Sri Anish
Looking at this title, you might feel that it is rather a strange title, because we all are ‘Human Beings’ already, so, where is the question of becoming ‘human beings’ again?
Let’s look at it carefully, the word Human is a combination of two words, homo – meaning man and humus – meaning earth. And the word ‘being’ is most interesting here, it could mean—a certain intelligence to create, to relate, to connect, to communicate and it could also mean—a certain level of wisdom, peace & joyfulness. Further, it could also mean—a certain state of composure, consciousness, awareness & capacity to evolve further.
Look at the above attributes of ‘being’ carefully, these are all the qualities which makes ‘human beings’ distinctive; different from all other life forms & probably puts us in a better position to perceive the world & experience life.
But many of us are not in our natural state of ‘human being-ness’ all the time.
‘Human Doing’ and ‘Human Becoming’
When I look around, I find most of humanity has lost Human Being-ness and has either turned into ‘Human Doing’ or ‘Human Becoming’.
Many of us are constantly engaged or shall I say distracted into some form of ‘Doing’. Many times, we are not even mindful of our ‘Doing’ and the effects of that ‘Doing’ on our body mind. Maybe it is because of our inability to just ‘Be’ or our super active minds & uncontrolled thoughts. Even when we are not ‘Doing’ anything externally, our inner chatter is constantly active—there is a massive amount of ‘Doing’ that keeps happening in our minds all the time.
We are not even bothered if our ‘Doing’ is useful or not, if it has any positive or constructive value or if it is making our or anybody’s life any better. Our ‘Doing’ has become a compulsion.
Fact check: During the pandemic, people’s screen time usage has increased more than 100% and there are obvious impacts on eye health and also there are adverse effects on overall well-being due to incorrect postures & lack of physical movement etc.
Throughout our waking hours, we act as ‘Human Doing’ – physical doing or mental doing. And during our sleeping hours too, our ‘Doing’ keeps happening—in our dreams. Thankfully nature has built in a mechanism of ‘forced deep – dreamless sleep’ for all of us, which makes sure that every morning we wake up with our sanity intact.
Human Becoming
Most of us are not satisfied with who we are, we want to become somebody else!
We are not satisfied with where we are, we want to be somewhere else!
We are not satisfied with what we have, we want something else!
And this chase of something else never ends!
Again, Human beings are not enjoying & not content with their ‘being-ness’, we would rather ‘Become’ something else. So, ‘Human Beings’ have turned into ‘Human Becoming’.
In nature if you see, a rose flower is not trying to ‘become’ a jasmine flower, or an apple is not trying to ‘become’ a mango, or a black horse is not trying to ‘become’ a white horse. But only in Human beings, do I see everyone is trying to ‘become’ something else.
Let me share a small story with you. Once a disciple goes in search of a teacher. After many days of wandering, he finds a joyous, peaceful & fearless sage sitting under a tree. He asks the sage, ‘sir, I too want to attain this supremely joyful, peaceful & fearless state. What do you do to attain this? The sage replies, I eat when I’m hungry, I rest when I’m tired & I work in the fields when it is needed. So, the sage is saying, that I’m established in my ‘Human Being-ness’, I’m neither a mindless Human Doing nor entangled in Human Becoming.
Observe around you and you will rarely find anybody just sitting in his/her peaceful & joyful inner space of ‘being-ness’. In fact, to be in your real ‘being-ness’ is seen as sitting idle and is considered a waste of time.
We don’t realize that some moments of sitting still – in ‘being-ness’ every day, is a deep meditation. It is extremely essential for our mental health, clarity of thought, relaxation, rejuvenation, physical well-being and even for our work productivity & enhanced personal relations.
Our ancient wisdom says that you are already the divine, you are already pure & full of light. It is not that you must become pure or illuminated, because you are already that. It is just that you must uncover the truth of your own self. And this happens when we are not in a state of constant ‘Doing’ or ‘Becoming’, when we are fully established in our ‘Human Being-ness’.
So, the wise ones say, that every day, for at least some moments, drop all your ‘Human Doing’ & pursuit of ‘Human Becoming’ and just come back to your ever present, beautiful, peaceful & joyous state of ‘Human Being-ness’.
This being-ness is our real state, it is our true nature, it is the space of true peace & joy. And we don’t have to create this human being-ness, we just must come back to this.
Once established in this ‘being-ness’, we become in deep harmony with all life forms around us and then all our actions and pursuits in the world emerge beautifully from this sacred space.
May we rediscover our sacred ‘human being-nesses once again.
Om Tat Sat
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