Humans doing not being

I once heard the phrase “human’s doing not being” on someone’s video blog over a decade ago, and it has stuck in my head ever since.

Like a stranger gives you a book and you are drawn to the seemingly profound title. And maybe you put the book on the shelf, with all the others collected over the years, hoping to find the time to skip through its pages. But for now it sits on the shelf and every now and then it calls to you in your thoughts.

I think there are many times in our lives where we hear something and it has this kind of effect. We can’t quite make use of it or fully comprehend it’s meaning, but it’s there nonetheless.

I can only explore my own interpretation of its meaning from my somewhat limited perspective and life experiences.

I think in everyone’s life they have something that they enjoy doing, something that captivates their imagination and passion. Perhaps it’s something creative, allowing them to experience something that is free and fluid, without any limits. Or maybe it’s experiencing it second-hand through the many artists and writers of songs and stories, allowing them to escape the material world, if only for a few brief moments in time.

It could of course be something physical, a carpenter creating a piece of furniture or sculptor slowly turning rock into a seemingly living artform. An engineer or inventor, pushing their practical skills to another level, always improving and perfecting their creations.

It could also include being of service to others, helping ease poverty and sickness or some other act of kindness, perhaps to a neighbor or colleague.

All of these things we experience in varying amounts throughout our lives, and the human race as a whole, has such a vast amount of such creations and amazing feats of engineering, that the list of examples is infinite.

We are also part of nature as nature is part of us. Our natural state of being is generally peaceful and adaptable to any environmental situations that may arise. The question is whether our state of being is something we decide, solely based on our own thoughts and aspirations, or whether we are coerced into a set pattern of being, or rather doing.

Our survival primarily is based upon providing food, shelter and the necessary support network for our family, from education through to the emotional needs of our children. Each element as important as the other in order for there to be harmony and adaptability in our lives.

If there is any variation on the above, we try to survive through the use of various coping mechanisms, adapting to the environment as we grow. Our society is then shaped by each individual contained within it, with all of the diverse array of qualities having their own impact, either in a positive or a negative way.

As we have moved through varying types of society, developing from our early beginnings as hunter gatherers and smaller settlements through to the vast industrialized, capitalist, communist, authoritarian and socialist societies which make up the worlds population today, has our experience as human beings changed and if so, in what way?

Obviously our lives are often too short and too busy with survival to fully grasp the idea of whether the human race as a whole is moving in any particular direction, either towards a more harmonious one or one that’s destined to be replaced by a less than human, smarter and perhaps more intelligent entity.

I do believe that once upon a time, human beings were more in tune with their surroundings and had far more control over their individual lives than perhaps we do now. I also think that, similar to different familial experiences, the different cultures around the world have also adapted to their environmental and societal experiences, with often less than ideal results.

Cultures have undergone many different transitions, some have all but disappeared from the world as past traditions have made way for their modern adaptation, which can seem in comparison, to be less than ideal for the individuals within, comparatively.

However, we are still human beings, regardless of our situation and experiences in life. We all come into the world with freewill and with spirit. It’s true that both can be tested to the point of annihilation and can be lost on some battlefield or in some imposed dark place, but we are still human beings.

Beyond the current society, and the many more revisions to come in the future, we will be further tested to our limits and conditioned by those that have lost their humanity, busy with doing, like soul-less robots. Following the masses and crushing the individual.

I would like to think of a time that we go full circle, bringing about a change to a more balanced and empowered world for all human beings, regardless of culture and origin, so that we may tread the same path, each with our own individual thoughts, with mutual respect for each other and a sovereignty which is ours from birth, that no entity can revoke or exploit, or would wish to for that matter.

Thank you for reading.