There's Less To Do Than You Think

Ajaan Chah compared wisdom to a spider guarding a web. When a fly makes contact with the web, the spider pounces on it and winds it up in thread. But otherwise, the spider just sits. In the same way, wisdom is not only a matter of thinking about your problems, but just as importantly, knowing when NOT to think. When to simply sit.

So many issues arise because we fear the pause between one action and the next. We rush to fill each gap with overscheduling, overthinking future scenarios, overchecking messages, and overexplaining our choices. This not only creates mental clutter, but erodes confidence in our actions.

What we really need is to learn how to wait with open eyes. This kind of waiting is not like waiting for the bus, where you zone out till the driver honks his horn. It's a relaxed awareness in which you notice what's happening, release whatever tension you can, and simply allow the right response to arise on its own. This kind of awareness may be unfamiliar, yet it can be learned anywhere and at any time.

When we constantly fill up the space, we forget that much less of life is under our control than we think. We dwell on how others should behave, though people mostly act from their past conditioning. We dwell on how societies should function, though societies mostly reflect the greed, hatred, and delusion of their citizens. And in doing so, we overlook the freedom we do have: choosing how to relate to experience, moment by moment, with love and compassion.

David Graeber used to say that capitalism has convinced us that our purpose is endless productivity, when much of our work serves no actual need. “Bullshit jobs,” he called them. If you want to live with more freedom, imagination, and care, you have to notice how most of what interrupts the silence adds nothing to it. Stay focused on the simpler support that sustains you. Rest in your web.