Do things for their own sake

I said to the chap, “Then when the Romans arrived, neither you nor we were doing very well, were we? On your theory, they would have been right to wipe us out and recolonize Germany and Britain.” He went, “Oh, think with your blood!”

 It is not so easy to say, “Oh, we know how to do good. We know how to do good,” but we can easily find out not to do harm. When you meet people like Gandhi, who was determined not to do harm, they’re very impressive, and they can create a peace and an inspiration round them. We have to try to establish something in ourselves, which will give us the balance to see things and understand things and, finally, carry things out. Things which are done impulsively are not well done. Things which are done lazily are not well done. Things which are done impatiently are not well done.

There has to be a way of doing things which are not impatient, which are not impulsive, which is not lazy, where the thing is done for its own sake not because I should get something out of it, or it’ll be ghastly if I don’t do this, I’ve got to do it, but to do the thing for its own sake. The time to practise these things is boring, repetitive jobs where there’s no intellectual element at all, these are the times, these are the occasions to make use for spiritual practise.

I’ve got to clean the floor. Normally, I start cleaning, and all the time I’m done here, and I know that I’ve got about six more of these to do. I move on, and then I know that’s an awkward bit there, and I see it’s a bit dirty there. My mind is boiling with thoughts. Finally, I’m thinking not about the job itself but about the row I had yesterday, and how I could have said that, and that would have settled that but I didn’t think of it, but maybe I’ll get the chance tomorrow. The polishing gets pretty vigorous then. Then the polishing gets a bit slow…

There’s a way of doing the polishing. I’ve seen a quarter of a mile of corridors being polished. Polished wood, no polish allowed. It’s all done by elbow grease, but it all shines. They do it in this way. They do it for its own sake. It begins dull, and then it’s polished. They use both hands. Here, we use one hand, but they use both hands. Then it begins to shine. Its nature begins to shine. Then, without planning or thinking, ‘I could about do two more before lunch’, in these ways, a mental serenity can be practised.

In some of the schools, they say, “Offer this action to God.” We think, ‘What’s God going to make of a bit of polishing of the wood?’ No, we’re polishing our own heart by throwing out the motives, throwing out the fears, throwing out the anticipations, and the heart becomes clear and shining. This is the offering to God. Some practice like that, and especially these dull, boring times, make an occasion for spiritual practise. Then there begins to come a change. When the mind becomes serene, it’s as though the polishing cloth or cloths begin to become alive of themselves so it’s no longer, ‘I am polishing here.’ They begin to become alive, and then there’s no sense of fatigue. They begin to come alive, and the floor will shine, and the heart will begin to shine. This is the offering to God. These are hints. They’re not meant to be dogmas. People can believe them or not believe them, but when times are very difficult, these are things which can be practised. When there’s almost nothing left, when you’re in prison, these are things which can be practised so that the mind doesn’t get demoralized.

One of the things which comes up is that the right actions, our good conduct, is something we have to impose on ourselves. If somebody hits me, then I want to– But when I’m hit, I’ve got to impose, ‘No.’ This is not the true morality. This, the response to hit one back, seems to be natural. Then this, ‘No, I mustn’t,’ that seems to be unnatural. What the teachers are saying is, the Self, that immortal element in man, which can be just glimpsed at first, that is shining, and will shine out into a new behaviour, which will be natural.

© Trevor Leggett

The full talk is Getting beneath the mask