Being and Doing, or Doing and Being?

Now a funny thing ran across my ears yesterday, and I wasn't even lying down in the grass!

I heard a lady, I think she was from Britain, say "Doing is more important than being."

That was interesting because a few years ago, a priest I know said "Being is more important than doing."

Now this could be very, very confusing if you, like Candide, lived in the best of all possible worlds. There you would be, running along, minding your own happy (or unhappy!) business, when all of a sudden, someone said "Being is more important than doing."

Stopped in your tracks, even if you were dicing onions, you might well wonder how you DO that, or well, how you BE that, since we are not doing anymore, we are being.

You might sit down in a chair, very quiet, thinking great thoughts. But somehow, thinking is doing something. Ok, since a priest said it, let us pray to the Lord.

Well, darn, there I go doing something again.

Maybe we mean more something like a characteristic, like being tall. I like that. It's pretty easy for me to be overweight even without doing anything at all about it.

Slap me silly, that can't be it. Maybe I am a microcosm of the universe and an image of the unknowable God, both at the same time. I like that, too.

I could spend hours and hours just exploring what I might really be like and what I find interesting about myself. I think I'm delightful. I'm my best friend, and I enjoy my company immensely. You can do that and still care about other people and interact with them, now and then.

Now, anyone who is still reading this isn't doing anything about being, so get out there and punt! Or sit and think. Or watch the sun go down. I like that, too, especially.

Best,

Auriel