As part of a course I am attending, we were prompted to take 3 minutes to list down all our different identities that come to mind. Noteworthily, the first one that popped up in my mind in an instance was ‘Human Being’. I say noteworthily (and with visible delight) because this rewiring of myself has taken some years of patient iterative cycles of unlearning and relearning. Unless I become a monk and live in a cave this journey will continue be a never ending series of cycles.
In a world where I have been witness to our relatively superficial identities of race, gender, designation, class, religion, nationality, age, accent or even ones based on one’s lifestyle, preferences, residence, clothing etc. taking precedence in every interaction on a daily basis, to have my first ‘top-of-mind’ identity be that of ‘human’ is personally self-empowering at this juncture. The second half - ‘being’ is even more priceless to me today. It is a milestone for me to acknowledge my evolution on 2 aspects:
1. From ‘doer’ to ‘being’. In shifting to this mindset, I believe I am enabling myself to reconfigure my thoughts from those of productivity, efficiency and socially accepted (and imposed) metrics of success to those of my own understanding of a well lived day and a meaningful life for myself.
2. From just ‘human’ to adding ‘being’, I believe I am starting to realize our interconnectedness and becoming cognizant of the universal equality shared by all of us as part of nature as well as my power and responsibility to all other beings.
This does feel like a proud moment to cherish how far I have come. It is also a critical point to value the sustenance of this profound thought while I strategize my journey ahead. I am not one for allowing myself to celebrate the small triumphs nor appreciate the journey that has been. It has always been about the future. Today, I need to do both, value the need to do both and learn to do both.
How do I straddle and balance my ‘being’ and ‘doing’ selves everyday?
How do I stay cognizant and unfazed by others displaying their other identities while still being accepting and/or empathetic?
How do I embrace the humanness and humanity of myself and others?
How do I embody this identity of ‘human being’ and in doing so recognize the importance of preserving the sanctity of my mauna practice?
Herein lies my liberation. Daily.
