Do - Be
_I: And, speaking of build or destroy, what happens if I decide to do nothing? That is to say, that Buddhist philosophy of not intervening, of remaining silent, passive... Would it be breaking with this creative duality?
_AM: Many paths can lead us to understand this productive dichotomy. Let's try to understand the concept of what it means to position yourself in an active attitude or a passive attitude. Active comes from action, from entering into activity, and therefore performing an act that mobilizes energy, which, this action produces a reaction that modifies the environment, since the forces involved will seek to find stability again by rearranging themselves in a different way. . Here we can understand what it means to carry out an “Activation”, that is, to put the necessary forces to achieve an external result.
_I: So when I say “Activations”, I am referring to the fact that what we are about to do is related to putting energy on our part, to manifesting an attitude that voluntarily generates a change in the environment or what we are doing specifically.
_AM: That's right. An Activation is the act of having an action to produce a reaction. The opposite of passive vision. This word arises from the supine of “pati” (passum), which means “who suffers or endures” (patire = to suffer). The passive point of view is that of the one who receives the weight of the reaction, who did nothing to receive or generate force, and yet the movement of the other forces him to transform.
_I: In other words, passive is not one who does not do anything, or takes a passive position in the face of a circumstance, but rather it is one who suffers the consequences of it without having taken any attitude about it.
_AM: That's right. Let's look at it from a more positivist and spiritual point of view. The Passive aspect of an action is what you would call “Meditation.”
_I: Why? In meditation you don't suffer...
_AM: Not from the concept you have of suffering, but one does become “passum”. Humanly you interpret suffering as pain, sorrow, anguish, however, conceptually, suffering is putting the weight on yourself. In meditation, what happens is that the action is not directed outwards, but towards the middle, whereby external forces are turned towards one, and in meditation, one finds the answers to external weights and conflicts.
_I: Seen this way, the passive action of meditation is not bad at all.
_AM: No, but the problem is that not everyone meditates, but rather “worries.” There is another dichotomy that we call “worrying” and “worrying.” The one who is busy becomes active, he is the one who jumps in to take control of the situation, while the one who worries is taking the reins before something happens, in the invisible and impractical. Generally, pulling the reins on issues that are not yet real leads to suffering. There is the idea of passive, since one is receiving the weight of something non-existent on which one cannot act.
_I: Yes… I usually worry a lot… Until I meditate. But then, what would it be like not to act?
_AM: Neutrality. While passive and active speak of negative and positive, neutral is what you would consider “inaction.” Inaction is simply the denial of action, its nonexistence, and therefore, it speaks of remaining static, since action is movement, since it implies energy. Neutrality is the concept of neither acting in the active nor receiving in the passive, but rather standing aside as an observer.
_I: Is this possible?
_AM: Difficult, but not impossible. The practices of some Asian cultures in relation to neutrality make them understand that any effect of change is merely a product between forces that they cannot control, and therefore, they prefer to remain outside of any reaction, neither against nor to favor.
_I: But that doesn't evolve... I mean... How do they advance like this?
_AM: Why do you need to move forward?
_I: Well… We are on a path of growth and expansion.
_AM: It depends for whom. Just because you are aware of an evolutionary path does not make you worthy of having the absolute truth. There are people who were not born to follow your path. Do you accept it?
_I: Yes... I understand it, but it's hard for me to assimilate, that the fact of not taking sides in things can be seen normally.
_AM: Taking sides places us in a dual, polar position of struggle, of creation and destruction. The vision of many cultures, especially Europeanized Western ones, have brought to the world the connotation of effort, work, merit, as sources of real, tangible, practical action, but it does not have to be the same for everyone. Just because one way works for you doesn't mean that others couldn't have found a different way. As long as one does not interfere with the freedom and rights of the other, for the universe there is no problem.
_I: So someone could calmly make a difference by being neutral?
_AM: To be neutral you have to find the balance between putting force or being in force.
_I: What would that be?
_AM: The dichotomy of action: Do or Be. The word “do” comes from the same etymology as “to do” in English. Although they sound different, they are from the same tree, from the Indo-European “dhe”, which means “to put”. Put energy, put strength, put into action, put will. The concept “do” brings us the basis of all action, which is to put and dispose. As existing beings, we all do things, it is inevitable, our simple breathing is an action, it implies doing something. “Dhe” manifests the intention to do, which incorporates will and consciousness into the equation. Focus your attention on something where you can deposit your energy to generate a movement.
_I: And on the other hand... Be, or let yourself be.
_AM: Estar, related to being still or being in a place, is a verb that comes from “Sta” which means “to stand up”, something that in English gave “stand”, “stare”, “state”, “stay”. ”. In Spanish, the terms “stability”, “state”, “stable”, “static” describe this word, being the opposite of taking action, but rather remaining still. Stability is something the universe relentlessly seeks in its expansive and entropic chaos. Therefore, even though it is the opposite, it is its perfect complementary. Standing up or Taking Action are the two faces of the universal movement.
_I: So, it is necessary to do and be... At the same time.
_AM: Being is what leads you to be, to find yourself, to position yourself and locate yourself in time and space, to find an axis. Stability is required to be able to design the person you are. And only from there, from their point of view, can you act, do, have the support point from which you can do, put intentions and energy, will. The problem lies when there are more stable aspects than those that are being done, or more aspects being done than those that are stable.
_I: It reminds me of those images of workers in which one only does everything and the others watch.
_AM: In this same way you can understand your inner world. You will never advance if just one of your forces puts in all the energy while your other aspects watch, but you will never get anywhere if many work but only one anchors them and tells them what to do. Neutrality lies in the ability to make there enough stability so as not to be affected by external movements, and active enough so that you can flex and make decisions.
_I: Sometimes, doing seems very complicated to me in a world that keeps us passive. It is exhausting in many cases to be doing things for which states and systems do nothing but hold us back from growing...
_AM: These external control mechanisms turn individuals into social liabilities, so that they can continue to nourish the system without it losing its self-confidence and its usefulness. A stably active being will not be an easy target for repression. Well, nothing will affect you. Being, implies being able to stay on track despite the things that may happen around you. There you find the logic of those neutral cultures that encourage neutrality as a path to enlightenment.
_I: Of course... It's not about not doing anything, it's about not being affected by what happens...
_AM: Exactly, and that is Being, being in oneself, staying inside, being on axis, standing, firm. There lies the real force of the action, because being there, nothing can move you. And so, when you do something, nothing will frustrate or destroy you. In meditation, you receive all the pressures making sense of them in the center... Where the sum of all the forces is equal to zero.
_I: I understand… It makes sense. Thus, the fundamental task of this concept is that we can do the things we must do without being affected at all by their results, without worry or expectation, but rather do everything from the stability of our own being, like a still and firm tree in the middle. of a storm.
_AM: Sometimes, simple presence moves much more than a thousand reactive acts.
_I: Therefore, I am ready to be in myself.
_AM: And so you will move mountains.