When action is not pursued as a means to an end it becomes freeing, it doesn't create karma. Such an action can be an internal action or completed action which is called Kriya or it can come from being in union or Yoga with existence as spontaneous action.
When liberal education ( The 7 liberal arts:Trivium + Quadrivium) which is pursued as a way to open up to Sophia withdrew from mainstream, people were left with an education devoid of purpose that was teaching knowledge as a basis for actions meant to fulfill certain roles and functions in a service oriented society.
Certainly it would have been proper for people to believe that performing such actions would offer them certain forms of gratification but most importantly not to be split between worldly and so called otherworldly actions. What would have happened if people would have understood that renouncing the world as a way not to entangle themselves in the actions performed in the world, would perceive material pursuits as wordly and choose otherworldly pursuits ? That would have made them split and unfit for the tasks to be pursued which always require total involvment if they are to produce anything of value. So that wasn't mentioned ...
Renouncing the world is not a way to give up material pursuits but a way to be total in action so that attention and intention flow and infuse the activity, bringing joy to the action. In this way the action is not performed as a means to an end. Joy is already ... No further gratification is needed to increase it ...
When ome thinks of action as action in and of itself ... certainly one might wonder what would the knowledge for such an action be and where would this knowledge come from ? That is just knowledge. Knowledge which is not for a subject matter at the expense of other subject matters. This is to know that by which everything else becomes known. When one closes his eyes distinguishing between what one knows and what is a dream is by watching. Everything that arises in consciousness is perceived in consciousness and subsides in consciousness is like a dream. This doesn't mean this is a dream but that this has the qualities of a dream, it seems so real when is experienced and yet so fleeting when it subsides. So what is real ? The dream is not real but for the dream to be dreamt the one who dreams is. Knowing that is freeing. That is inner knowing. But is there any outer ? If one is pursuing actions as a means to an end or is seeking knowledge by means of a knower. When we let go of the need to label that which we are experiencing we are left with pure experiencing where there is no distinction between the perceiver and that which is being perceived but one consciousness knowing itself as consciousness. What is the source of that ? The questioner that which is being questioned and the answer: A reflective consciousness, a source of inspiration and a hearing consciousness. These are qualities of consciousness: hearing, reflecting, inspiring. Most of the sounds we hear are struck, either they are produced by two objects coming in contact or by vocal cords and tongue. However there are unstruck sounds. Are you there ? That hearing of the consciousness reflecting upon the question ... that very quality of hearing is unstruck that is innate that is real.
