Your Right Is to the Work, Not Its Fruit
Yours is the right to the work alone, never to its fruits. Do not make the fruit your aim, yet do not withhold your hand.
Do I place my heart on the work itself, or has it already been stolen by a result not yet arrived?
📝Reflection
I hold this single verse as the heart of non-attached action. The harder I grip the fruit, the more my hands shake and spoil the work; only when I release the outcome can I fully dwell in what I am doing now. This is no excuse for idleness but the old East's 'do your utmost, then leave heaven's share to heaven,' overlapping exactly with Epictetus' dividing line of releasing what is not in our power. Today I set down my impatience for results and entrust my hands to the grain of the work itself.
🌱Apply It Today
While doing one task today, when the mind drifts to imagining results, bring your attention back to the very motion at your fingertips.
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
