"I NEED DO NOTHING"(1)

This is perhaps one of the most often talked about, least understood and most controversial
teachings, not only in A Course in Miracles, but also anywhere where contemplative or mystical
thought interfaces with the secular world. Human society, particularly in the West, is highly
action oriented and is becoming more so all the time. There is neither appreciation for nor
understanding of the principle of Not-Doing. It is important for a true spiritual devotee to deeply
understand this teaching, which is fundamental to spiritual life, so much so that Jesus says,

"Save time for me by only this one preparation, and practice doing nothing else. 'I need do
nothing' is a statement of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty." [T363/389]

"Nothing else"! "Undivided loyalty"! These are strong words. What could they possibly mean?
Does it mean to be totally passive? To withdraw completely from participation in worldly
affairs? This has been, perhaps, the most common interpretation of this concept by critics and
adherents alike whether in Hinduism, Buddhism or among students of A Course in Miracles. And
yet the Course is not talking about any sort of quietism or physical withdrawal from the world.

Perhaps to understand this teaching we must first understand one of the most important
fundamental principles of A Course in Miracles -- that salvation is already an accomplished fact.
It already exists in our mind. Lesson 337 summarizes this beautifully,

"My sinlessness ensures me perfect peace, eternal safety, everlasting love, freedom forever from
all thought of loss; complete deliverance from suffering. And only happiness can be my state, for
only happiness is given me. What must I do to know all this is mine? I must accept Atonement
for myself, and nothing more. God has already done all things that need be done. And I must
learn I need do nothing of myself, for I need but accept my Self, my sinlessness, created for me,
now already mine, to feel God's Love protecting me from harm, to understand my Father loves
His Son; to know I am the Son my Father loves." [W461/471]

God has already done all things that need be done." Salvation, Atonement, forgiveness, true
perception, correction is not something which must be achieved, accomplished or acquired. It is
not something we grow into or evolve toward. We are not on a "path" or a "journey." Salvation is
now, awaiting only our acceptance of it.

"The working out of all correction takes no time at all. Yet the acceptance of the working out can
seem to take forever." [T520/559]

We may need go no further. If salvation is already accomplished in the mind then there is
obviously nothing left to DO. "I Need Do Nothing" is merely a fact. All of our self-initiated
doing then, no matter how "spiritual" (in earthly terms), is but interference to what has already
been done. Since salvation is undoing and real learning is unlearning, then we have nothing more
to accomplish or achieve. And, it is so simple; there is not all that much to UNdo. Ramana
Maharshi once remarked that the only belief that needed to be undone was the belief that we are
not already enlightened.

As if this weren't enough, the Course says one of its more radical teachings,

"You were created only to create, neither to see nor do." [T252/271]

clearly implying that both perception and doing are only of the ego state.

Let us go a little more deeply into what the Course is saying in "I Need Do Nothing." Perhaps by
very carefully examining this statement one word at a time we may unearth more of its real
meaning.

Who is this I? A Course in Miracles asks,

"The whole value of right perception lies in the inevitable realization that all perception is
unnecessary. This removes the block entirely. You may ask how this is possible as long as you
appear to be living in this world. That is a reasonable question. You must be careful, however,
that you really understand it. Who is the 'you' who are living in this world?" [T54/59]

Have you understood? Have you really asked this question? For most the pronouns "I" and "me"
are used to mean the human body/personality/mind combination, the accumulated history and
conditioning that makes "me" seem real. The Course is quick to point out, however,

"Of yourself you can do nothing, because of yourself you are nothing. I am nothing without the
Father and you are nothing without me [Jesus]...." [T135/145]

Here, perhaps we have already uncovered the mystery. As long as one thinks he is a separate
body/personality/mind and God or Spirit is but some sort of theological concept outside him and
irrelevant to his "real" everyday life, he is a nothingness, an unreality. So, any time "I" means "I,
myself" there is a misidentification. And since this "I" of itself is nothing, it can do nothing, at
least nothing real. It can, however, project images and experience them as real. It can refuse to
see.

