Whenever I read buddhist or daoist writings I am always inspired on the one hand and unconvinced on the other. The points I push back on most often are those dealing with being in the moment to the detriment of using our critical faculties. I have spent most of my life focused on learning, being good at it, and having that folded back into my self image. However, I’m starting to realize that thinking constricts one from being. When you think you are necessarily focused inwards. There is a barrier, a separation from the world that arises keeping you at arms length. I see this most directly on my drive to work.
On most days I listen to podcasts which I find amazingly interesting and content filled. I learn about science, business, technology, news, even spirituality. However, I have been trying to whittle down my subscriptions and I got to the point yesterday where I had nothing left to listen to and instead picked some of the music off of my iPod. I saw the sky and the trees lining the road, enjoyed the sun and the beautiful weather and my mind pleasantly wandered aimlessly.
The question then becomes what to do about this? I am still hesitant to drop my podcats. It was tough enough to whittle my subscriptions down to where I am now, all of them are worthwhile in their own right. However, I believe this is just a symptom of the bigger issue. What needs to happen is to appreciate the being more than the thinking and then the action will follow. I’m not there yet but thats what life is for, growing.
I heard an interesting take on this recently on a book on tape (more thinking) which proposed a spectrum of human interaction which ran from dependance to independence to interdependence. I have focused much of my life on being independent which I think also includes the thinking and rationalizing of experience and in that paradigm it is the first step and a huge one at that, one that many do not achieve. However, the journey is not over, the next step is towards being and interdependence. Now for my podcast filled ride to work.
