What Does It Mean To ‘Just Be’?

“You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked….it has no choice.” - Kafka.

I was telling a friend excitedly, about a new project; about all I need to do, all my plans and ideas of the possibilities….my mind spinning at times at all the things I’d like to do differently next time. My friend listened compassionately and then said,?“My wish for you is to just be for a while.”

You need to just be.

I’m hearing this phrase over and over lately…all around me people are trying to?‘just be’?and take time off from their busy lives.

Just be.

The words my friend said are still ringing in my brain even though I know that she has my well-being in mind and wants me to chill out for sometime. But when I first heard this I was defensive, and irritated. It sounded like esoteric mumbo jumbo, because I had no reference points to make sense of it.

Sometimes a whole way of being passes you by because you are simply not aware that such an experiential state is possible.?It is the same with mindfulness practice…if you have no experience of meditation, the idea of ‘just being’ sounds passive and pointless.

So I let her words marinate in my mind for a while and slowly began to understand that this phrase?‘just be’?has a variety of meanings…different meanings at different times and stages of life.?It moves from taking a break, a vacation, vegetating, sleeping, reading and relaxing to being content…literally stopping the constant seeking and accept what is and be happy with it.

To my understanding and experience now, it’s more than contentment. It starts with conscious presence…to be present in every moment of your life….meditation…a very freeing experience where you don’t have to ‘do anything’ as opposed to much of our daily stressful and frenzied activities .

The point is not that we should all stop and do nothing but to recognise instead that we could be more creative, productive and judicious when we are more considerate of how we spend our time. As the Gita says,?“grounded in being, perform action”.

What many of the sages have professed over time, is that it takes a certain amount of training to be quiet, still and solitary. Many times I see that those of us who really value getting things done are unable to be calm enough to do it with stillness.

So I wonder, that when we are manic, even about helping our community, about bettering our societies or about climate change and?we want it done RIGHT NOW?_ would that be part of the problem??This compulsive striving could be as much an issue as the anxiety it generates.

As Socrates said, “ to be is to do”.

Then along came Sartre,?“to do is to be”.

Mind boggling I say!?Should I do or be?

Frankly, I’d take Sinatra’s advice,?“do be do be dooo….!”

Until next time…

Cheers!

Ritu Malhotra

[email protected]