There was a man who disliked seeing his footprints and his shadow. He decided to escape from them, and began to run. But as he ran along, more footprints appeared, while his shadow easily kept up with him. Thinking he was going too slowly, he ran faster and faster without stopping, until he finally collapsed from exhaustion and died. (Chuang-tse)
The Bisy Backson is almost desperately active...if you want to be healthy, relaxed, and contented, just watch what a Bisy Backson does and then do the opposite. There's one now, pacing back and forth, jingling the loose coins in his pocket, nervously glancing at his watch. He makes you feel tired just looking at him. The chronic Backson always seems to have to be somewhere, at least on a superficial, physical level. He doesn't go out for a walk, though; he doesn't have time...The Bisy Backson is always On the Run, it seems...always going somewhere, somewhere he hasn't been. Anywhere but where he is...
The Backson thinks of progress in terms of fighting and overcoming. One of his little idiosyncrasies, you might say. Of course, real progress involves growing and developing, which involves changing inside, but that's something the inflexible Backson is unwilling to do. The urge to grow and develop, present in all forms of life, becomes perverted in the Bisy Backson's mind into a constant struggle to change everything (the Bulldozer Backson) and everyone (the Bigoted Backson) else but himself, and interfere with things he has no business interfering with, including practically every form of life on earth. At least to a limited extent, his behavior has been held in check by wiser people around him. But, like the parents of hyperactive children, the wise find that they can't be everywhere at once. Baby-sitting the Backsons wears you out..
[The goals we have] do count, mostly because they cause us to go through the process, and it's the process that makes us wise, happy, or whatever. If we do things in the wrong sort of way, it makes us miserable, angry, confused, and things like that. The goal has to be right for us, and it has to be beneficial, in order to ensure a beneficial process. But aside from that, it's really the process that's important. Enjoyment of the process is the secret that erases the myths of the Great Reward and Saving Time. Perhaps this can help to explain the everyday significance of the word Tao, the Way.
What could we call that moment before we begin to eat the honey? Some would call it anticipation, but we think it's more than that. We would call it awareness. It's when we become happy and realize it, if only for an instant. By Enjoying the Process, we stretch that awareness out so that it's no longer only a moment, but covers the whole thing. Then we can have a lot of fun. Just like Pooh...
When we take the time to enjoy our surroundings and appreciate being alive, we find that we have no time to be Bisy Backsons anymore. But that's all right, because being Bisy Backsons is a tremendous waste of time. As the poet Lu Yu wrote:
The clouds above us join and separate,
The breeze in the courtyard leaves and returns.
Life is like that, so why not relax?
Who can stop us from celebrating?
If I EVER turn into a Bisy Backson, please tell me. I feel like I'm on my to becoming one now, and it's not cool...my awareness is gone, and I've gotten to a place where I often feel like life is a battle, and I have to "fight or overcome" or I'll go crazy. I have to be perpetually busy so I don't have time to think, because even though I miss having down time to write (which I do even when I don't have time, clearly) and just think, and be, I fall into traps of thinking about things I shouldn't, when I have that kind of time.
I've wasted enough time today. Must go be productive.
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Now playing: Chris Ayer - Fall Away (State I'm In)
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