The Evolution of the ‘Have-Do-Be’ Paradigm

The way you live your life; the mode through which you approach your reality is a signature of your paradigm; it is the embodiment of the big idea you have about you and the reality round about you. Along the path of growth and self awareness your paradigm goes through and evolutionary process of its own. In this article I wish to discuss the 4 stages of this evolutionary process.

1. Having, Doing and then Being

This is usually the first stage in the evolutionary process of the paradigm; at this stage we are convinced that we must first HAVE something before we can start DOING something for us to BE something. A perfect example would be the logic that we must first have money for us to start doing business for so we can be successful. This is the model that the person at this stage adopts and all efforts and pursuits are aligned accordingly.

Another example is where someone thinks they need to have money so that they begin doing what they have really wanted to do in life for them to be happy. We have all been at this stage and chances are that many of us are still at this stage in some respect. This is not to condemn you in any way; it is just to bring you awareness so you can choose a more empowering paradigm assuming you realize that this current paradigm is not empowering.

As I see it, the downside to this paradigm is that it places Being at the mercy of Having and Doing; it is a way of giving up your power. It places being happy for example, at the mercy of having whatever it is that you think you must have to be happy. But is it really necessary to be waiting until you have for you to be happy, if you can be happy anyway? This model of living is a recipe for postponing happiness.

2. Doing, Having and then Being

From the Have-Do-Be paradigm we seem to naturally progress to the Do-Have-Be paradigm. This is a stage where we begin looking at life with the lens of first DOING something, before we can HAVE something for us to BE something. Using the examples given above, we reconstruct our lives in such a way that we begin doing something for us to have money so we can be happy. While in the Have-Do-Be paradigm our focus is on first having things, in this paradigm our focus shifts to doing things. We become content with the idea that “there is no sweet without sweat.”

This is usually enforced by what we begin reading on goal-setting and goal achievement; we make sure we set goals and become hard on pursuing them. Action becomes the buzz word in this way of life. We are happy as we begin seeing the first fruits of our labor; this propels us for more action; more doing so we can have the fruit of our doing for us to be happy.

The downside to this paradigm is that it leaves being at the mercy of doing and having. We see ourselves as not being until we do and have. This kind of thinking can easily perpetuate our state of “not being” what we want. Plus you can only achieve so much with this paradigm because you are trying to be something that you are currently not mainly through outwards actions which may not be congruent with your inner beliefs and thought patterns. You are putting new wine in old wineskin. You are trying “to be” using a seed that “is not” because at the time of planting you are not; you are planting because you want to be.

3. Being, Doing and then Having

As you move along the path of conscious growth and evolution you begin gaining insight into the true nature of reality; through knowledge and personal experience you learn that you must begin with the end in mind. With this, you focus on being first; you begin focusing on the ultimate experience bringing it into the present without any self imposed prerequisites. From the Do-Have-Be paradigm, you evolve and take on the Be-Do-Have paradigm. Here you are focused on consciously being and then acting (doing) from that state of being for you to manifest (have) whatever it is that you want. If it is money you want, you focus on being happy even before the money comes; this leads you to start doing the things you love and the things that make you happy. Because your doing is motivated by love and because it is acted in the atmosphere of happiness, you become good at doing it. In time, you have all the money and things you need. But throughout all this process you are BEING HAPPY.

As you move further along the path of growth, you come to a startling realization; it dawns on you that you are all; have all and can do all and that it is up to you to choose how you want to be and that all you ever want; all you will ever be and all you will ever do must be in the now or it becomes a “flirting illusion to be pursued but never attained.” At this stage you evolve into the Be-Have-Do paradigm.

4. Being, Having and then Doing

In the Be-Have-Do paradigm, everything proceeds from being; your being-ness becomes the starting point and ending point and the intermediate point of all things. You cease to pursue; you begin to live

At this stage you realize that pursuing your dream; pursuing happiness or pursuing anything is not a better alternative when compared to living your dream and being happy now. Because you are all you can be, you realize that you have all you can have and therefore act from this knowledge in manifesting what you know you already are and already have. This is the realm of real manifestation. You don’t seek to have anything; you seek to manifest everything from the perspective of being.

These are the 4 stages I wanted to share with you in this article; t is important that we know that these paradigms don’t exist in exclusivity; there are not discrete lines in between. The same individual can act from different paradigms on different aspects of their lives, in which case their overall paradigm will be a combination of these paradigms forming a whole different paradigm.