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.If we really look deeply at it, evenbeing oneself is no fun, is wearisome, because it is asource of suffering.If one can completely give upclinging to the idea of being oneself, then being one-self will no longer be suffering.This is what it is to seethe worthlessness of being anything, and is the gist ofthe statement that being anything, no matter what, isbound to be suffering in a way appropriate to that par-ticular state of being.Any state of being, if it is to con-tinue as such, has to be made to last, to endure.At thevery least, it must endure in one s mind in the form ofa belief in that particular state of being.When thereexists oneself , there are bound to exist things whichare other than that self and belong to it.Thus one hasone s children, one s wife, one s this, that and theother.Then one has one s duty as husband or wife,master or servant, and so on.All this points to the truthof the statement that there is no state of being such thatto maintain it will not involve struggle.The troubleand struggle necessary to maintain one s state of beingare simply the result of blind infatuation with things,85 of clinging to things.If we were to give up trying toget or to be anything, how could we continue to exist?This is bound to be a major source of skepticism foranyone who has not given much thought to the matter.The words getting and being as used here refer togetting and being based on mental defilements, oncraving, on the idea of worth getting, worth being ,so that the mind does get and be in real earnest.This isbound to lead to depression, anxiety, distress and up-set, or at least a heavy burden on the mind, right frombeginning to end.Knowing this truth, we shall be con-stantly on the alert, keeping watch over the mind tosee that it doesn t fall slave to getting & being throughthe influence of grasping and clinging.Aware that inreality things are just not worth getting or being, weshall be smart enough to stay aloof from them.If, however, we are not yet in a position to withdrawcompletely from having and being, we must bemindful and wide awake, so that when we do get orbecome something, we do so without emotional upset.We must not be like those people who, turning a blindeye and a deaf ear, go ahead brainlessly and inexpertlygetting or becoming, with the result that they fall rightinto the pit of their own stupidity and attachment, andend up having to commit suicide.The world and all things have the property ofimpermanence, of worthlessness and of not belongingto anyone.Any individual who grasps at and clings toanything will be hurt by it, in the very beginning when86 he first desires to get it or to be it, later while he is inthe process of getting it and being it, and then againafter he has got it or been it.All the time, before,during and after, when anyone grasps and clings withdeaf ear and blind eye, he will receive his full measureof suffering, just as can be seen happening to alldeluded worldlings.It is the same even with goodness,which everyone values highly.If anyone becomesinvolved with goodness in the wrong way and clingsto it too much, he will derive just as much sufferingfrom goodness as he would from evil.In becominginvolved with goodness, we have to bear in mind thatit possesses this property.A skeptic may ask: If nothing at all is worth gettingor being, does it follow that nobody ought to do anywork or build up wealth, position and property? Anyone who comprehends this subject can see that aperson equipped with right knowledge andunderstanding is actually in a far better position tocarry out any task than one who is subject to strongdesires, foolish, and lacking in understanding.Verybriefly, in becoming involved in things, we must do somindfully; our actions must not be motivated bycraving.The result will follow accordingly.The Buddha and all the other arahants werecompletely free of desire, yet succeeded in doingmany things far more useful than what any of us arecapable of.If we look at accounts of how the Buddhaspent his day, we find that he slept for only four hours87 and spent all the rest of the time working.We spendmore than four hours a day just amusing ourselves
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