"To say, 'Of myself I can do nothing' is to gain all power.... As God created you, you have all
power. The image you made of yourself has none." [M67/70f]

This is not new news. During his earthly ministry Jesus often told us,

"Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you
I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works."(2)

and this was repeated by Paul in his letter to the Galatians,

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God...."(3)

Here we have clear and classic examples of the denial of self. It is "Not-I" that actually does
anything real at all. When "I" am no longer the doer, all is already done.

Here is one of the profound meanings of "I Need Do Nothing" -- to relinquish the personal sense
of doership, the feeling that "I, of myself" am doing anything. Since nothing can be done by
"me," except to make further illusions, then to do nothing "of myself" or "by myself" means that
whatever needs to be done is done through "me" but not by "me." Real action is never self-
initiated or self-motivated; it is always impersonal, or perhaps better, superpersonal, with no
investment in the formal outcome and no personal feeling of achievement or accomplishment.

NEED

What is need? Need arises from desire and discontent. Desire begins with the belief that the
present is insufficient, unacceptable, that there must be something "more." It is the perception of
lack, the belief that something is missing, unfulfilled, incomplete. Desire is a craving for
"something else." Need is the objectification of desire, making it specific; the desire for certain
things or situations. There is, in every moment of desire, both the demand for what is not and the
fear that it will not come. However, if the object of desire does come, there is the refusal to
unconditionally accept it, leading thereby to further desire and discontent. Desire then is the
unending process of unfulfillment itself; this is the beginning, the "original sin." What is not
realized is that all fulfillment comes from recognizing our true Reality, which is One with God. If
desire is objectified as specific "needs," it keeps one tied to this material world, the wheel of
karma, so to speak. Left without hope of fulfillment in the world it can lead us back to God.

"Learn now, without despair, there is no hope of answer in the world." [T608/654]

One other essential ingredient in the translation of desire and discontent in general to specific
"need" is the process of discrimination and preference. We could not specify need if we did not
see differences and set up a hierarchy of preferences. This gives rise to two types of need, the
need for, which we shall call attachment, and the need to avoid, which we shall call aversion. In
looking at desire one must look not only at attachments, but also at aversions. Both are equally
damaging to equanimity and love.

In whom does desire and therefore need arise? Is it not the separated, mortal idea of self, the "I-
me-mine"? And, is the ego-self anything other than the whole idea of unfulfillment? Is not the
ego the entire idea that God, infinity, perfection is insufficient, that I must have more, do it by
myself? What the idea of ego has done is to attempt to find something more than God, to add
something to infinity; not realizing that to add the finite to infinity would reduce infinity. It is
what the ego has attempted to add that has seemed to reduce infinity to finiteness, make
perfection seem imperfect. This is a very important point -- God AND is less than God ONLY.
Simone Weil speaks of this, albeit from the belief that the world is actually God's creation,
"On God's part creation [this world] is not an act of self-expansion but of restraint and
renunciation. God and all his [worldly] creatures are less than God alone. God accepted this
dimunition. He emptied part of his being from himself. .... God permitted the existence of things
distinct from himself and worth infinitely less than himself. By this creative act God denied
himself for our sakes in order to give us the possibility of denying ourselves for him. This
response, this echo, which it is in our power to refuse, is the only possible justification for the
folly of love of the creative act."(4)

The bottom line is this: what we have attempted to ADD to God has diminished our experience
of Him. This is why the whole process of salvation is a process of subtraction, of UN-doing, and
the only thing which must be undone is the belief in need. To believe that one needs anything at
all is to deny the sufficiency of God.

