Doing over being

We are living today in a culture of Doing over Being. We rush from one thing to the next, from one achievement to another - often not so much enjoying our achievements as registering them and hopping to the next task - never stopping to take a step back, look at our life as a whole; examine it; reflect on the general shape and direction we would like to give it; take a deep breath and be.

This obsession with doing is something of a cultural neurosis: by doing and doing and doing, we escape from being - we do our lives away. It is this meaningless rushing about, without any thought given to any final ends or general purpose that we should condemn.


Wondering who penned this - Socrates - Somewhere in the BC. Sounds like he wrote now!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Very true Johnny.. just late last nite, after surviving 2 days of horrid rains in Bombay.. and returning home after a 12-hour day.. was looking out of the window, thinking there's little left to achieve on the scale of a great campus experience and a kewl job. Wondered what could be the next big thing I could do, that would be headlines and conversation topic among friends n family. I think we're just increasingly programmed to think that way. Sad. But true.
July 07, 2006 6:30 PM
Anonymous said…
zulu this is damn neat. I read it just before leaving for home at 11 pm. The words had a therapeutic effect.

It was nice talking to you today. Will catch up soon.
July 07, 2006 11:14 PM
The Goddess said…
so, the worlds (and yours) attempts at pushing me to do rather than be are wrong? :P
July 13, 2006 2:54 PM
Moses John Wesley said…
@ goddess...

._ __ _ ._. _.. ...

.._. ._ .. ._..


yes... wrong.
Just be yourself
July 13, 2006 6:50 PM
Nada said…
Hey john - I wrote on this thought in my blog some months ago too. "Perhaps just being is purpose enough for being. Maybe life is its own reward. Have we as a whole generation managed to misplace the simple joys of every day life? Are we all so engrossed in the rat-race that we do not even look at the scenery passing us by? As my mom just asked “What are you writing for?” Well, why write for anything? Why not write simply for the joy of writing."

What can I say except Great Minds Do Think Alike...
July 20, 2006 3:04 AM
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