The Most Important Things in Life Are "Useless"

 

Zhuangzi Was Right All Along

Inspired by: Zhuangzi Was Right All Along

The Trap of Usefulness

Our society proclaims:

If it is not useful, it is a waste of time.

If it doesn't make money, it is not worth doing.

If it doesn't lead somewhere, it should not be started.

Slowly, without noticing, we begin to measure everything in this way.

What is the point?

What is the return?

What do I get out of this?

Something strange is happening.

We have never been more efficient—and we have never felt more empty.

People don't daydream anymore. They waste their time on social media with their smartphones to distract themselves—instead of using the saved time for pleasure.

They optimize, they don't explore. They calculate, and then they waste their time on their smartphones.

Hobbies Become Side Hustles

Even hobbies are no longer free. They are turned into "side hustles."

Even rest feels guilty if it is not productive. And so people procrastinate because they don't have enough pleasure or playtime anymore.

They lose their curiosity, their wonder, and the courage to do something for no reason at all.

The Usefulness of the Useless

Zhuangzi said:

"The usefulness of the useless is the greatest usefulness."

Sounds contradictory.

But "useless" doesn't mean meaningless. It means:

Not driven by immediate reward

Not forced into productivity

Not reduced to a function

It is the act of doing something simply because you are drawn to it—out of curiosity, out of love, or out of a quiet sense that this matters.

Like love. Like playing. Look at children playing.

Even if you can't explain why.

Where Greatness Begins

This is where art begins.

This is where science begins.

This is where exploration begins.

Not with profit, but with wonder.

Our whole science started with exploration without having profit in sight. Because we wanted to know. The drive was not to make money—and so science was far more effective.

The Corruption of Modern Science

Today, our science is corrupt because the aim is publications—and suppressing opposing evidence.

After five years, 90% of scientific "facts" are proven wrong or outdated.

For instance, the myth of drinking two liters of water every day—even though it has been proven that it harms the heart and kidneys. You should only drink when you are thirsty, like every animal. That makes sense, but science doesn't like that.

The Paradox of Our Time

Today we have more tools, more comfort, and more access to knowledge than any generation before us—and yet we hesitate to begin.

We scroll endlessly, consuming fragments of other people's lives.

We have ideas, but we rarely act on them because we don't want to risk. We want to consume. We want instant gratification.

And then we convince ourselves that it might not be useful, worth it, or lead us to something meaningful.

Losing Our Childlike Wonder

We lose our naivety, our willingness to explore, to try, to imagine like children.

Without the useless, there is:

No art

No wonder

No love

No breakthrough

No leading into the unknown

Our lives become repetition, optimization, and distraction—and that leads to frustration.

Never has the frustration level of the young generation been higher than today.

The Final Truth

If you only pursue what is useful, you will never reach what truly matters.

What truly matters starts as something unnecessary, something inefficient, something unjustified—something useless.

What drives humanity forward comes from:

Curiosity

Passion

A quiet refusal of the status quo

The useless things—like love, awareness, and religious values—are the highest forms of living.

And the smartphone? It leads to addiction and distraction.

My Video: The Most Important Things in Life Are “Useless” https://youtu.be/A0BVJVs7q8w

My Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast5/The-Most-Important-Things-in-Life-Are-Useless.mp3