Meditation 4: Having, Doing, Being

It is hard to be a shadow flitting across the face of the sun and disappearing from sight.  This flight of life is slowed by Having and Doing, but stopped by Being.  Our need to acquire "things" and to surround ourselves with mementos of the past is an attempt to Be someone, a person with an identity and a history.  We give ourselves a property qualification.  At the end of life all our possessions pass into other hands, just as our Being itself passes into the memories of others.

To seek one's Being in doing is more fulfilling and more true.  Through action we acquire skills instead of  "things."  These possessions come to life not in the having but the doing itself.  One becomes an accountant, for example, by learning how to read and write, how to handle numbers, how to analyze, judge and evaluate financial data.  It is by jumping through the appropriate hoops that accountants receive their qualification, and similarly for other professionals and skilled workers of all kinds.

Having looks for Being in the past.  Even dreams of making a fortune and buying all kinds of "things" have a backward looking cast, since the satisfaction that comes from possessions is always after he fact.  Doing looks for Being in the future, since actions have aims that the actions are designed to bring about.  Therefore, even though we are more secure in our own abilities than in our material possessions, we are not totally secure in either of them.  Being is something we wish to possess but never can attain completely while we are alive. Sometimes, however, on a sunny or rainy day, when we least expect it, something will appear that is so beautiful or sublime that it takes our selves away.  We forget our possessions and material worries.  We forget what we have to do.  For a moment, time is put away and we are left standing with the ground beneath our feet and the sky over our heads.  This may be as close to Being as we ever get.