You need do nothing
Episode description
Have you ever wondered what you should be doing? I don’t mean specifically what projects you should be working on for your job or your family. But more generally, what you should be doing with life.
I remember thinking a lot as a kid, “What am I here for? What is my purpose in life?” Then I got consumed with school, career, relationships, and all those sorts of things. But behind it all, I felt this tug of “what should I be doing?”
I remember the first time I read the line in A Course in Miracles that says “I need do nothing.” And it was such a liberating thought.
Not because it means that we should sit around idle all day simply navel gazing and catering to various whims. But rather, by focusing on what I should or should not be doing, I’m making the body real - making it front and center in my life.
By letting go of the compulsion to doing, we can return to our mind where we find what the Course calls “the ultimate release”. When we choose against the ego mind, our body simply becomes a vessel for channeling love. And then we’ll find ourselves doing whatever is most helpful for every situation we’re in - with no sense of strain and no sense of “I need to do this”.
So our practice for today is to try catching ourselves feeling that attachment to doing. The simple observation returns us to the realm of wondrous peace.