Posted by Michael Finkelstein | July 12th, 2018

How are You…How’s Your Being?

When I greet someone, or they greet me, it’s not uncommon for the question, “how are you?” to be heard. It’s polite and often a reflexive greeting that makes sense on the most basic level. Similarly, on the most basic level, it’s typical to hear a response such as, “fine” or “good”. This is often the end of that conversation; and then we move on to another subject, like the weather, or the business at hand. Not such a big deal.

But, there is another greeting that I think we could adopt that would offer a profound shift in the way we could treat these encounters, and in so doing, more fully experience ourselves. Beneath the mundane question, indeed, beyond the mundane walk through our lives, there’s a deeper condition; one that’s literally dying to be brought to the surface–the essence of our being. As human beings, in fact, this is not simply a play on words. As beings trapped in a world where the verb doing has replaced the state of being, there’s a world of difference that a simple greeting could help us recover.

I want to give thanks for this insight to one of the Men in our circle, who brought this up in our last gathering in the SunRaven Tipi. Immediately once he shared his new practice it struck me as one worthy of a MoonLetter. Not only do we need such a reminder as individuals, but collectively, there is an opportunity here to help each other and our world more broadly. It is therefore my intention to begin to consider this question, whether I am asked or not, as part of my own practice. And, I would offer the idea for you to pick it up as well, inviting those you meet along the path to go deeper as a way to elevate the consciousness of the world. Indeed, while the business of living and surviving is necessary for much of the time, we won’t get to where we really want to be if we don’t regularly consider our beingness right now.

Mitakuye Oyasin,
Michael