The work

What is the work, the work you would devote your whole life to?

It is a narrower question than, what are you here for? Or what is the purpose of your life?

It is also a very different question than, who are you? Or what do you love to do? Or what do you want in life?

Clearly a vitally important question, interestingly yet maybe not surprisingly, I only seriously ponders, with much deeper examination, when I stopped “working”, as my third eye slowly opens.

So no, it is definitely not “job”, the concreteness of a field, the privileges of title, the quarterly goals for a corporation actively exploiting, best case, it provides, worst case it numbs and even traps.

It is not passion, which fades, fluctuates, rusts, sometimes confuses and even blinds.

It is also not self love or self improvement, starting from the ego premise only narrows.

It is not even curiosity or intuition, even though they can be guiding lights towards.

In this seasonality of my life, in the midst of world sufferings and turmoil, where so many are stuck, in all sorts of un-freedoms: emotional, sexual, physical, spiritual, political, economical and on and on.

The closest answer I can find, is “guangyi 观音”, the most famous Bodhisatva, who are, in many ways, completely different from Buddha.

They (Guangyi is known to embody intersexuality) are awakened god(dess), and well on the pathway to attain transcendent wisdom and to reach Buddahood of true freedom. But out of radical compassion, they decided to give up heaven, instead staying on earth, devoting their life to the liberation of all sentient beings in suffering.

The work, that is, unapologetically authentic, uncompromisingly courageous, and radically compassionate.

The work, starts with self enlightenment, which already is formidable most of the time, and then expands to life, which feels impossible at one’s lows.

But the work, points out some vague lights in the distance, worth reaching for.