WORTH......

Don't be bothered too much about utilitarian ends. Rather,
constantly remember that you are not here in life to become a
commodity. You are not here to become a utility--that is below
dignity. You are not here just to become more and more efficient--
you are here to become more and more alive; you are here to become
more and more intelligent; you are here to become more and more
happy, ecstatically happy.

Lao Tzu was traveling with his disciples and they came to a forest
where hundreds of carpenters were cutting trees, because a great
palace was being built.

Almost the whole forest had been cut, but one tree was standing
there, a big tree with thousands of branches--so big that ten
thousand persons could sit under its shade. Lao Tzu asked his
disciples to go and inquire why this tree had not been cut yet, when
the whole forest had been cut and was deserted.

The disciples went and they asked the carpenters, "Why have you not
cut this tree?"

The carpenters said, "This tree is absolutely useless. You cannot
make anything out of it because every branch has so many knots in
it. Nothing is straight. You cannot make pillars out of it, you
cannot make furniture out of it. You cannot use it as fuel because
the smoke is so dangerous to the eyes--you almost go blind. This
tree is absolutely useless. That's why."

They came back. Lao Tzu laughed and he said, "Be like this tree. If
you want to survive in this world be like this tree--absolutely
useless. Then nobody will harm you. If you are straight you will be
cut, you will become furniture in somebody's house. If you are
beautiful you will be sold in the market, you will become a
commodity. Be like this tree, absolutely useless. Then nobody can
harm you. And you will grow big and vast, and thousands of people
can find shade under you."

Lao Tzu has a logic altogether different from your mind. He says: Be
the last. Move in the world as if you are not. Remain unknown. Don't
try to be the first, don't be competitive, don't try to prove your
worth. There is no need. Remain useless and enjoy.

Of course he is impractical. But if you understand him you will find
that he is the most practical on a deeper layer, in the depth--
because life is to enjoy and celebrate, life is not to become a
utility. Life is more like poetry than like a commodity in the
market; it should be like poetry, a song, a dance.

Lao Tzu says: If you try to be very clever, if you try to be very
useful, you will be used. If you try to be very practical, somewhere
or other you will be harnessed, because the world cannot leave the
practical man alone. Lao Tzu says: Drop all these ideas. If you want
to be a poem, an ecstasy, then forget about utility. Remain true to
yourself.