Do Good In This World

[Alan Kroeger]

Since we are in the season of festivals and holidays I had a notion that I might offer these thoughts to be judged by the reader to have value or not.

There is nothing more fulfilling then doing service to others. I once had jobs where treachery and politicking were the norm and were completely acceptable ways to behave. Now I have a position where all I really have to do is do good work, do well for others and I can continue happily on without recourse to intrigue.
I had seen the suggestion in some Buddhist writings to laypeople who could/would not become clerics to seek right employment. I had succumbed to the temptation to become engaged in what I do not, now, consider to have been right employment. If something seems wrong in what you do for employment then it probably is wrong. But humans have a great capacity to ignore the obvious and not see clearly what they know is not altogether right and just.

I will not suggest to you that you give up all your worldly possessions and start wandering the streets making such a suggestion could cause harm to others. But I imagine many who come here feel the distaste of being embroiled in the materialistic and sometimes treacherous fields of employment. All I can say is try to do good and all will work out for you. Striving and struggling are so tempting and they all to often lead to suffering. You can exist in this world and acquire all the status items you want and still end up feeling unfulfilled.

So if you only go and make a small effort in doing good in this world in some small voluntary capacity you may find some amazing degrees of fulfillment.
I suggest you go try this out for yourself and see if find what I have found. Don't believe me go find it for yourself I have been part of the striving now I am no longer striving for that which I don't need and I am much happier.

Paraphrasing Robert Browning's suggestion "Less can indeed be more" and you don't need to become a monk or a nun to attain that feeling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_del_Sarto_(poem)