Additional Thoughts on Being and Doing

Society tends to judge people as successful or not by what they do, accomplish, achieve. And, that also means money, power and influence. A prime example is professional sports, there are many others as well. As long as they make the crowds happy and bring in the revenue their state of being doesn't matter. Oh, if they do something so disgusting and break the law it might matter. Some years ago a professional sports star admitted to sleeping with hundreds of women. It didn't seem to hurt his celebrity status, in fact it might have helped him. That story can be retold a hundred times and include politicians and preachers. What we see with our eyes seems to be more important than what we perceive with our hearts and understanding.

Jesus told us that we would be in the world but we should not be part of the world. Now I don't know what that means to you. To me it simply means that I am supposed to live under a different influence. What I do is supposed to line up with what I say I believe; that is being in a state of congruity. Being is difficult, it takes intentionality and a spiritual grounding in something outside of self. Trying to explain how to find a true state of being is like trying to give instructions on catching air. I don't think I can explain to others how to achieve the state congruity. I know how I need to work on it and what helps me.

I struggled last week with knowing I had many things to do and wasn't getting them done. My state of being was more important than accomplishing tasks for my book. I needed to be a grampa (Bumpa), which meant spending a couple of hours in the morning watching cartoons(Never SpongeBob), with my youngest grandson on my lap. And it would be repeated in the afternoon, with a hopeful nap. My grand kids needed me to be their Bumpa. In the long run, when time is not, being a Bumpa might be more important.

Peaceful is a state of being. Contentment is a state of being. Loving is a state of being. Hopeful is a state of being. These virtues flow out of the inner person, they cannot be manufactured or contrived. When they are false they collapse under the stress of living. When these marvelous attributes are genuine they can and do withstand the tests of living.