Another angle on this question of ’doing’. Man cannot ’do’, in his usual state - it’s a complete illusion. He doesn’t do - ’it’ does. A person might see that and say: “Well, no wonder I don’t have such a high regard for myself. I don’t know what I’m doing, I really don’t have control over it. So, I don’t really feel very proud.”

Now, let’s say a person had a more thoughtful background and was able to understand some of what is written here. Look - there are three major elements in ’doing’, relative to a ’conscious being’.

1) Why are you doing it.

2) What are you doing.

3) What ’state’ are you in when you are doing it.

Everyone says ‘yeah’, but they can only see up to their own level of experiencing. You can observe how, when you want to do something, and then you go to do it, but you don’t do it! Or, you decide something the night before, and you get up in the morning and even the thought of it is gone. Or, you say you’ll never do something again and the next time you bump into a similar situation, you do the exact same thing. So you begin to see the gap between your intentions and your action. This is, maybe, the most obvious level of ‘man cannot do’.

Again, in the Work it is said:

At the mechanical level, ‘it’ does. You can, more or less, understand that. But Work Ideas have a density of meaning - even if they also stand-up simply as common sense.

What a person is capable of doing or responding to on the outside is relative to where and what they are inside.

What can you do other than come from the very best you've got, and realize your limitations? You can only reach that point by fully using what you've got. Use your best as if there's no tomorrow. You still need explanations? Someone has to tell you that you're living in hell? There's no time for delay.

No matter how you twist and turn it, it brings us back to the Work. When you attempt to 'do the Work' even somewhat awkwardly, at least you're not in your usual mechanics. Work requires a conscious effort. And, in order to make that kind of effort you must be, to some degree, awake. When you're only in the mechanics it's all just happening and nothing clear can be gained. YOU were not there to gain, and retain, in Understanding.

To do something that has meaning to you, to experiment intelligently, to ponder, to try something that you think would be useful in real terms requires conscious-effort. For that, you have to be present.

Why are you doing what you are doing?

Because you 'have to'?

Do you 'have to' in order to GET SOMETHING, or merely to 'stay out of trouble'?