having gone 20 minutes without a heartbeat or a breath, I had a mind and life altering realization. I was smoking, my nose nearly burned off, severe third degree burns on my face, arm and hands. There were teeth missing, a detached retina in my eye and a blown out eardrum. Through the clouds in my brain came a voice that said: “You were given one thing while you were on earth, life, how were you LIVING it?”
It was a strange way of putting it I thought-then.
“I was going to be a nuclear engineer” I answered confused
the voice giggled and replied, “I didn’t ask what you were going to be, only for you to account for yourself every second you were alive.”
it was like a bomb went off in my head when I realized that I had spent the 18 years of my life that I could remember lost in the future or the past, and managed to skip the only thing I really had, now!
But now I am a dead man walking. I am free to enjoy all of life as it happens. At 62, I have experienced an amazing and wonderful, fulfilling and adventurous life full of joy and creativity and love. There is no sorrow, only love and gratitude for being here. There are no goals but much has been accomplished. There is no deire for things, things that just weigh me down, yet I am rich with the love of my friends and family.
May we all come to realize the transitory nature of all phenomena.
June 4th, 2007 at 8:41 am
Hey man, great way to put it. I often find it difficult to explain to others what one would mean by intentionless action.
June 4th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
That is well said, i think the the way for people to find out about this is to focus on one goal intensly for a few months, think about it non stop constantly, a goal that can not be achived for a few years. The constant though of that goal 24/7 after 4 months will be so agitating, you will eventually think, FCK IT, if it happens it happens if it doesnt it doesnt, I am not going to waste my time and energy thinking about the future. I am going to focus on having fun now.
I think you nailed it on the head, my previous rant is how i came to the conclusion of living for now.
June 6th, 2007 at 12:30 am
This was an awesome blog. I’ve been looking at my life in the same way recently and this really helped me solidify my way of viewing life. I think the analogy of doing dishes is a great way to show living in the now and not dwelling in the past or looking too much into the future.
-Julian
June 6th, 2007 at 12:33 am
Dear Tim,
Thanks for sharing your story and experience. =)
Sweetwater,
Kenton
June 6th, 2007 at 12:37 am
Ben,
Very interesting method. I’ve never heard of anything quite like that before. I don’t think I’ll be playing with it, as it seems rather intense. But thanks for pointing out something that has worked for you!
June 6th, 2007 at 12:43 am
Matt,
Well said. It is indeed challenging (and fun!) to try to put intentionless action into words. As you can see in Ryu’s comment, the words can be interpreted in various ways
June 6th, 2007 at 1:18 am
Curtis,
You make a very good point. It is easy for us to make anything into an intention-filled goal. We can do this in very subtle ways. Our dualistic manner of seeing the world is locked in to this idea that every action must have intention, or will, behind it. You can directly experience, however, intentionless action. But it will be pretty tough if one insists, in one’s world view, that this is impossible. If you take a look around you, however, you’ll find plenty of intentionless action going on in the world — as in ‘random’ events creating apparently ‘non-random’ patterns. Unless we posit a creator or creative force in the universe, it seems that things are happening pretty well all on their own. Is it so startling that we, too, might function in such a way?
Sweetwater,
Kenton
June 7th, 2007 at 4:34 am
This really rings true for me. My entire life has been based on goals, and now that I have graduated college, which I had thought would be the “final goal”, I am not really sure what the goal after the final goal should be or what I want to do with my life, and I am questioning that way of thinking. Thus, it seems that besides decreasing productivity, living with a constant goal in mind never really brings lasting happiness because there will always be another goal on the horizon causing anxiety and waiting to be fulfilled. I also like how you handled that troll that posted the first comment. It is difficult not to respond to a person that obviously lives with constant anger with more anger, but it is the right thing to do because, again, doing otherwise is not productive.
June 7th, 2007 at 6:15 am
Agreed. There is randomness where we exist and everywhere that anything exists. However, I am arguing the proposition submitted by the author. To tell someone to let go of intention so you can become free is obviously intention driven.
Action : Losing Intention
Result : Becoming Intentionless
You cannot ATTEMPT to become intentionless because that is an intention. People that read such works and decide to act like our eastern brothers are fools. i do not say the same for people who have gone through something personally that made them realize goals are not what life is about (I have so Im not attacking myself) I am merely questioning the people that read something and, without enough coherent and rational thought, abide. For all of us who realize that goals, in regard to society’s structured testaments to success, are not as important as most everyone else makes them seem, Cheers. To those who read the author’s work and decided to step their spirit game up, shame on you.
=Curtis
PS: Sorry for the profanity, I wasn’t aware of the younger viewing populous. LoL
June 7th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Greetings Curtis,
Again, you are observing an important point. The puzzle of intentionless action is to discover how such a paradox could exist. Within the boundaries of our language, it’s impossible (it contradicts itself, as you point out). But our language does not always (or ever) adequately describe reality.
Perhaps the question here is: Do you feel that there is something we might describe as ‘intentionless action’? Do you think these words are pointing toward a reality, or only to a self-contradictory concept? If we are stuck in goals, do you have suggestions beyond simply not taking goals seriously? And if you don’t take goals seriously, why do you pursue them?
What is it you feel drives goals or intentions?
These sorts of questions can get us to question the very nature of our goal-oriented actions, and help us to see what it is we’re actually trying to point toward without getting tangled in our words.
