Life is made up of many dualities, well polarities. Today I’ll be talking about just one of them.
First of all, two things. I released my latest song Perfection. You can find the lyrics here. Once per month looks to be quite doable hehe.
Next, I accidentally erm… broke my spectacles earlier. So I’m actually doing this without and it’ll just be a much shorter one. Yep. 🙁
Anyway, here goes. Today I wanna expand further into the specifics of doing and being.
Basically, it’s this. Right, and it’s also after I’ve released any excessive sense of responsibility which technically falls more under being. Anyways. Yeah, doing is passion and being is perfection… so here goes.
Doing is giving, improving, becoming.
Being is receiving, experiencing, exalting.
So there is kind of a massive trap to this!!!
Sure, enjoyment is a great factor in doing whatever and I suppose a good prerequisite we should have for doing anything should be that it better be aligned with us and makes us feel good. Therein, the being factor is there. However, this is still not sufficient criteria to judge. Many doing things are actually encompassed here too!!!
For example, I am gonna hit Duolingo Korean Level 96 tomorrow. I just won the Diamond Championship again earleir today at like 13678 XP. I mean, sure, I do enjoy this and all – it’s surely a passion to be honest. Yet at the same time, we MUST understand that this does not automatically place it under being… well actually, passion is doing? Hmm?! Confusion!
And then I realised also that, hey! Some games I’m playing. Like the FPS Valorant sometimes where I’m a total scrub, like Go where I’ve almost finished the first level of the skill tree on GoMagic along with the graduation exam that’s for free… anyway, regardless. See!
The thing about all these things is that, alas! It’s all the same!!! It’s the hidden trap of doing, and it is – well, they are – really honestly not being!
See, as I play these games, even though they are games and technically yeah, it’s consuming media like consuming fiction and such which falls under experiencing and receiving which is really being. However!!! You would probaby have noticed by now. This is again, improving, getting better at and becoming, with achievements and/or milestones along the way!
Hey it’s freakin’ doing again!!! 🙁
And, you know, there is one dangerous trap in society today where doing is unnecessarily worshipped. We only ever do being to recharge and fill in the gaps, when we have nothing better to do. Here doing kinda binds us with seeming chains of responsibility. Only when we absolutely need to refill our gas tank, don’t want to give and only want to receive and feel good. Ah!!! Yes. There’s where being comes in. And thereupon we switch to doing again right away when we’re gassed up.
I mean, sure, technically that’s a good strategy and especially great when you’re fuelled by passion and have things you most definitely would prefer to get done… well, heheh, I guess a meta example would kinda literally be me writing this article now without spectacles lol. Meh. Yeah, at times like this of course the motivation is real and of course I would be doing this as opposed to say, listen to Spotify or watch a show or something.
But then again, when about the rest of the day where all we have is free time??
I would honestly think that the greatest pitfall is this. We are not exactly outta gas, so we don’t ltierally NEED to go into being and maybe watch some Netflix right now… Yet at the same time, this automatically means!! We naturally gravitate towards some activity of doing! Where we seek to give, improve and become! Alas! As being has become a lesser option.
I remember the days I used to do nothing but read fiction all day. When I was serving the army in NS, a thousand webnovel chapters in a month. When I was in school a little before that, I’d just play game after game everyday. Ah!!! Those were the days! Now I’ve kind of severely jumped to the other end of the spectrum . 🙁 But yeah, maybe I can reclaim some of.
So basically, again, especially in the modern world where the trap of doing is a real threat for so many, I really emphasise here: don’t let your subconscious mind + nervous system view doing to be the preferred mode with being a lesser one. So here I have got a rule of thumb really…
Doing is like when you are actively a creator in your own life.
Being is like when you are instead partaking in the creations of another fellow human being. (AI creations are inherently lesser okay!!! Please.)
So oftentimes, you will find yourself in doing as a creator. For example, for me, apart from writing articles and posts and such, and writing songs like Perfection and rehearsing for plays like I did yesterday and learning an additional language or playing Go or whatever… well! Basically, again, you give and you improve and you become. Consistency is really solid here!!
And then there is the other side of ya, where well, you are a consumer of whatever media that others created. You receive, and you fill up your own cup, and you experience the world in a myriad fascination through others!! Or, it doesn’t have to be consuming media too. You can literally go to an onsen or something, exalt your own physical vessel. Experience, receive.
So yeah, there you have it. I find that somewhere along the way, I’d fallen into the common societal collective trap of only seeing improving and becoming as valuable Well, not consciously of course! But in my actions, I suppose they were prioritised. But like the song, Perfection!! You ARE already perfect as you are. You don’t have to prove your worth.
You engage in activities from a prior state of completion, not lack. You don’t!!! have to do what is beyond your means and be better than your best. You do it because it lights you up and makes you feel alive. And therein, being activities where you just consume, receive and experience totally are valid as well.
They aren’t a lesser option when you’ve ticked off all the better, more important boxes. They are a good way of living, experiencing the world. Exalting yourself through pure enjoyment, wholly free of giving, creation, and wherever you are a more active participant in exercising your own agency. It’s ain’t wasting time.
Yep! So, considering the time that I spent… lying on the bed feeling bored because I didn’t know what to do and the inspiration for writing the article still!!! had’t come yet. I suggest to my past self today in retrospect.
Hey!!! Maybe you don’t have to burn the time away doing nothing, just not feeling the energy to watch or read something because you already finished watching Season 1 of Manifest and the Korean 19th life show in the morning to recharge earlier after a crazy filled!! day yesterday.
I mean, I think you still have the energy to spare tbh. So why don’t you go find some medium through which to expend that energy and live life to the fullest, yeah! As opposed to just going through much of life in a lackadaisical daze apart from nicely meeting some goals ya have.
Yep. And with that I come to the end of today’s article. I hope it’s not too short. And I’m definitely giving myself a good pat on the back for writing it even without spectacles ><. Now I sure hope I can see for work tmrw.
K cya! Remember to balance your life out well k. For max enjoyment as contains both fulfilment from doing and also wonder from being! Yayz!
Duh-duh-done!
-Daimon out! 🙂
(Sure hope I didn’t make too many typos from limitedvision but wtv welp!)