Some think it is useful to make a distinction between physical needs and psychological cravings
or addictions. I am not certain this is so. You may ask, "But what of my needs while I am in this
world?" This begs the question mentioned earlier, "Who is the 'you' who are living in this
world?" [T54/59] To affirm that there are needs, affirms that you experience this as real, and that
makes it real for you. Yes, attending to (which means focussing one's attention on) "worldly"
needs is but another way which we reinforce the idea that this world and therefore the ego-self is
real. And, assuming for a moment that these temporal "needs" must somehow be met, do we
know the difference between an actual survival need and a psychological craving? Given the
profound paradox that we live, Jesus answered the apostles almost 2000 years ago when they
asked about food, clothing and shelter,

"And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all
these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of
these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto
you."(5)

A Course in Miracles echoes this very same principle,

"Once you accept His plan as the one function that you would fulfill, there will be nothing else
the Holy Spirit will not arrange for you without your effort. He will go before you making
straight your path, and leaving in your way no stones to trip on, and no obstacles to bar your way.
Nothing you need will be denied you. Not one seeming difficulty but will melt away before you
reach it. You need take thought for nothing, careless of everything except the only purpose that
you would fulfill." [T404/433f]

"Without your effort"! "Take thought for nothing"! "Careless of everything...."! Here again, the
principle is clear -- "I Need Do Nothing." If one is seeking the Kingdom of God wholeheartedly
(and there is no other way), he need (and in a real sense must) take no thought for his own needs;
they will be provided. Are we willing to be fed and provided for without the sense of needing to
do something about it? If one feels, however, that he himself must be concerned about and
provide for his perceived needs through his own effort or ingenuity, he is not trusting in God's
promise and is, therefore, not seeking the Kingdom of God truly. He has not yet attained Trust,
the first characteristic of a Teacher of God on which all the rest are based.(6)

Ultimately one must come to this realization about our collective and individual perception of
lack,

"...there is but one lack since there is but one need." [T205/220]

and

"Atonement is the one need in this world that is universal." [T89/97]

Mother Teresa was once asked to compare the poverty in India with the poverty in America. Her
response was not to worry about the poverty elsewhere, that America's poverty was great and of
the worst kind -- spiritual poverty. If this is truly realized, then one can let go of all perceived
specific needs and allow desire and discontent to lead him back to God.

"...if you perceive but one need in yourself you will be healed." [T201/216]

DO

Here is perhaps the crux of this teaching. In our Western/Protestant work ethic culture, one's
entire existence is justified based on work and accomplishment. "Idle hands are the devil's
workshop" and the like. We have become human DOings rather than human BEings. We have
forgotten how to be.

It may be helpful if we make a distinction between action and activity or "doing." Krishna,
speaking to Arjuna in The Bhagavad-Gita, says this,

"Indeed, there is no one who rests even an instant; every creature is driven to action [activity] by
his own nature. .... Even to maintain your body, Arjuna, you are obliged to act. Selfish action
[activity] imprisons the world. Act selflessly, without any thought of personal profit. .... Every
selfless act [action], Arjuna, is born from Brahman, the eternal, infinite Godhead."(7)

Then action is impersonal (or superpersonal) and effortless, activity is personally, self-
consciously motivated and directed. A new friend made the comparison to the playing of the
piano. After one has acquired sufficient skill and has practiced a particular piece for a while there
comes a point at which there is no longer "someone playing music," but rather the music takes
over and there is only "music." The player has, in a sense, disappeared into the music. What
happens is that the music so absorbs the self-awareness of the player and he no longer perceives
himself as anything separate from the music. Another example is the case of many so-called
heroic acts wherein the hero has little or no accurate remembrance of the act. Selfless action is
often contrary to the supposed needs of the self-conscious ego and the ego is literally blotted out
by the call for superhuman acts of "heroism."
"Liberation is achieved by the practice of non-activity, say the Masters of the Secret Teachings.

