The Most Important Thing
“Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language.”
– Rainer Maria Rilke
This essay has been edited from its original form, which was published to the True Nature community on January 1, 2025.
“We all have many things that we think we want; we desire to learn, we want to travel here and there, we want to own this and do that. Life is brief. We cannot live the same time twice. We can only decide what is most important and do that.
“Life has been in existence for billions of years, but the time we are given in human form is so very short. How will we make use of it? How will we give expression to it? What is its meaning?
“There must be something that we are certain we need to do, no matter what.”
– Shodo Harada Roshi
--------------------------------------------
I originally wrote this short piece for publication on New Year’s Day, a day I’ve always associated with both levity and resolve - a fresh, sincere, re-start. Right now, I’m appreciating the opportunity to republish it this April. After all, don’t we begin again every day, every minute, in the ways that matter most?
New Year’s resolutions can get a pretty bad rap, understandably: life is hard enough for most of us without piling on pressure to achieve unrealistic goals. While few would intentionally set themselves up for failure and shame, many of us do it unconsciously and habitually, driven by societal and familial norms.
At the same time, without some kind of standards and intentions, life could easily slide into aimlessness. So let’s take a look at how it feels to check in right now about what matters to you:
Just for today, or even just at this moment, what is your most important thing?
Don’t worry if you don’t know, or if you suspect there is something really important that’s eluding you. If there’s one thing I can say with confidence that we have in common on this topic, it’s that our most important thing is definitely not worry.
There’s no one right answer. What is most important doesn’t have to revolve around meditation, even while the practice is integral to everyone in this community simply because that commonality has brought us together.
Don’t overlook the seemingly mundane. Anything can be the most important: housecleaning, walks with treasured friends or family members or pets, meditation. That is, you don’t need an overarching life goal, and if you have one, it’s okay if it changes. Just for today, relax, and allow your most important thing to vary. The deeper current of what carries you into each moment remains constant without needing anything from you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
“Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
– Rainer Maria Rilke
