There's no one in charge. The world is swept away. Just make sure you don’t get swept away with it. Try to be clear about what you’re doing, clear about doing it skillfully. That’s how you come to closure. That’s how you get out.

"Most people think in the terms of a story with a beginning and an end, where it’s clear to them who’s right and who’s wrong. We argue over the details, especially about what’s relevant to the story and what’s not — that’s why there’s so much conflict — but everybody seems to have the idea that there’s a beginning point and an end point and a plan to all this — and that there’s somebody up there who’s got an idea about a just way to arrange things, and assigns us duties.

But that’s not in the Buddha’s universe at all. There’s no clear end, no clear beginning, and “There’s no one in charge.” As that passage also says, the world is swept away. Just make sure you don’t get swept away with it. Try to be clear about what you’re doing, clear about doing it skillfully. That’s how you come to closure. That’s how you get out.

This is what the practice is all about: getting out. We try to leave some good things behind as we get out — in fact you can’t get out without leaving some good things behind, in terms of your generosity, virtue, and goodwill — but sometimes the best gift you can give to other people is simply to show them that there is a way out that they can follow, too.

Try to keep that way open as much as you can through being skillful in your thoughts and your words and your deeds. Look at the Buddha: He gave the greatest gift of all. He gave us the Dhamma, showed us the path, and then he left. Now it’s up to us to give that gift to ourselves and to the people around us as best we can."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Justice vs. Skillfulness" (Meditations8)

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