Are You LIVING? Or are You Living?

Daily Meditation — 4/13/2022

I feed a great number of animals at my house. The rabbits in the evenings are my favorites.

They enjoy scarfing up the remnant seeds left from the birds and squirrels during the day.

As a truck goes roaring by, the skittish rabbits run away and are remiss to come back.

However, the “bolder” ones lay low, waiting…
Then they keep eating. Sometimes, they play or chase one another attempting to mate as well!

Rabbits can be a good allegory, here.

The cautious rabbits live…

The bold rabbits live.

There is an enormous difference between surviving and living.

You have a child.
They are perfectly normal and healthy in nearly every way — they go to school and do well, are gregarious and well liked, and you have regular check ups for them.

At the playground, you float around them physically or with words:

“Be careful!”
“Oh, honey — don’t do that…”
“I don’t want you on the jungle gym. The fall could hurt you.”

They’re a child — no matter what, they will find a way to enjoy their time!

But, are you letting them live? Are you allowing them the room to make minor errors from which they may learn?

It is the same for us.

We fastidiously worry about minutiae like illness from public places, if a piece of fruit comes from organic farms, or if our hair is sitting just right…

We are living.
But at the same time, we are zombies!

We are no better than hungry chickens in a barnyard, spending our hours scratching and pecking for a small morsel, working arduously for such a small thing…

You’re overweight, smoking or drinking every day…
Why are you concerned about catching a cold? About organic fruit? About your hair? You have bigger concerns.

Life is meant for living.

Quit lying to yourself about how you’re spending your time.
Quit lying to yourself about the condition of your body.
Quit lying to yourself about how busy you are, keeping you from flourishing relationships.
Quit lying to yourself about your drinking problem or other addictions.
Quit lying to yourself about your poor financial stability.
Quit lying to yourself about your skills and mastery.

You’ve made all these goals, exclaimed all these dreams, but you lie to yourself.
Quit living in a manner inconsistent with these visions!

Are you living?

Or are you just surviving?

Follow for daily philosophical meditations.

These are distillations from my coming book “YouDaimonia: the Ancient Philosophy of Human Flourishing.”