He’s Just Had Coffee

Why are you unhappy?
Because 99.9 per cent
Of everything you think,
And of everything you do,
Is for yourself -
And there isn’t one.

That verse is attributed to Wei Wu Wei who is usually identified as an “ancient Chinese sage”, although in Peter Senge’s otherwise pretty excellent Presence it’s attributed to “Wu Wei Wu” - which makes no sense.

The name means “action without action” in Mandarin Chinese and refers to a principle in Taoist thought:

A key principle in realizing our oneness with the Tao is that of wu-wei, or “non-doing.” Wu-wei refers to behavior that arises from a sense of oneself as connected to others and to one’s environment. It is not motivated by a sense of separateness. It is action that is spontaneous and effortless. At the same time it is not to be considered inertia, laziness, or mere passivity. Rather, it is the experience of going with the grain or swimming with the current. Our contemporary expression, “going with the flow,” is a direct expression of this fundamental Taoist principle, which in its most basic form refers to behavior occurring in response to the flow of the Tao.
- From “Taoism - The Wu-Wei principle”, Jade Dragon Online

Wei Wu Wei was however neither ancient nor Chinese. He was an Irishman born in 1895 who was a lifelong student of Taoism and other systems of enlightenment. He left behind a series of books from the 1950s to the 1970s. The web has a couple of excellent biographies and collections.

Still. It’s a great quote!

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