"What is, according to them, non-activity? -- Let us first of all notice that it has nothing in
common with the quietism of certain Christian or oriental mystics. Ought one to believe that it
consists in inertia and that the disciples of the Masters who honour it are exhorted to abstain
from doing anything whatever? -- Certainly not.

"In the first place, it is impossible for a living being to do nothing. To exist is, in itself, a kind of
activity. The doctrine of non-action does not in any way aim at those actions which are habitual
in life: eating, sleeping, walking, speaking, reading, studying, etc. In contradistinction to the
Taoist mystics who, in general, consider that the practice of non-activity requires complete
isolation in a hermitage, the Masters of the Secret Teachings, although prone to appreciate 'the
joys of solitude,' do not consider them in any way indispensable. As for the practice of non-
activity itself, they judge it absolutely necessary for the production of the state of deliverance
(tharpa)."(8)

What we must see is that most, if not all, of our self-directed, self-motivated activity is but an
avoidance, something unconsciously designed to keep us so preoccupied that there is not
sufficient psychological space for observation and truth to arise. More and more, people seem to
try to fill every possible moment of their lives with some sort of activity. Rest, quiet is
approached as something to be avoided until one is completely exhausted, once again allowing
no space for contemplation and truth. It is even criticized and condemned as lazy or
unproductive.

"By becoming involved with tangential issues, it hopes to hide the real question and keep it out
of mind. The ego's characteristic busy-ness with nonessentials is for precisely that
purpose." [T60/66]

Having observed the operation of this tendency within himself, Thomas Merton prayed thusly,

"Set me free from the laziness that goes about disguised as activity when activity is not required
of me, and from the cowardice that does what is not demanded, in order to escape sacrifice."(9)

What we must see is that all of our self-directed, self-motivated "doings," even if they are of the
highest human virtue and good are but more interferences to the Truth. There is no virtue or good
but God. All attempts by man to be virtuous or good by his own effort are vain and false and
merely result in reinforcing the belief in separation, leading to more pain and suffering.

The Course gives us a clear directive in how to begin to discern activity from action,

"This is the question that you must learn to ask in connection with everything. What is the
purpose? Whatever it is, it will direct your efforts automatically." [T61/67]

To answer this question requires great self-honesty. And, if we honestly look at it, we see that the
motivation for virtually all of our "doings," our self-directed activity, is the belief in the reality
and needs of a special, separated, vulnerable self living in a world of separated bodies and things.
Rarely is there a truly selfless thought. Therefore, to do anything of and by oneself is clearly not
moving toward the Truth no matter how wonderful it is judged in the human sense. For most,
even so-called spiritual pursuits or service to humanity are more attempts to make the ego real, to
become a spiritual somebody. Doing is the opposite of Being; it only begets more doing. There is
nothing we need do and from the false ego-center there is nothing real we can do.

NOTHING

"To do anything involves the body. And if you recognize you need do nothing, you have
withdrawn the body's value from your mind. Here is the quick and open door through which you
slip past centuries of effort, and escape from time. This is the way in which sin loses all
attraction right now. For here is time denied, and past and future gone. Who needs do nothing has
no need for time. To do nothing is to rest, and make a place within you where the activity of the
body ceases to demand attention. Into this place the Holy Spirit comes, and there abides. He will
remain when you forget, and the body's activities return to occupy your conscious
mind." [T363/390]

No-Thing. God is no thing. Spirit is no thing. The more one no-things himself, the closer to
Spirit he moves. Mr. Krishnamurti has pointed out this very fact,

"When there is the discovery, the experiencing of that nothingness as you, the fear -- which exists
only when the thinker is separate from his thoughts and so tries to establish a relationship with
them -- completely drops away. Only then is it possible for the mind to be still; and in this
tranquility, truth comes into being."(10)

Things are separate. Things imply form, image, time and space. Things are the material of
separation. Even mental activity engages the process of imagination and time; this is possibly our
most pernicious form of doing. Sitting quietly, "meditating," while the mind is still engaged in its
ceaseless activity of projection is what Chuang Tzu called "sitting while wandering." This is
certainly not what is meant by "I Need Do Nothing" and yet is a prevalent deception.

