Alive & Living

What is living? What, in the individual, constitutes life? To be full of life, is to be in motion, but not in avoidance of stillness which is also a natural inclination of life. To be alive is to be a participant in life, in its many facets. This may take form of creating a call to action, or this may take form of answering such a call. It may take form of self discovery or it make take form of outward communication & community. Life is a condition of all beings, but living is reserved for those that not only ride the currents but also leave ripples or waves in their wake. The transient nature of life dictates that even the participant, by nature of his participation, is included and indeed a part of this transitory thing. Being alive is a phase of life but does not on its own encompass the full scope of life. Everything is temporary, meaning that phases come in and out of being. So that, no longer being is no more than having been. “To be or not to be” that is the question, but in answering that question, one finds that the act of choosing dictates the chose by limiting it to the unlimited, to be. By virtue of having chosen [to be] one chooses [not to be] as well. This is the truth, because change is constant. That which comes into being must come out of being and in this relationship it will be forever. This constancy of change speaks not only to the temporal reality in which we live, but in consciousness & knowing which cycle universally, ad infinitum. Given all of this,  and bearing in mind the perpetual tendency and underlying pull towards equilibrium; when living, we must balance that which we are giving, with what we are given, getting, or let in… for there is a major difference between being alive and living.