Adrianne – Wow, that analogy fits so beautifully – I wish I’d started with that! Thank you for adding it here, it illustrates the point perfectly.

Blessings,
Andrea

I do not mean by “effort” the gut-busting exertion often associated with the word (though this may be required). Rather it is constant attentiveness to skillfullness whereby we become masters rather than slaves of our fate. With skillfulness, a flick of the finger may be sufficient.

I love these discussions because it forces me to think about and put into words what I really believe.

Every moment of every day we are making choices: Will we be proactive or reactive? Will we choose the easy or more beneficial difficult? (Sometimes the easy is the more beneficial, luckily.) Will we choose the pleasant or the good? All this sounds like a lot of work, huh?

When we talk about being and doing, some might think by “being” we mean passive. Regarding this, have built up habit patterns from lifetimes, not all of them to our ultimate good. If we are passive, these past habits will manifest, having no opposition. Then we are not in control, but our past is in control.

To truly BE, we have to be awake, alert. This requires effort. Especially at overcoming our past negativity and establishing ourselves in healthier habit patterns. We are lazy, and like the like the soothing images “being” brings up, like watching the cloud on a warm spring day. But in real spiritual life, those who have truly attained have done so through effort, sometimes strenuous effort, if necessary. In India, they have a saying, “making, making, Made.” The more we work, the more we can be.

It is comforting to know, however, that the path of effort is easier and more rewarding than that of being at the mercy of the roaring tempest of an undisciplined life.

Sorry it’s taken me so long to reply to the comments. I was highly committed to doing absolutely not much for the past couple of days! Focusing on the “beingness” – aaaaaah.

Irene – Exactly! Many religions place a conditionality on our relationship with God. Follow these rules, and you will get into heaven.

Mags – I’m thrilled you did the process and had a great experience! It will definitely keep serving you as a resource. Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it!

Akemi – Sometimes it’s so gosh darn simple, isn’t it? And yet, we find “doing” so much more satisfying. Often we are more “productive” when we let go a little bit and just open to receiving. Not easy!

Pat – You really hit upon a key point. Our relationship with the Divine and our relationship with ourselves is pretty much the same one. Examine one, and we can learn a great deal about the other!

Tom – Thank you! Yes, “being” definitely requires a level of acceptance that we can gloss over while we’re very, very, very busy “doing.”

Rose-Anne – Thank you for adding that quote here. It fits perfectly!

Adrianne – There’s another one of those things we think we have to do – to work “hard.” You summed up why this is unnecessary just beautifully!

ReddyK – I don’t actually think we can truly separate being and doing! Like you say, everything is an act of doing – even breathing, when it comes right down to it! But I do know plenty of people for whom spiritual practice – those purifications that you speak of – has become about “getting it done” and about achievement. I think this somewhat defeats the purpose of spiritual practice, which is about attaining a state of Being, right?

If we are constantly tuned to who we are being while we are doing and have the desire to tune into God, will right action not unfold? We can obsessively clean the mirror while never truly looking inside it. Or we can look deeply, and the smears and smudges will be revealed, no? And then the need to clean will arise out of what we see? I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Do you know people who are in a state of spiritual striving and are holding themselves back this way?

I guess I’m trying to say there has to be a healthy balance between the being and the doing. And in our society, I think that doing is heavily over-emphasized!

As always, I so value your thoughts!!!

Blessings,
Andrea

You are right that we already have that eternal relation with God, and that is not something to be attained. However (and this is a big however) we do not know this in reality, and theory does not satisfy our soul. We desire to tune in to that Grand Relationship, but our efforts yield only glimpses (even tuning in and simply being is an action, a setting of the will).

The wise through the ages have said that the problem lies in our tuning mechanism – our bodies on the physical, biomagnetic, mental, intellectual, and other levels. What needs to be done is purification and transformation/transmutation of these levels to make them better receptors to the Divine signal. Yes, tuning into God to the degree we are capable of is itself a purification, as light dispels darkness. But we must also work at that re-alignment and purification by eliminating those elements in our life and inner bodies which are at odds with that attunement. It is like cleaning and polishing a mirror that it may more accurately reflect an image.

Ask, Seek, Knock, Jesus said. These are actions. Actions which require persistence. (The actual Greek text says keep on asking, etc.)

So both being and doing are required.

Thank you for a wonderful and uplifting post.

I downloaded and listened to your Discover Your Soul Purpose audio a while ago – what a powerful exercise! When my future self walked into the auditorium, I found myself whispering with tears running down my face, “so much love, there is so much love”… it was such a beautiful feeling of connection to everyone who was there and to the Divine, simply for just being.

Thank you for facilitating that experience for me!