Edited by: Janani Mahadevan
We all know fulfilment as an elusive, enthralling feeling; so much so that you could argue that all human endeavour is only an attempt to make it last. However, funnily enough, those who claim to have succeeded in finding fulfilment don’t attempt this at all. Instead, their secret is to never seek it in the first place. The primary qualification to obtain something is to be empty: ascended Zen masters would illustrate this by pouring tea until their cup began overflowing. When the would-be disciple would object and ask the master to refrain from pouring anymore, the master would follow suit and decline to take the disciple up until they were ‘empty’, or ready to receive the Master’s knowledge by denying their own ego. Our lives have become so transactional that we can’t process the simple and most pristine aspects of our nature. Helping others without any reason is one such aspect, modern sensibility would have us believe this is farcical and even foolish. However, to altruists, this very act is the sole cause of lasting fulfilment.
Let us assume that it is a ‘dog eat dog’ world out there where everyone is selfish and only cut-throat competition drives people. Honestly, I don’t think such a world could ever exist. The reason goodness triumphs, in the end, is due to its presence among the good and the bad alike. Take a gang of robbers, for instance, their entire line of work is dishonestly snatching other people’s money and yet, when after a score they decide each other’s share in the take, they are as honest as anyone can be. They will fight and even become sullen over the ‘unfair’ distribution of the money they just stole. This indispensable and all-pervading nature of the ‘good’ is what leads to its triumph, always. What is even more compelling than good deeds are the motivations behind them. People work for all kinds of reasons but rarely does one come across a genuine altruist: someone whose purpose for helping is just helping by itself and nothing else.
Many of those who were known to be the best at what they did claim the same thing when asked about their motivations. They said that while they did their work, they enjoyed the process of it and never bothered about what may come of it. They were working for the sake of working. Altruists claim something similar, for them the act of helping itself is the incentive. And much like the Zen masters with their teacups, altruists find without seeking. While there is nothing wrong with desiring something in return for helping others, it still takes away from the perfection which arises out of altruism. An incentive can cause attachment with the outcome, which may develop into greed and eventually anger when things don’t go as planned. A lot of incentives are present for those who help others but the most deceptive of them all is the notion that nothing bad can befall those who do good.
This false notion is why many people turn sour and become derailed from the path of good; they tend to believe that life is meant to be full of joy and devoid of any difficulties. A great way to illustrate why they have the wrong idea is by the following experiment. Imagine playing a video game that you really like, but that involves some form of in-game currency which you can earn as well as purchase by paying real money. First, play the game without purchasing any currency and work for gaining the in-game currency you need for advancing in the game. Next, play the game again but this time purchase as much in-game currency as you will need prior to playing. Now, compare the level of joy you experienced in both scenarios. You will see that the moment you purchased the in-game currency you traded a chunk of the joy you would have gotten in the other scenario for the convenience.
Life is meant to be fraught with difficulties in order to help you experience joy, not to deny it. The reason we can’t experience joy is that we are not empty. We are filled with desires and incapable of letting go of our inflated egos. In contrast, the altruist actively thwarts desires and his ego which keep him from feeling the joy in life. The choice is simple and available to you: are you ready to be empty? Frankly, by the look of it, it seems there is no other choice but to do so. It’s only a matter of time and the present is as good a time as any. Let go and rejoice.