The Organisation and Religion to Re-unite All Religions

 

An Explanation of Nothing

By: Lord Awen Eldorath  

 

 

It is very common in Asian traditions such as Zen to see a great deal written about the importance of doing “Nothing.”  The Chinese refer to this as “wu-wei,” the Japanese as “mu,” and so forth.  In such texts as these one reads often about how “one who does nothing” and yet “leaves nothing undone” and whose actions are widely felt.  A perhaps more Zen way of stating this concept might be to call it “active non-action,” but such attempts to describe it may still leave one wondering just what it means to “do Nothing.”

Imagine for a moment that you are around some close friends.  One of you asks the other for some small favor, and upon receiving it thanks the person who did them the favor.  The person who performed the favor replies by saying, “Think nothing of it,” or “It’s nothing.”  This is because the thing done is seen as a common occurrence or one that is easily attended to, and because the person who performed the favor is accustomed to doing such favors.  In fact, the person who performed the favor is so accustomed to performing or being able to perform such favors that he or she sees it as a rather trivial matter; a matter which one “thinks nothing of” and thus has no desire for others to view it as “something special.”  To take this a step further, the favorable and kind actions are so readily performed that they generally occur with little thought or no thought for oneself or for the Ego of the person performing them; the actions are done merely for the sake of doing them.

Imagine now a child whom is suspected of doing something wrong, such as eating a chocolate chip cookie without permission, or writing on the walls with a crayon.  Ask the child what happened or what he or she did, and his/her response may very likely be, “Nothing.”  Part of this may be self-preservation on the part of the child, who may not want to get in trouble.  The statement that the child is doing nothing may also be an attempt (whether conscious or not) to alleviate the perceived importance of what the child may have done wrong.  Or, this sort of statement may also be made because to a child, the action took place in the past.  It is not happening now, and so they are currently doing “nothing.” 

Consider also the person who rushes in to pull someone out of an automobile accident or a burning building or who stops a criminal or other such heroic act.  When this action is made public and the person is asked about it, he/she will very often insist that they did “Nothing special,” and even say that anyone could have done the same things. 

In all of the above examples, or in any similar situations when one sees him/her self as having done nothing, those around him/her still undeniably feel the repercussions of his/her actions.  In all such instances, the action is simply performed.  There is little or no thought about the “how’s” or “why’s” or about one’s own ego.  One simply performs the action because it seems so natural or has become so deeply ingrained in the person’s being (often due to regular and common occurrence) that the person acts before anything else, even before thought.  This sort of action, devoid of self and thought, is performed because is cannot be otherwise.  It is done because it needs to be done at the time.  Being thus devoid of thought and performed for its’ own sake, such an action is Pure in the truest sense, and helps one in transcending the ego to reach a higher state of Being-if only for the moment. 

Because these Pure acts can only truly live in there respective moments, and because such acts help to transcend the Ego, the person who performed the act sees it as “nothing special” because to him/her it is not.  The person Acts often enough that the Actions become habits, which become instincts, which become as natural an act as breathing.  This is why such actions must occur—they do not have the option not to; the very idea of not Acting has become foreign to such an extant that when such a person Acts, it is “nothing special.” 

There are some inherent dangers in striving for such Actions, as this implies a goal that can be reached or some thing that can be attained.  Actions performed in the hopes of attaining some thing are full of ego, and striving for such goals will leave one feeling as if one is not meeting certain expectations.

 
Doing Nothing is not a goal to be reached, not a thing to be accomplished.  It is a Way of Being.  A Way of Living just for the sake of living “just for today” and every subsequent day, and in each moment as it passes.  Such a Way does not cling to the moments of the past, nor to dreams of the future.  The Way must be Here and Now, because it cannot be otherwise and still be a True and Living Way.  The Way is a living Way, eternally renewed in every moment.  It must practiced endlessly, until it becomes “Nothing special.”  

 
Sources & Credits:

Author : Lord Eldorath Lee, Bruce. The Tao of Jeet Kune Do. Valencia, CA: Black Belt Communications LLC, 1975. Sekida, Katsuki. Zen Training: Methods and Philosophy. New York, New York/Tokyo, Japan: John Weatherhill, Inc., 1975. Tsu, Lao. Tao Te Ching. Feng, Gia-Fu and English, Jane, Trans. New York, New York: Vintage Books, 1989.