Intentional Society: Revisiting being and doing
It's not too late (it never is) to join the new season! Orientation call this Saturday April 30th, 1:00-1:55pm Pacific Daylight Time (4pm Eastern, 8pm UTC)
The polarity of "being and doing" has danced in my head quite persistently — I was writing about it two years ago, as well as two months ago here. These two different energies, priorities, leans, seem so pivotal in the developmental transition from conventional to post-conventional logics/stages.
But, have you ever repeated a word often enough that it seems to lose all meaning for a minute? I feel a bit like that this week, looking at this relationship so intently that the terms themselves seem to dissolve. Swirling around integrative thoughts like "we're never not being" and "even choosing to be is a doing" have me questioning what exactly I've been meaning with those word-pointers.
Being-ness is stillness, presence, feeling, attuning. Doing-ness is movement, acting, deciding, building. What about other nearby polarities?
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Interior and exterior: Being is inner space, while doing happens outside of ourselves?
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Self-awareness and task focus: Our attention placed inside our own being, versus concentrating on the task at hand?
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Acceptance and desire: Doing connects to the desire to change things, versus being content with the way things are?
I (and the orientation of Intentional Society by extension) have been leaning strongly into acceptance, self-awareness, interior being-domains, plumbing the depths of inner and intersubjective complexity, the richness of self-transformation and inner exploration associated with being-state and we-space practices and development.
There's no right or wrong to this — it is 100% fine to presently prefer one mode, the other, switch back and forth, balance... but it is my belief that inner and intersubjective modes are underweighted in wider society relative to exterior accomplishment. Thus I believe it's a useful "counter-tilt" for Intentional Society to be more being-aware and intent-ful, meeting people most strongly right where our individuating-achiever modes exhaust their runway and our need is to take redefining flight into interdependent-transformation space.
There's an oscillation to our growth journey spirals/pendulums, though. I think we can pitch a big enough tent to include the re-integration of any doing-mode neglect, and for those who already feel integrated, and... hmm, well I notice hesitation re those who embrace relational practices for socialized belonging-meaning. Is there a pre\trans confusion trap, and is it fixable/integrate-able? TBD for now.
It's getting late today, time now to put this being-philosophizing into the doing-action of transferring this communication to you, dear reader. We'll explore this on Sunday in our general session, and practice relating to each other in/around/via how we relate to this polarity.
Cheers,
James