Things put emphasis on form, not content. A Course in Miracles points out our confusion of
content and form in many ways,

"You are too bound to form, and not to content." [T274/294]

"Take not the form for content, for the form is but a means for content." [T485/521]

"The ego is incapable of understanding content, and is totally unconcerned with it." [T274/294f]

"No law of chaos could compel belief but for the emphasis on form and disregard of
content." [T458/493]
"Idols are quite specific. But your will is universal, being limitless. And so it has no form, nor is
content for its expression in the terms of form. Idols are limits." [T586/630]

All things, all forms are but idols we have placed before the face of God. Any sort of activity or
doing requires form. Therefore, any concern with things or form at all the Course calls vanity.(11)
It is but more activity of the self-conscious ego attempting to validate its own reality.

In Conclusion

As an actor I learned to read important lines by emphasizing each word one at a time until I
found the emphasis which gave the most accurate interpretation. In this case we can see that it
matters not where the emphasis is placed. Whether one says, "I need do nothing", "I NEED do
nothing", "I need DO nothing" or "I need do NOTHING" the meaning is the same. Lesson 94 is
rather specific about what is needed,

"Nothing is required of you to reach this goal except to lay all idols and self-images
aside...." [W162/164]

This is but an echo of the Text. In the section entitled "The Little Willingness", at the end of the
prayer, it begins,

"I need add nothing to His plan. But to receive it, I must be willing not to substitute my own in
place of it.

"And that is all. Add more, and you will merely take away the little that is asked. .... It is this that
makes the holy instant so easy and so natural. You make it difficult, because you insist there must
be more that you need do. You find it difficult to accept the idea that you need give so little, to
receive so much. And it is very hard for you to realize it is not personally insulting that your
contribution and the Holy Spirit's are so extremely disproportionate." [T356/381f]

Until one relinquishes all sense of personal doership -- "I of myself do nothing" -- as well as all
interest in the form of the outcome and all desire for reward or accomplishment; until then all
activity, physical or mental, is an interference, a movement away from Truth. In the Tao Te Ching
it is said,

"A truly good man does nothing, yet leaves nothing undone. A foolish man is always doing, yet
much remains to be done."

"The Tao of the sage is work without effort."

"Less and less is done until non-action is achieved. When nothing is done, nothing is left
undone."(12)

One finally comes to realize that

"...to believe in truth you do not have to do anything." [T200/215]

As Marianne Williamson once remarked, "A Course in Miracles is a path of radical relaxation."
This is particularly profound when one realizes that the opposite of relaxation is contraction.
Careful observation reveals that all self-centered activity is contraction -- a grabbing, a holding-
on, a concentration around a tiny, finite idea of limitation and lack. This is the essence of all
doing, physical as well as mental -- contraction. It is the reaction of fear. When doing or
contraction ceases, we let go and let God. This oft used phrase doesn't only mean "let God do it,"
but also, more profoundly, "let or allow God....to be."

Return to Chapters

©1993 daan dehn

(8/24/93)
Rev9/93-2

(to return to text from these notes, click Back button on your browser)

1. sub-chapter heading T362/388

2. John 14:10 (KJV)

3. 2:20 (KJV)

4. Waiting for God, p. 145, [comments] added to help clarify the somewhat different beliefs
about creation with ACIM. The thought as a whole is very relevant.

5. Luke 12:29-31 (KJV)

6. see M8ff/9ff

7. trans., Eknath Easwaran (1985) [comments mine]

8. The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects, Alexandra David-Neel and Lama
Yongden, p. 91f, (1967)

9. New Seeds of Contemplation, p. 45

10. Commentaries on Living, first series

11. see T526/567

12. Lao Tzu (translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English) chapters 38, 81, and 48