The Present

"A Chinese philosophical work called The Secret of the Golden Flower says that 'when purpose has been used to achieve purposelessness, the thing has been grasped.' For a society surviving to no purpose is one that makes no provision for purposeless behavior- that is, for actions not directly aimed at survival, which fulfill themselves in being done in the present and do not necessarily imply some futue reward. But indirectly and unintentionally, such beehavior is useful for svival because it gives a point to survivving- not however, when pursued for that reason. To play so as to be relaxed and refreshed for work is not to play, and no work is well and finely done unless it, too, is a form of play. To be released from the 'You must survive' double-bind is to see that life is at root playing." -The Book, by Alan Watts