On Being and Becoming

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On Being and Becoming (podcast transcript)

Good morning, I’d like to speak this morning about a couple of interrelated experiences or parts of life that seem to work against each other. All of them are praised as a good way of being. And yet, I’ve been trying to work through exactly how these are related.

The elements I want to look at are purpose, Being, becoming, and spontaneity. All of these things are recognized as good things. Another small part of what I want to include in my thoughts here include reflection. The elements I’ve been struggling with, or trying to grasp or reconcile or understand about how life, ideally lived, harmonizes these elements that, to me, anyway, often seem to work against one another; purpose, Being, becoming, spontaneity and reflection.

It seems to me that there are two cornerstones in this collection of ways of passing through the world. There are two vying poles from which the energy of life arises. And the challenge of happens, these two out of that collection of matters. Our purpose, and Being the very first thing I believe that anyone needs to know clearly about their life is why you have it. We’re destined or burdened, or given the opportunity, or however, your general cheerfulness is or optimistic style of self is you can say, I’m burdened with having to live my life every day, or I’m blessed with having to live my life every day. But the one thing for sure is that everybody who’s been born or who’s been given life, and is wise enough not to end it prematurely, has years full of days, perhaps 100 years full, the days in which we are going to pass every passing second, in some fashion or another, and in some fashion related to the list of things that I opened the small talk with. So the very first thing I believe that would be crucial for having to pass through this infinite number of moments, this unending stream of seconds and minutes and hours and days, months, years, okay, decades, you get it is why?

If you pass someone on the street doing anything, it’s legitimate to ask, why. If there’s some person pulling against the leash of their dog, and their dog is squatting back on all fours, refusing to move, there’s a why in there. If there’s somebody lying down under his or her automobile, there’s a why right there. People are up to stuff. They’re doing stuff, and they’re doing it for a reason. Now, you and me, we’re going to go through 100 years of life, we’re up to stuff, we’re doing stuff. And what’s the reason? What’s the purpose? Without purpose. There’s just folly. Honestly. They’re chasing around. Imagine if you walked by somebody, they’re lying under their car. You lean down and holler, “What are you doing down there? Why are you down there?” And they answer, “I don’t rightly know, I don’t know.” To me, it’s the exact same thing as living your life. Every day, hours and hours a day, anywhere between 16 18, 20 hours a day, you’re doing stuff living your life. To me, it would be like somebody peering down and yelling through what are you doing there. And like the guy under the car, hollers back, I don’t know, I have no idea. So purpose is really dominant element of passing through life.

The second one is Being. Why pick Being as the other matter that’s in dialog with the elements I  introduced is because Being in a certain way, is the goal. It means you’ve shed all distractions. The biggest things which cause distractions are regrets from the past, unresolved matters of the past, difficulties from the past, and anxieties about the future, insecurities about the future. fears about the future. Both of these cause difficulty for Being. They encroach on Being. You can’t stop repeating an altercation in your mind. You can’t stop repeating a fender bender in your mind. You can’t stop repeating the very first step that eventually became the avalanche that eventually resulted in divorce. All of this, when you stop and pause and want complete peace and complete freedom, and up comes that old regret, up comes that old wonder if I could have done things differently. You’re blocked from perfect peace. You’re thinking about something from the past, something that can’t be altered. Or if you’re seeking just complete peace, just Being just sitting, just taking in the wonders of the moment, the beauty of your surroundings, the magic of the music, the joys of love that you feel for the person sitting in front of you. And that gets overtaken by anxieties. What ifs, what about Windows COVID? What if I lose my job, all the what-ifs all the anticipations all the anxieties that encroach on Being and interferes with it,  prevents you from Being with the one you love?

Food is put down in front of you. It has a beauty. It has a smell, it has a taste, we honestly should be there for that. And yet, if there’s something from the past encroaching, or something in the future, encroaching, we’re not there for that. To me Being is the most perfect way to pass through these 100 years. If each and every single one of these 100 years through which I pass, is unencumbered by redoing the past pangs of regret from the past wishes that were otherwise. And I’m encumbered by what-if anxiety? He looked at me this way, does that mean that this is going to happen? If none of that would be there as we pass through life, present to every moment, this one I believe life should be so to me, one of the goals and purposes of life is just to be. Honestly, it’s a goal. It’s something to strive toward, to try to attain, to invest in, to make effort toward.

But the irony of that is, even this striving in a certain way, challenges or comes up against Being. So here’s the paradox, and the irony. And that’s what really inspired or instigated this short podcast is that both purpose which is central to Being, only a fool does something without purpose, and striving to attain this state. Were the ones sitting before me too. My love is infinite. And there’s nothing there but the fact that I longed to be there, even that encroaches on Being, am I present enough? There are all kinds of spiritual practices, meditation, prayer, scripture, whatever. It’s all needed. It’s all seriously needed. And yet that striving, which I identified earlier as becoming, even becoming somehow is a faint threat to Being. These pose challenges.

The other one I mentioned is reminiscing. The past isn’t always an enemy. Always cursing us saying we did right or wrong? The past is full of fond memories, what I call reminiscing The past is what we are. It was that coach, that teacher, that hug from mom. These are worth going to visit? Does it interfere with Being present with Being, or are these elements coterminous in life? I’m sure that we’re originally meant to live life in perfect presence and in perfect freedom, unencumbered. So to me, this means that reminiscence, purpose, becoming, hope (hope is future-oriented), all of these elements, they seem to be over against Being and yet I think that somehow Being needs to expand to include and embrace and be, I hate the word dominant, but the All in All in which all of these things happen. I believe that Being needs to be the umbrella, the largest thing in which that complete freedom, complete presence, complete peace is so large that it, it informs reminiscence, it informs anticipation, it defines everything. For example, Being absolutely present and reminiscing. The reminiscing falls under Being. It’s like a flower in front of me, a recollection. And that is the beginning of our freedom. There’s the beginning of life lived, unbound, eternally expensive in every second. There’s a lot more to say. But I think you get the general idea.

Thank you very much for these few moments.