9. Human Being

Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. –Genesis 2: 7

Are you a human being, or a human doing? Our world is always going to be busy. We are driven to do things better—this is the very nature of our myth about what makes life worth living—and even if you want to go slow, you will be affected by the pace of life around you. If you want slowness naturally, go to the mountains. If you want to experience slowness in the midst of chaos, become a human being again.

A human doing is concerned with their “To Do” list first. The most important thing in a human doing’s life is making a list and check everything off the list. That is the cycle of a human doing’s life, and it will be repeated day after day, taught to the human doing’s children as the best way to live, and create a world where it is very busy, mostly disconnected from other people’s deeper feelings, and as a result, too often, lonely.

A human being goes slow wherever they are. That doesn’t mean they can’t get things done quickly, it means that there is an intention in the doing that transcends lists and deadlines: Lists will be written, and deadlines will be met. But the purpose of the experience is to be.

To be is to savor the moment, wherever you are, whether pain or pleasure, and recognize that all of it happens connected to love. God doesn’t make the pain or the pleasure; God created a world where these things can happen, and they do because of the cycles of human life. The human being doesn’t avoid the ups and downs of human experience, but looks for the heaven within any experience and seeks to be conscious of how God is a partner in every experience.

I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability.
–Oscar Wilde


What do you want to do to become more of a human being?