We live in a world that demands results. (And those results must come quickly enough to match our impatience). We live in a world that keeps score. (How are we doing?) We live in a world that is always comparing. (Am I better or worse, smarter, more righteous?) We live in a world that measures success by how much money we make or how many people like us.

I want to suggest another way to live.

I’m all for doing what I can to relieve suffering; I’m all for being kind, creating beauty, and bringing my loving attention to what needs healing. AND YET, I may or may not succeed in fixing this world. And perhaps fixing it is not the point.

Perhaps it is our loving intention that matters the most, whether or not we get results.

My soul tells me, “What you do is but the vehicle for how you do it, and who you become in the doing.” There’s something about this that feels so true and yet so counter-cultural. It turns the idea of accomplishment on its head.

When I rest in the realization that I am intimately connected to everyone and everything, I just relax. The part of me that is wound up in the habit of struggle, just unwinds. And then, whatever I do or say or create… is not coming from fear or lack or judgment.

If I do or say or create from the fullness of my love, from the truth of my connectedness, then I will not be attached to the results. Even as I write these words, I am not trying to sell you anything.

This is a different way of living. I know because I’ve been “selling” most all of my life. And now I’m getting a glimpse, a real taste of this different way, and I really like it.

This state of not being attached to results, does not make me dull or complacent. My passion for justice, beauty, and kindness is not dimmed. That passion is, rather, purified.

My passion, cleansed of fear, allows me to explore the far reaches of my capacity and strength, learning from every mistake.

We are so conditioned to wrestle with God, or with meaning. We are so conditioned to try to solve the problem that is this world of contradiction and suffering.

What if we turned our wrestling into a dance? What if we leaned into this world as a mystery to be experienced, rather than a problem to be solved?

Each moment we are given an opportunity to cultivate and refine this loving intention. It is a stance towards Life that we establish deliberately and then maintain with the quality of our presence. It is a decision to not be ruled by fear.

Rabbi Shefa Gold is a leader in ALEPH: the Alliance for Jewish Renewal and received her ordination both from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (z”l). She is the director of C-DEEP, The Center for Devotional, Energy and Ecstatic Practice in Jemez Springs, New Mexico. She teaches workshops and retreats on the theory and art of Chanting, Devotional Healing, Spiritual Community-Building and Meditation. Information and resources at https://www.rabbishefagold.com/.