Richard Barrett posed this question in a recent article, and it got me thinking. In his article (available on Substack) he says that ‘action is making the invisible visible’ and with this I agree.
Of course, there are many steps between the connection with the invisible and the materialising of that into action. Or at least there should be, but we are all very conditioned to fast action often missing the other steps such as seeking understanding, reflecting, connecting more fully on an inner level and so on.
So, what is action? What’s the point of action and why are we all so fixated on it?
At a fundamental level action is Humanity’s way of being part of the vast creative process that governs our world. It’s a natural part of evolution and we are wired to act. It’s in our DNA. We are a fundamental player in the game of life. In action, like all things in this vast beautiful life we are living, there is an innate balance – or again there could be. In this case the balance would include identifying right action which returns us to more contemplation and consideration – before acting.
In the world of work, action is prized far more than contemplation – this creates imbalance. It creates risk and it creates an inner disharmony for many. Seeking balance between action and reflection, between pressure to ‘do’ and the opportunity to ‘be’ brings us into our true expression of action – action that we might call ‘considered action’ or ‘thoughtful action’. Yes it slows the pace on one level and on another it could be saving endless lower quality reworking or repetition.
In truth it connects us with a much greater creative potential – one where we use that impulse to act in service of something much greater than the repetitive, auto-reflex action that so many executives and their teams seem caught in these days.
And creativity feeds the soul creating a virtuous circle in which the quality of the work is amplified, and who doesn’t want that?