Don't celebrate

I first touched on this in this article.

It goes hand in hand with the concept of alignment I've been talking about lately.

If it's about celebrating life, joy, the present moment: no problem, go for it.

But very often, what we celebrate is reaching a goal.

In other words: we hold a ritual to underline that, in the present, we've reached a mark we'd set for ourselves in the past.

And I see several problems with that.

First, it's an injunction. In the present, either I feel joy (because I'm acting according to my nature), or I don't. But the idea that I should feel it is always suspect.

Second, it's intellectual. A goal is always a concept: we reduce the future to quantities or qualities to reach, which don't encompass reality. We make comparisons in our head, instead of being here and now.

It's a blocker. Since it's an artificial moment where I simulate joy in response to markers I invented, I'm out of the flow of the present. If I don't get back into it, the next action will be artificial too.

Finally, it's dual: I place myself in a success / failure duality, which brings me back to a winner / loser identity. I've won this battle, but the war never ends.

Spiritual progress is realizing that this war isn't necessary.

It only exists in our head.