In Praise of Non-Action
By: Gaju Bhat
Tags: Economics, Buddhism, Philosophy, Performance Psychology

Certain ideas just have a way of eluding you despite being very close. Maybe you aren’t ready for them. Perhaps there’s a mental block that you haven’t identified yet. For me, non-action was one of those ideas. It took me a long time to get to the heart of the idea. But it’s now central to how I think about the world.

Non-action, or Wu Wei in Asian tradition, runs counter to the notion of hard work that we put on the pedestal. Why would someone driven and ambitious embrace non-action?

Defining Non-Action

Lao Tzu

Buddhism and Taoism have contributed heavily to the development of the idea of non-action¹. However, I might be biting off more than I can chew in trying to define non-action. It’s, after all, an intuitive concept that you understand experientially. The utility of any definition should also be up to the individual then. But it doesn’t hurt to try. Intuition can start from an explicit definition, albeit an imperfect one.

Personally, I simplify non-action to be the following characteristics.

A focus on being rather than doing

Presence is a term that’s used to describe this state. Sayings like “The journey is more important than the destination” or the “The path is the goal” touch on something important. Much of our life is spent in the journey. Whether we reach the destination is uncertain and whether the destination even matters in the final analysis is never a done deal. Of course, saying the destination doesn’t matter is taking it a little too far. The destination does determine the being, in other words, the goal determines how you live your life.

The idea includes a focus on process rather than outcome because the latter can be up to chance. For example, you want to focus on your decision making in trading rather than the moment to moment profit and loss.

When coupled with the expansion beyond a narrow sense of self discussed below, you arrive at what’s often known as ‘thoughts without a thinker’ or ‘actions without an actor’.

Acceptance of what’s happening

Yield and remain whole, bend and remain straight — Tao Te Ching

The quote above sums up the spirit of acceptance and respect for the natural process of change. Acceptance of what’s happening doesn’t mean no desire to make things better. It merely means you don’t fight reality. That’s a battle that can’t be won. In the act of acceptance, we do away with clinging and denial. It frees us to be proactive rather than reactive.

Expansion beyond a narrow sense of self

The concept of self is an illusion, though a very useful one. It can also be a source of unnecessary stress and misguided views. Thoughts, perceptions and even consciousness are like weather patterns. They come and go. For a more accurate understanding of the world around us, we have to recognize the truth of what the Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh calls inter-being². Our individual existence isn’t really separable from the rest of the world.

Non-Action in Performance and Skill

Photo by Matt Hardy on Unsplash

The role mindfulness can play in elite performance is somewhat well known³. Non-action directly follows from that. When you are aware that mental states like aversion, craving and clinging are counterproductive, the only reasonable attitude is non-action. You could say that non-action is a prerequisite for the state of flow that athletes treasure so much.

Non-Action in Human Relationships

Anyone who has thought carefully about human relationships knows how futile it is to try to change people or force relationships to be a certain way. Why not love people as they are instead of clinging to an ideal image in your head?

To take a personal example, my relationship with my parents improved dramatically when I began trying to understand them better instead of judging their behavior or forcing advice down their throats.

Non-Action in Austrian Economics

The market is not a place, a thing, or a collective entity. The market is a process, actuated by the interplay of the actions of the various individuals cooperating under the division of labor. — Ludwig Von Mises

In 1940, one of the foremost Austrian economists wrote the above lines about the market in his magnum opus Human Action. Unfortunately, today we have intervention by central banks and big governments as the norm in the markets. Such intervention is invariably harmful in the long run⁴.

At a micro level, entrepreneurs need to understand the dynamics of competitive markets and get comfortable with failure. Resilience is a key trait.

Non-Action in Art

A residence with Shibui aesthetic

The Japanese have embodied non-action in artistic constructs like Shibui and Wabi-sabi. The Italians also have a fancy word for it, if you prefer, Sprezzatura, that is applied to diverse areas such as cuisine and fashion.

Broad Application

The above sections don’t even begin to describe the vast application of the idea of non-action. It might lead you to be suspicious. Are we deluding ourselves about the power of non-action?

I don’t think so. The way I understand it, the broad application comes from the combination of two factors, complex systems and human cognition.

Complex systems, in general, defy rigid planning and willy-nilly the most realistic models of our world have complex systems. Humans are complex systems and so are economies.

When it comes to human cognition, an indubitable fact is that our thinking is fallible and we tend to resist it. Why cling to your thoughts and limit yourself to a narrow view of the self when you know that the world is highly networked and constantly evolving?

Conclusion

I remain a pragmatist about non-action. Don’t take my word for it. Test the idea and see if it improves your quality of life.