“People should not consider so much what they are to do as what they are… Thus take care that your emphasis is laid on being good and not on the number or kind of things to be done. Emphasize rather the fundamentals on which your work rests.”
- Eckhart
To many, including my husband, the symbolic beginning of a new block of time is nothing more than every other day in life. I, however, love the symbolism and always try to turn over a new leaf, as they say. The leaf I intend to turn over each and every day this year is one of simplicity. I desire to navigate the course of this year with respect to life and to love. To abandon selfishness, greed, and lust, to seek out truth, and to execute my steps with discipline; these are my aspirations. These aspirations are vague, yes, but also life changing.
“You Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness.”
-Jesus
In keeping with my blog, I must add that this year I intend to focus on living life in the “being” mode of existence, while attempting to avoid the “having” mode of existence. This presents a tremendous challenge for me, it goes against all social norms, it looks rather extreme and possibly even foolish, but the very idea of it sparks something within me which feels more alive than any other attempts at living I’ve thus made (apart from the three weeks I’ve spent in Guatemala).
“Only to the extent that we decrease the mode of having…- i.e., stop finding security and identity by clinging to what we have, by “sitting on it,” by holding onto our ego and our possessions- can the mode of being emerge. “To be” requires giving up one’s egocentricity and selfishness…”
-Erich Fromm
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