Doing Nothing

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing."

-- Gertrude Stein

We're a culture obsessed with doing. Doing this, doing that, grabbing every new experience, and doing it all fast! But any moron can do. Doing is the easiest thing in the world. What is difficult is not to do.

Doing nothing, just Being, puts most people to sleep. Or drives them crazy. But it is only in doing nothing that new ways of seeing emerge.

That's all that genius is, really -- seeing the same things that all of us see in new and different ways, seeing the world through eyes unfiltered by cultural assumptions and unconsciously shared beliefs. Doing nothing allows a new way of seeing to emerge from a deeper part of ourselves, from a space that has not been conditioned, programmed and cajoled to accept consensus reality. 

The thing is, the terms we usually apply to people who do nothing are pejorative, not complimentary. We call them lazy, shiftless, bums, rather than budding geniuses. We try and shame them into taking action, any action, in part to make ourselves feel better about our endless busyness. If we're always on the run they should be, too, dammit!

There are no wimpy geniuses. It takes real strength to resist doing for doing sake. Sometimes it just easier to do something, even if only to get others off your back! Choosing not doing when appropriate, (i.e. much of the time) takes a willingness to ignore the opinions of others and instead look deeper into yourself. It takes a person who can break unconscious behavior patterns and violate culture norms without laying a hug guilt trip on them self.

But here's the thing -- we all have a bit of genius, or at least potential genius, within is. We just need to quit trying so damn hard! Do nothing. Let genius emerge. Sit around on the patio, in the Lazy Boy recliner, in the bathtub, or under a shade tree. Sit and Be. Be the genius you were meant to be. Don't "Just do it!" Just Be it.