BEING-INQUIRY-RECEPTION: A New Distinction/Meditation for The Cycles of Authentic Creation

This is a critical examination of the "being, doing, having"
distinction along with a list of shortcomings (when held against what
I consider an optimal state for human beings, our fulfillment and
what is possible for us now).

What came to me in the words that follow may actually put Camus'
insight to some serious testing and it is my intention that what
unfolds below is a contribution towards rapid human development
towards liberation, fulfillment and an experience of gratitude beyond
measure for all.

This will be followed by a novel diagram, which suggests direct
access to 'how it is', from which an ever-presence of this state and
subsequent natural actions to follow is an option.

"being" - "doing" - "having"

In this model borrowed from Camus what is being shown are:

1. being - ways of being, ie. powerful, playful, compassionate

2. doing - actions in space and time, ie. walking, talking buying,
selling, learning

3. having - results from actions we take, ie. more time, money, a
car, house, girlfriend,

It is suggested that 'life flows in the direction from left to right.
For example, if we are

being healthy

we will

do healthy things like eat better

and

have a slimmer body

and NOT the opposite direction of;

if we

have a slimmer body

we will

eat better

and

be healthy

An example of this is a person who gets liposuction to:

HAVE a slimmer body, then what that person will

DO is continues to eat poorly, but will NOT

BE healthier.

On the surface this seems accurate and in a certain context works to
fulfill the intention of having people look at their lives and begin
to dismantle unworkable constructions in their lives by having them
look at what they have probably been doing already.

Unfortunately it quickly goes to an 'insight', knowing something,
which is 'nice' and may 'feel good' for a few moments but will never
have a person transform life in the moment.

What has been missing is that in this model, 'being' (and we will use
a lower case 'b' for distinction) is 'being a created way' and not
BEING (ie. empty/meaningless, everything/nothing, etc.). 'being' is
not even 'being' it is actually already quickly moved to a 'way of
being' which is NOT BEING at all, but is already the realm of
'doing'. 'being a way' (like playful) is a creation. Creation of
'being' is in the realm of 'doing'.

This is where the "being" - "doing" - "having" distinction falls
short of delivering my intention of human/beings getting who they are.

There are a few elements missing for this distinction to be of
greater use in having us present to 'who are we'. I will attempt to
display them and then go into a bit of detail on each element of the
display.

I am going to lay them out linearly from left to right, however, they
are ultimately going to have be displayed in multiple dimensions to
more accurately convey the spirit of the diagram.

(BEING) (Inquiry) (Reception) | (doing/not doing) (having)

in this example I am not talking about a 'way of being' such as
playful, rather the BEING creating the 'way of being'. This is the
BIG BEING, the experience itself attained in a state of Everything/
Nothing. Some may call it Buddha-hood, Enlightenment, and it is not
knowing about this state, or even having once been in this state
before. It is BEING...NOW.

From this state, BEING, when we slow down our minds to a crawl,
(actually, it is to the point of no experience of time in this state)
what is initialized in the cycle from BEING is INQUIRY.

Many things may come up in that state such as:

I am who, what, for what?

What is this [state]?

What just happened?

What is happening?

Where am I?

What needs be fulfilled needs to happen?

I say they "come up" for us because they are NOT created on purpose
by our direct intention with any sort of agenda or fix for anything.
Let's call it INACTIVE INQUIRY and simply arises from the same part
of us that has our lungs bring in air. This INQUIRY comes in a flash
and in my research has never been distinguished before. My sense is
that this part of our human development has been so little worked
that we cannot typically slow down our thoughts and experience to a
degree where perceiving this subtle state is possible. Non-the-less
it is.

Next in the cycle is what I call RECEPTION. This is a state of being
open to receive [an answer to our inquiry]. It is the Clearing
created by the INACTIVE INQUIRY of BEING. RECEPTION is the emptiness
of the cup created by this INQUIRY. It cannot be on purpose for it to
be authentic for if it is directed, it is from 'doing' and (BIG)
BEING thwarted.

Simply put, RECEPTION is a state where we receive WORD.

This might look like 'now I know what my life is for and what there
is to DO.'

Which brings us to the next state called DOING/NOT DOING.

Now that you KNOW something because it has been received in WORD,
BEING has an option to act…or not. It can act on WORD and DO things
to create fulfillment of WORD in reality, then again, BEING may
choose NOT to DO anything at all and NOT DOING is a valid option,
just as valid as fulfilling WORD by DOING.

BEING may explore INQUIRY and RECEPTION and remain in this state
eternally…BEING IS ETERNAL.

This looks like BEING being with BEING in conversation, which could
get really boring, or not, so BEING, for example, may become (as it
occurs from an outsiders viewpoint) a type of recluse guru who goes
off to a cave in no need of anything and Be's. OR, BEING creates a
way of 'being' to fulfill on WORD with DOING.

And then finally we are at HAVING, the result of DOING/NOT DOING.
This is inevitable and really is not something to concern our self
with whatsoever. In our human being experience, concerning ourselves
with HAVING FOR OUR SELF is a source of suffering. It always only
points to "we are no longer BEING."

To sum it all up, "being" - "doing" - "having," the old model, leaves
us continually DOING on top of old ways of 'being', not at the source
of life. This is brought about by the collapse of 'being/doing' since
'being' in that old context is a form of 'doing' disguised as BEING.

Authentic creation is from the space where WORD will come, from

(BEING) (Inquiry) (Reception)

and until we find a way to have our self in this state before any
DOING takes place, we ought consider simply sitting, finding
teachers, learning to create our Self AS this state and await WORD
for direction in DOING. What is elegant about this model is that we
can begin in either of the (BEING) (Inquiry) (Reception) areas, we
can simply dwell in them. Over and again, this may be a practice in
which the INQUIRER will KNOW BEING, and the one in RECEPTION will
KNOW the ONE in RECEPTION.

A suggestion for Leaders, before they go off creating all sorts of
survival nonsense, would be to get into this state to create
authentically.

Who can lead them to the state (WHO ARE WE) now that they 'know
about' that state.
What practices have they, which have them be BEING NOW?
How do we have this communication be refined and gotten so that it
makes a difference with leaders interested in bringing us to a state
of BEING?

©2007 David Baumgarten