The Things That Matter Only Here
Hindu scriptures say that the world is a temporary place. All your feelings, accomplishments, failures, connections, and desires are an illusion. These things cease to matter the moment you die. The only thing that matters is the connection of your soul to the Brahman.
This analogy doesn’t sit well with people, but it will hit home once you bring it down to individual environments. Think about your corporate office. The politics, the friendships, the work, the affairs, the desires, the frustrations—they only matter to you for as long as you are in that office. Once you quit, you barely think about any of these things.
The politics of the office may be the most important thing in your life while you are there. It occupies your mind. But it only matters for as long as you remain in that environment. Outside the office, these things have no relevance. If you think about it, it is an illusion that exists and remains relevant only because you make it relevant. Your desires give these things their importance.
If you have no desire for accolades, no desire to know who said what and how, and no desire to win the approval of your boss or your colleagues, then that illusion holds no power over you. It cannot consume your mental energy.
Even better, once you realise that this is an illusion, you begin to see the whole point of being in that company differently. You are there to use the work you do, the experience you gain, and the lessons you learn to move to a better company, build a better career, or elevate yourself to a point where you no longer have to bother with these things.
If you always think from that perspective—of elevating your current level—the minor things won’t bother you. They will begin to look foolish and irrelevant. You can apply this analogy to every environment you find yourself in.
Every single environment derives its power from your desires. Let go of the desires, and you let go of the mundane things that come with them.
Isn’t the whole point of life to eventually become free from the burdens of life itself?