Sweetwater,
Kenton
June 7th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Dear Masha,
Thanks for sharing your realizations! If found it interesting that you said you were ‘questioning that way of thinking’ rather than ‘questioning the goals’. This is an important distinction, because it’s easy to aim frustration at our goals (’they were too difficult to achieve’, or ‘they weren’t what I thought they’d be’). It’s a big realization to see that the entire goal-oriented process is what’s getting us in trouble. Problems built right into the system =)
Also, your sharing about your experience with college was helpful in giving a real-world example that many people could relate to.
With Curtis, I think he’s bringing something quite valuable to this discussion, in that it’s very easy to latch onto ideas — I constantly try to undo the ideas that my words might put into readers’ heads. In a way, he’s helping with that process.
What I’m describing isn’t really an idea, but a direct experience (like smelling a flower) — he’s pointing out the inherent contraditions in the language — and our language is usually the biggest force that shapes our thinking. Whatever his intentions or emotions, his words can serve as a teacher for all of us. It’s also interesting for us all to observe our emotional reactions to those who challenge our ideas, writings, or viewpoints.
Thanks for your comment, Masha. =)
Sweetwater,
Kenton
June 8th, 2007 at 6:38 am
It was my intention to write something worthwhile here, but it seems I am failing at that.
Well, at least I’m doing it now.
June 8th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Ha! Very cleverly said! It seems you failed to fail at saying something worthwhile after all!
=) Kenton
June 8th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
“Well, at least I’m doing it now.”
haha i actually got a nice chuckle outta that one. Well. I spose there are two divergent philosophies and really no matter how much one side explains to the other neither will switch, which is part of the beauty of the human experience - in the sense that we all interpret what we see through different lenses - so I will leave with this: Interesting write, and to those who it inspired, more power to you. As for Kenton, some good debate, its funny how void high school can be of intellectual debate and Ive been waiting for some intellectual battle. For all the bystanders, Cheers. LoL
=Curtis
June 8th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
Thanks Curtis, for the parting thoughts, and also for the exchange of words. Hopefully it will leave people with some interesting perspectives!
Sweetwater,
Kenton
June 9th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
I think we need to keep in mind that everyone is at their own point on ‘the path’. Human development can be slow and tedious or quick and painless. Who is to say that the Ph.D. in philosophy is any farther along than the boy who sits in a field watching butterflies? I say put down all battle armaments, be they physical or intellectual and just…Be.
June 9th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
My sense is that you have it wrong. You say, “‘Intentionless Action’ seems to be a paradox. What we’re being asked to do is to live our lives with no goals in mind. ” I believe this is incorrect. Intensionless action is essentially to only act without choice. It’s true that in that case there are no goals in mind. But to have the intention to have no goals in mind is itself a goal, and so it is self-defeating to put it that way. The essence of the problem is choice. It is impossible not to choose, but it is possible to choose not to act by choice. The actions with which one is left in that case are only those actions to which one is compelled by external conditions beyond our control. That is to act without intention.
June 11th, 2007 at 3:06 am
Dear Lord Vader (how cool that I get to write that!),
I like the boy with the butterflies. But to speak of farther along . . . what could we mean by that? If we could really stop trying to get farther — in all areas of our lives — then mayhaps we could do as you say and just Be.
Sweetwater,
Kenton
June 11th, 2007 at 3:22 am
Good Evening Michael,
I’m not sure if you were following the dialog with Curtis, but it explored a similar avenue — the nature of our language is that it creates a framework within which we ‘box’ the world. Dualism is the framework most of us use, and every sentence we utter reinforces that framework as our habitual mode of thinking. For instance, if I say: “I want some ice cream”, we can see that the sentence begins with an assumption that there is a perceiver (I), while the next word implies will and a divided psychology (want), and the final part implies an external world with which I can interact (some ice cream). We speak like this all day long, and play the same dialogs in our heads — the end result being that it is impossible for us to conceive of anything outside of the language’s structure.
However, we can experience things outside of the language’s structure (try to describe the emotion of love, or the sensation of cold, or the perception of the color green). We can put words on these things, but they can never actually create the sensation in someone who has never experienced these things. This is very evident when we have had friends from the deep south visit us in the winter — they have heard of snow, had it described, and even seen it on TV (and eaten ’snow cones’), but when they actually see the snow for themselves, they are awed — the true experience is something totally different than their ideas.
What is being described in the post above is such an experience — my words can point toward it, but they can never offer the actual experience — only you can do that. If we try to figure it out in words, we’ll only go in circles, because words can only describe more words. Seriously, just give it a try sometime — do the dishes, and pay attention to what your mind is doing. It’s remarkable to discover that your mind is off doing anything except the dishes! In this way we are usually divided — never quite ‘where we are’.
Sweetwater,
Kenton
June 15th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Simply brilliant. Enjoyed reading very much.
August 12th, 2008 at 3:01 am
I am astounded that other people don’t think this way.
Thanks Kenton for unravelling the one and only way to LIVE!
August 12th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Hello APA,
Yes, it is a great mystery why we choose the lives we do. Unraveling this mystery is so fun, it’s amazing that more people aren’t actively engaged in it. But that’s what makes the mystery so mysterious . . .
Sweetwater,
Kenton