Saturday, April 06, 2013

Doing Anything, Is Not the Same as Doing the Right Thing

Many are conditioned to believe that doing "anything," is better than doing "nothing" -- without considering for a moment, that the very thing they are doing, might be the source of all their problems and difficulties -- to which doing nothing to create them in the first place, would be a huge improvement.

It's not the case that people who do nothing (but hopefully observe), are beset with problems, so much as it is that those who aggressively do what they have been doing, invariably find themselves in deep trouble -- because they did not proceed cautiously and thoughtfully through every step of the journey -- that got them to wherever they are -- usually up to their necks in trouble.

The cause of most (all) injuries, is not that a person is not doing "anything," but that they are doing too much, thoughtlessly and recklessly -- to prove that something not true, is true -- despite every fact to the contrary.  For most people, that is their conditioning -- to force a conclusion in the face of overwhelming opposition that says it is not so -- which may be that that they do not overeat, or underexercise, when the body plainly says, that is not the case.

Instead, they will go into elaborate theories and explanations of why the plainly obvious, is the furthest thing from the truth of the matter.  Convincing such people otherwise, is a futile task; they will stop trying, only when they run out of people willing to believe them in that way.  But such people, usually have their own ulterior motives -- which is that it is their turn, to exploit such a gullible and clueless person themselves.  That is the invariable human pecking order -- in which the strong prey on the weak (vulnerable), which only the supremely strong, have no interest in proving -- because they have trascended those daily struggles.

In this society, that is not a hard thing to do.  One simply needs to live long enough to gain that status not to have to go out each day and earn that livelihood, but it is now simply conferred as one's entitlement -- as one who has proven one has done so previously.  That of course, is what we call "retirement," which is no longer the need to do anything for that livelihood -- which seems like a dream come true for many younger people -- but that creates the unique challenge for every individual, of what they will do -- when they no longer have to do anything.

For many people then, it is unfortunately obsessing about their health -- of which they think there is nothing, or very little they can do about, but die as slowly and gracefully as possible -- before even giving up, that even that is possible.  We encounter that mindset much less in the young and healthy, and people living dynamic lives at any age.  With those, getting better each day, is the organizing principle of each day of their lives -- which doesn't blur into the feeling that "it doesn't matter" -- which is not about inevitability, but the choices individuals make that matter.

As the most mature adults in that society, those are the choices they have to make individually, and uniquely -- which their whole lives up to that point, would have prepared them for.  It is not the end, but only the beginning -- and we all have to start all over.

How would we design a life, if we had the chance to start all over again -- knowing what we know now?  That is a rebirth at any age -- many think is impossible.  but it is only in dying to the old, that we can be reborn in the new.  That is the meaning of life and death.


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