Human Doings

When I was growing up, I remember that various Lessons of Life were given to us in the form of Story. One of my favorites was the Aesop's Fable "Tortoise and the Hare".

As I recall, the Hare made fun of the Slow Tortoise, at which point, the Tortoise challenged the Hare to a race. The Hare agreed. They took off. Predictably, the Hare ran ahead with all the vibrance of the Rabbits we see so often in these parts. He got so far ahead that he stopped for a Nap. While he slept, the Tortoise just kept plodding along. He overtook him and won the race. I remember my Childhood Glee when I learned the unlikely Tortoise had won the race.

I have done a bit of alteration on this story. It seems fitting for the space and time in which we live. And it gives me a bit of Wisdom, perhaps, and a much needed alteration in course for the future.

Reflecting back, I think I have been the Hare, probably all of my Life. I think all of us on Butterfly Hill Farm have been the Hare. We kept running and running. We did not stop. We have run for the past 4 years, with our move. We hit the ground running when we arrived in May 2007. We had so much that we wanted to accomplish, that we seldom took rests.

As a result, we (and especially me) were and are tired. Yes, we accomplished a lot, but a whole pile of "to do's" kept staring at us in the face.

So we decided to take January 2010 off. The Earth sleeps then too. That's the Natural Cycle of things.

As a result, we have a whole lot more energy going into February than we did just 1 short month ago. Creativity is starting to emerge. We may even be ready to start another Garden. We do plan to go slow into February and March, to keep on replenishing Energy. The most significant lesson is that we need to build this in for the long haul.

I do not think our situation is unique. I think that Western Culture is a Culture which bases value on "doing" and "producing". We have switched from being "Human Beings" to becoming "Human Doings". As a result, we have a lot of people who are just running, running, running. Many are tired to the point of exhaustion. Seeking to jump start "energy", people drink Caffeine in Coffee, Tea or Soda. They drink and eat High Energy Foods. I cannot even imagine what our Adrenals, which are supposed to last us for a lifetime, must look like.

That addiction to "doing" is not the Natural Cycle of things. I see us as finite packages of Energy. We were given a lifetime of Energy at Birth. If we choose to use it all up quickly, we will not have much to carry ourselves forward for the long haul. With addiction to "doing", we get grumpy, we lose our sense of play and wonder, we diminish our potential for creativity. Who knows what untold damage on our bodies that we wreak?

As I think about this, we need to save that Hare energy for when we need it. We need to plod along with that Tortoise's Energy of going a little more slowly at times. We need to build in Play. As a result, our creativity and sense of wonder will be stronger. The likelihood of fulfilling our potential will be increased.

This lesson has come to me before. And it will likely come to me again. I get it now.
~~~~
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tortoise_and_the_Hare