Why Humans Don’t Take Action

A person attends a guru’s lecture.

The guru says X, Y, and Z.

A person orders a book

Or information product from an expert.

The product remains in the plastic

Forever unopened.

The guru’s,

The experts,

And one’s family and friends

Make a statement to the person.

It is a statement

That has been uttered so often

It has become a permanent fixture

In the world of self-help,

Self-development,

And spirituality.

It is a statement that has been propagated

Throughout every culture

Of the modern world.

The statement is this:

You Listen But Do Not Act.

Other forms of the statement are:

Did You Do The Exercises?

Did You Practice What He Said To Do?

Did You Do The Work?

Why is it the case

That humans do not act?

This is a question

That no one has ever asked.

The reason they have never asked it

Is because they believe they know the answer.

The guru’s, experts, friends, and family

Who utter this statement

Are making a point.

The point they are making is,

You Are Lazy.

You simply go there and listen.

You have to do ‘the work.’

You have to practice what was said.

You have to do the exercises.

It is not about listening,

It is about taking action.

And you are too lazy

To do it.

This is not such an unreasonable assumption.

Is ‘laziness’ the Truth?

A more interesting question

Fails to be asked.

It is lost

Somewhere amidst the finger-wagging,

The judgment,

And the reprimanding.

That question is:

The guru, the expert, and the family or friend

Has apparently been doing ‘the work,’

And taking action,

And doing the exercises,

And doing the practice.

Have they achieved

What they set out to achieve?

Has the work

And the practice

And the action

Given them what they seek?

If not,

Has it even given them some healthy percentage

Of what they seek?

If the person who does not act,

Does not practice,

And does not do the work . . .

Does not get the results,

It may be said that he is a fool.

But what may be said

Of the person who takes the action,

Does the work,

Does the practice,

And still gets nowhere?

Does this not make him

A double fool?

At least the first ‘fool’

Conserved his energy.

And did nothing

To get nothing.

The second fool

Wasted his energy,

Wasted years of his life,

And did everything

To get nothing.

An argument could be made

That the one who didn’t do the work

Is the smartest of the bunch.

Why do people

Not take action?

Laziness?

If a man was told

That there is a million dollars guaranteed to him

Sitting under a tree that is 37 miles away,

And that the last 12 miles he would have to travel on foot,

Even the ‘laziest’ of the bunch,

Would go.

Therefore,

Laziness is not the answer.

Then why do people

Not take action?

People do not take action

Because they do not really Want It.

People do not take action

Because somewhere inside themself

They recognize that what the guru or expert is saying

Is Fluff.

They likely recognize

That guru’s and experts

Have been making fools out of people

For centuries.

Some of what they say may contain a grain or two of reality

But it is embedded in such nonsense,

And it is so impractical and pie-in-the-sky,

That listening to it

Provides enough of an entertainment,

A soothing,

A pick-me-up,

And a day’s good deed.

Something within the human

Can detect

When a man words are True,

Serious,

Sincere,

And Genuine.

There seem to be receptors for this

Within the human organism.

The bottom line is:

The guru and the expert

Is just preaching,

And the human does not liked to be preached to.

The bottom line is:

The guru and the expert

Is talking about fancy things that make him sound smart

And the human can see right through him.

(He is not as dumb as everyone makes him out to be).

The bottom line is:

The guru and the expert

Is just speaking platitudes

And while it’s nice to hear them once in a while,

Hearing it is enough of an ointment for the month.

The bottom line is:

The guru and the expert

Is putting on a show, a concert, an event,

And the human needs a dose of entertainment.

And the more jokes the guru or expert tells,

And the more he provides an opportunity to cheer, hoot, and holler

The more lively the experience it will be.

Acting upon what experts and guru’s say

Is useless.

Because they aren’t saying anything.

They haven’t said anything

For the last seven hundred years.