I do, therefore, I am

After a couple of unsettling weeks that were all about "doing" not simply "being" I have managed to get back to what I want most in life. I want to "be" who I really am without having to "do" anything to prove it. Being is the only thing that matters.

Nowadays, people don't ask you how you are, they say, 'Are you busy?' meaning, 'Are you well?' If someone actually does ask you how you are, the most cheerful answer, of course, is a robust 'Busy!' to which the person will reply 'Good! "Busy' used to be a negative sort of word. It meant having no time for yourself, no leisure. 'No, I can't come out this weekend, I'm too busy.' Sorry about that, you poor stiff. Now, though, busyness is bullish. Conspicuous industriousness is the rule.
"Conspicuous industriousness" is fancy talk for chasing your own tail. This is the habit of rushing around frantically and feeling quite noble even when you go nowhere fast. Equipped with cell phones, beepers, and handheld computers, the "conspicuously industrious" blur the line between home and office by working anytime, anywhere. Always on call, they make a perverse case for the argument that work isn't a part of life, but rather that life is a part of work. They embody the new twenty-first century ideal--"I do, therefore I am."

And whether they know it or not, they are competitors in the rat race. Constantly busy, moving at breakneck speed, they wake, work, earn, spend, shovel down food, and collapse--only to begin the same vicious cycle over again the next day. Never knowing which end is up, they live according to the "Rules of the Rat Race," an unwritten code of conduct that says you should:

1. Bite off more than you can chew.
2. Act as if enough is never enough.
3. Chase your tail and run to stand still.
4. View life as a part of work, instead of work as a part of life.

These days, people think "doing" makes them who they are. They discover that when the "doing" situation changes they are at a loss, they have no real knowledge of who they are or what "being" really means. Doing to be liked, doing to be needed, doing to get attention, doing to feel important. But, never knowing that their being is crying to be heard.

Being is about needing because you love or like. Doing is about seeking love or like or what you need to survive the Rat Race. I welcome the return of my being with all my heart.