Being Over Doing: Resisting the Cult of Speed
Yet there are few things more destructive to authentic human experience than speed. Hurriedness is not the father of wisdom.
Doing things rapidly causes us to devalue them. Then again, perhaps we hurry because we do not value things already. It is not normal to want to rush something beautiful or important, something you love. Only unimportant things are rushed, and it says a great deal about the modern mindset that we want everything from conversations to food preparation to be nearly instant.
Life is not a race to be completed but a journey to be savored. Yet, most of us are too busy to frantically fidgeting to really know the essence of anything. We rush from here to there, never stopping to assess why we do what we do—and missing a great many things along the way. Moreover, we accumulate things more quickly than we can enjoy them, valuing the process of getting more than what we get. But what is the point of having more if we appreciate it less?
Speed is the enemy of contemplation. The happiest people on earth are those who accomplish the least but experience the most. From the popular perspective, perhaps, they are wasting their lives and potential. They could be doing so much more. For the entire value of the human person is now measured by his or her output and productivity—by his or her market value. But the truly wise know that being is more important than doing. We are not measured by what we can produce, but who we are.
A rapid pace of living leads to a shallowness of experience, and it extinguishes the one thing we owe God above all—humbly grateful praise. If we see all of life as a chore to be completed or an obstacle to put behind us as quickly as possible, we will never truly appreciate anything. And if we appreciate nothing, we will arrive at the end of our days exhausted and embittered, with little to look back upon with grateful hearts.
We must resist the cult of speed, for it degrades our humanity. We are not automatons or processing units. We are human. We are living souls—dust of the earth brought mystically to life with the divine breath. Our value is not measurable by statistics of consumption or production. We are creatures made to gaze at the world like children,wide-eyed with wonder. We are creatures made to praise.
Take time and slow down. Invest yourself in what you do, whether it be working or playing, eating or praying. Notice and give attention and concentrate. For appreciation is the wellspring of joy and thanksgiving, and appreciation is the fruit of patient and attentive experience.
If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing slowly.