Work meaningfully.
Retire purposefully.
Stonepeace
Some study hard to work.
Some work hard to save.
Some save hard to retire.
Some struggle hard existentially after,
wondering what they were retiring for,
which is wondering what (next) to live for.
Some return to work after,
as if living for working is the answer,
as if there is nothing greater to live for.
Some thus stop wondering,
with them returning to the cycle,
of working more, for ‘retiring’ later.
Our true ‘work’ is to work
towards liberation from cyclical rebirth,
to learn and practise, to realise our Buddha-nature
for the sake of one and all.
Our true ‘retirement’ is to retire
from our defilements,
to renounce the three poisons (of attachment, aversion and delusion),
by perfecting the three antidotes (of generosity, compassion and wisdom).
While worldly retirement seems
to offer ‘all the time’ in the world,
has our spiritual work even begun?
Our true work to true retirement
is a race against ever limited time
with ageing, sickness and death.
Those heedless will remain trapped
in more ‘pointless’ cycles of births and deaths,
with neither direction nor progress for liberation.
We can transcend this to be delivered,
and transcend this transcendence, to deliver others after,
even if ‘endlessly’, with endless satisfaction!
Work for the worthier.
Retire with the worthiest.
Stonepeace
Related Article:
Work Haiku
https://thedailyenlightenment.com/2018/11/work-haiku
