The call is yours! You can spend your whole life in the pursuit of medals and then hang them around your neck for a lifetime of self-appreciation. This won't be a wrong thing to do though. But to be self-assured and self-realised with a sense of happiness about your existence, you have to be a doer - who isn't looking for material rewards.
William Shakespeare's words in Hamlet, spoken by Hamlet:
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them.
We all face dilemmas and delusion at many places in life. It is not just Arjuna who surrenders to the confusion about his Karma. Human beings, of all ages, face the same lostness and have to take refuge in themselves. If we have preserved wisdom and patience in our mind, we make use of it by guiding ourselves towards realising the self.
The title of this blog 'To be or To Do' has been derived from the bestselling book of Ryan Holiday - Ego is the Enemy. This book compiles some unique yet common trouble-making contexts of human life and then provides resolutions one by one through experiential sharing. The chapter which has the same title is the experience of Orison Swett Marden. He talks of an Air Force pilot and instructor John Boyd.
Boyd says to one of his confused trainees and also to the reader who is sandwiched between integrity and temptations at workplaces:
"If you decide you want to do something, you may not get promoted and you may not get the good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won’t have to compromise yourself. You will be true to your friends and to yourself. And your work might make a difference."
I as a teacher, who is into teaching occupation by choice, have to face a disappointing reality around the world now. Teachers are not teachers - they are just employed individuals who have defined roles and tasks. They are there to ensure compliance and to get things done on time and in the prescribed manner. Education was not supposed to go this way. We say that education makes us wise and a wise man will never let things get taken for granted. The reality is otherwise now. We are not allowed to expand the classroom beyond walls. The way the students are educated in this world is not going to help us for long. This is just one concern in the education sector, leave aside the other mountain of apprehensions.
We can look for such success failures all around us in any domain of work - be it business, or innovation or the service sector. Shortcuts have become the smartest things to do.
I as a teacher, who is into teaching occupation by choice, have to face a disappointing reality around the world now. Teachers are not teachers - they are just employed individuals who have defined roles and tasks. They are there to ensure compliance and to get things done on time and in the prescribed manner. Education was not supposed to go this way. We say that education makes us wise and a wise man will never let things get taken for granted. So, we need to inculcate that sense of fundamental human intelligence among kids who shall be taking an exit to a challenging future than us.
While we keep on debating on the To or To Do question, there comes a valid point to support the argument in favour of performing your duty where we see that 'a man is worked upon by what he works on". If we will engage in wrongdoings, the same will return to us as well. It is the law of attraction and the whole cosmos works on the same premise.
We should talk and practice the ancient mantra of self-less Karma. Being selfish is not the way we shall see personal growth. If we do not grow as a person, there is no growth of money or designations. As an individual at your workplace or even in society, you will see that there are hundreds of people you see as not deserving of the rewards or privileges. But, you need to accept the reality that they must have done something or served some other reason to reach there.
The real impact is possible when we prefer to KEEP DOING OUR WORK and ensure that the disappointments or ignorance of others do not harm our grip on our minds.
Note what Ryan Holiday has documented:
"Who do you want to be in life?"
"What is it that I want to accomplish in life?"
