Over 38 years ago, a friend of mine asked our Zen master, What is the most important question? Our teacher very calmly and, with a sweet smile, slowly said, “The most important thing is…to find out what is the most important thing!”
Can the most important thing be found by separating different areas of our life and asking what is the most important thing here and there? For example, what is the most important thing in a hypnotherapy practice? Is it technique? Many people have excellent technique, and end up offending clients because the client feels manipulated. Is it rapport then? Many people get into such deep rapport they loose their recognition of whose feelings are whose, or they are so accepting that they don’t take opportunities to offer an appropriate intervention.
Is it your outer activity at all? Or is it your inner state that is important? Once a famous comedian came before one of my teachers and confided that, though he made people laugh for a living, he felt dry and sad inside. My teacher asked, “What makes you think you give people anything of lasting value if you cannot feel true joy yourself? Make yourself happy, then you won’t have to do anything to make others happy. They will be happy just to see you.” Is this a relevant challenge only to comedians?
Another friend of mine gave a great talk to a large group of people. They felt very inspired and uplifted and many pursued him to tell him so. This, naturally, was extremely gratifying to him. Our teacher walked by and handed him a small peace of paper as she walked on. When he had a quiet moment to himself, he opened it. It read, “Do you love to talk, or do you love the people you talk to?”
Has the most important thing been found if there is stress and a lack of lightness and humor. Is it important to acquire success even if success is defined as helping others? Is it important to keep track of your efforts, treating them as intangible property? My current teacher has said, “ If you do something as an offering, it stops being a burden.”
What is the most important thing?

©2001, Jack Elias, Author, Finding True Magic: Transpersonal Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy/NLP American Institute for Transpersonal Hypnotherapy/NLP, www.FindingTrueMagic.com

Sincerity is the most important thing and once you can fake that...

Lowering ego is the most important thing.

The most important thing is like a butterfly. Once it is caught it is dead.

Bruce

I reccon the most important thing is making everything/nothing the most important thing.

natually ... I love this answer !!


I'd have to say ... the breath form.
It is said to stem into unbelievable abilties in life and after ... I've known three people to say this with certainty ... lol

I like to think that each moment has its own most important thing for each living creature so that there is an endless web of most important things all inter-mingled and changing all the time...every instant there is a ball swishing through a hoop, a pure note hit on a blues-harp, a shared moment lasting eons for lovers in a cool bed, a rabbit safely down its' hole, or conversly a coyote with a hare in its jaws off to feed the pups...each most important thing changes once the moment is accomplished... the Tao of the moment is transcended and the next most important thing pops into being a trillion/zillion times a second... That makes just about everything the most important thing! So, Awareness of each moment's possibility for transcendent joy may qualify as my answer- but that's just my answer for now...And it doesn't seem that important already!

Still learning this..but to love god with all your heart, all your mind...then to love my neighbor the same way..cause ultimately it's the same..

There is none. It is perception of what one has in mind which makes it to be anyhting one wishes.

As with life. We make it to be something according to mind, and thus experience such and determine it is a point.

A good question asked to me by my wife. She asked me ,"What is the reason for living? "
Simply put, "Nothing. People assume there is some mysterious nature, or some great goal to accomplish, but there isn't. The mere thought of there being one is the cause for much suffering (another experience of mind)"

There is mystery, because what is seen as mysterious is not readily seen by everyone.

Peace,

Perceiving to perceive.

That's exactly what I had in mind while writing this post!.. hahahaha

Awareness

I'm not sure this profound and simple thread is the right place to make a nit-picking linguistic point, (but don't think that's going to stop me...)

It's something that has bugged me for ages.

I think "the" is a pernicious word. It always suggests there's only one option. Suppose you met a man who was about to jump off a bridge to his death, and he asked "can you tell me the purpose of life?"

I'd have to say no. But If the same person asked "can you tell me a purpose of life?", I'd be able to think of many.

I think, not that it will ever happen, that if we abandoned "the" we'd be a lot less dogmatic and convinced and certain. If every time we thought we had "the" answer, we realised we only had "an answer", wouldn't we be better, humbler beings?

This is what comes of having saki with lunch. Happy thursday...
.

Most excellent.
You should drink saki more often

things are sincere but not serious

Hm. This is a woman's answer, I suppose, and not Taoist, but I don't think there are things, so I don't see how they can be important. Only other people are important. All my tantric practice has been to improve my ability to connect with other people.

It's Love.

"the" most important thing doesn't exist (I had that formed before reading Ian's insightful post).

The most important moment is right now. And that's about it.

It's important to keep old threads alive, though, lol.

The complete realization of Tao and harmony with the Great Way!

I have found myself asking this very question recently, if only I had know this topic was already here I never would have had to post mine as the initial paragraph of this post has answered me. I have found my answer and as a student of philosophy I can not believe that I didnt come to this conclusion sooner and with out reading it first. I thank you for your help and the answer... that the question is the important part not the answer

I think only our hearts know the most important thing, and it can be one thing this moment, and something entirely different the next. To be able to join the flow of life, where everything comes and goes perfectly natural, at the exactly right timing, THAT is a joy. I believe that the moments in life that I`ve experienced this, I`ve also had a "knowingness" feeling that instantly helps me sort out what`s important (right/truth), as if I re-remember things that is new to me in this life.
My ultimate goal must be to live like this for every day of the rest of my life, but I keep falling out of it all the time... then there`s another climb ahead and... yay, goal again! lol

Go with the flow folks

Oh, How I've enjoyed reading all of your answers!
Great.

Thank you all for replying so i could see them
a little clearer !

Shon



Like this too!
terrific quote Anette L. !
--------------------
"Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry,
the philosophy which does not laugh
and the greatness which does not bow before children."

There is no path.

Refrain the senses.

Refrain the mind.

Truth remains.

David

I happen to agree here. I think that if we are to ask any question like this, we must first look at the role the Mind has in the problem. The mind is not our friend

the simplest of answers are almost always spot-on