July 23, 2026
Principle 7. Immediate Action. Fourth Week.
If you pursue an end, you enchain yourself. If everything you do is realized as an end in itself, you liberate yourself.
Last time: Equilibrium
This Time: The Great Game
Photo by Rafael Edwards
Sometimes meditation requires you sit down and close your eyes — but that’s less than half the story.
You can transform your daily life into a profound meditation, and path of awakening, and liberation.
Here’s a few things to consider this week.
This Week:
Previously we concentrated on the general structure and scope of this principle. We then turned to how we applied or could have applied it in the past, and in the present. This week we will focus on its possible impact on future situations and choices.
So often our relation to the future is one of either trepidation or pursuit. And perhaps fear of the future is in reality a kind of pursuit, the pursuit of the opposite of what I fear. So what is it I fear in the future? What is it I pursue?
We may understand that there is a way to move through the world, without fleeing or enchainment to ends. But can we make it the centre of our way of life?
The Game of the Week.
Explain It!
The rules for this week’s game are simple and summed up in its name.
Of course, just as with other games, I might find myself with no one to play with. For example, no one of whom I can either ask their opinion, or tell them mine.
Such a situation might well be an opportunity to reflect on what that absence implies, and perhaps even take measures in enrich my social environment.
Another thing this game has in common with the game of Ask About It! is that it’s a game! In this game our interest is on engaging and communicating. Convincing, preening, recruiting, etc. are outside of the goals of the game. Rather, you are simply sharing your interpretation of something you find interesting.
General Considerations and Personal Reflections:
Here are some personal reflections. I offer them in the spirit of dialogue and exchange, and look forward to hearing your thoughts about, and experiences with, this principle.
Like you, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to “do everything as an end in itself (so as to liberate myself)”. This sounds to me like something I understand, at least until I try to apply it, then things seem less clear. Here, I am writing this note, but how can I focus on this activity so it is the end in itself? How would what I’m doing change? What should I do differently to make that possible?
After trying out different approaches, reflecting on my experience, and talking to some friends about their reflections, I felt I understood a few things a little better. The first thing I noticed was that there is a matter of general attitude. Take the example, of playing a game. If you get hung up on winning then you pursue that end, and the game becomes reduced to less than it might be otherwise (less fun, less meaningful, less rich in possibilities, less nuanced).
If in trying to avoid that enchainment to, and the impoverishment of the game, you don’t take it seriously, don’t excerpt yourself to get that goal (or whatever), or ignore the rules that define that game, then you are not engaged, not playing, and have found another way to reduce the meaning of the game.
Both of those approaches are attached to pursuit of ends, though in one case it may be more obvious than the other. Both result in a loss of perspective and possibility. Pursuing non-enchainment is enchaining as pursuing any other end. Just like desiring non-desire, grasping after non-grasping, or being attached to non-attachment. Those are notorious traps. It seems to me, we need another way forward, and that this principle indicates another way to play. One where you are engaged in the game, but not enchained because you attend to playing, to enjoying the game as the end in itself.
As I mentioned earlier, those paragraphs were meant as an attempt to indicate an attitude rather than a technique.
Of course, it leaves many important question pending, e.g. “why play that game?”, and “why play at all?”.
Homework for the Week
-Consider the principle in the light of your hopes and fears.
-Play the game of Name It!
-See if you can find time for special meditation for the end of the month where you:
Worth Repeating:
The Principle of Immediate Action reminds us that we should learn to benefit from all the intermediate steps or situations that lead to our goals.
Coming Up:
Next week we’ll begin with principle 8, Comprehended Action. It says:
“You Will Make Your Conflicts Disappear When You Understand Them In Their Ultimate Root, Not When You Want To Resolve Them.”
Note:
Besides the opportunity to participate in the weekly experiences, the meeting will be a chance for an interchange about your thoughts, insights, examples, and questions.
You’ll receive a reminder the day before the meeting.
Flavio has agreed to host our next meeting. We hope you will be able to join us.
These notes have been posted on Facebook and sent to our email list, and, on my website www.dzuckerbrot.com
Photo courtesy of Rafael Edwards.
