Things to act

Things to act, and things to be acted upon

This is a post I've been meaning to write for a long time. I've hesitated because it discusses such a huge, deep subject that I haven't known where to begin. And, like Haruki Murakami says, when you put something profound into ordinary words, it loses its magic and seems silly and hollow. Anyway, here's a stab at it, so wish me luck.

What I've been meaning to talk about revolves around agency, and how we use it. Agency, from my perspective, is defined as the freedom and capacity to choose, to make choices. It may sound simple, and we almost always take it for granted. But it happens to be, in my book, the second most fundamental principle of the universe – the first being love itself.

So what is it about agency I want to discuss? Well, it's how we use it – or rather don't use it – that matters. The basic idea is this: agency is about making choices, but too often we don't. Rather than deliberately choosing how we want to live our lives, we simply react to forces around us. The reason this is a problem is that using agency is the key to just about everything good in life. Or, at the very least, it is an important ingredient in just about everything in life that has real value.

Everything in the universe can be roughly placed in one of two groups: those possessing agency and those without it. And among those possessing agency, every creature can be placed on a scale ranging from least to greatest degree of freedom. There are, in other words, “things to act,” and “things to be acted upon,” in the words of an ancient American prophet.

Human beings clearly fall into the category of those with agency: we have the capacity and freedom to make our own choices, limited though we may be by a host of structural forces, from the laws of physics to authoritarian regimes. All too often, however, we behave not as “things to act,” but more like “things to be acted upon.” What I mean is that we all too often let ourselves be acted upon by outside forces, and our lives become controlled and defined by them. We spend our lives reacting, rather than acting.

I know this is personally true in my own life. Constantly fearful of letting people down, or failing to come through on things I have promised others I would do, I spend a good deal of my time reacting to the demands of others. In school, for instance, I did homework and studied for tests primarily because I felt that signing up for a class was a commitment on my part to do everything the professor asked. I therefore felt I was reacting to my professors' demands and expectations, rather than acting for my own benefit. Instead, I should have studied because I chose to, because I wanted to learn. That would have been a much more satisfying way to approach my studies.

There are lots of problems with reacting instead of acting. The first that comes to my mind is that reactions are based almost always on fear, rather than hope. So if reaction is our primary mode of living, we are allowing fear to rule our lives and make our decisions for us. None of us wants that to be the case, but it happens all too easily – by default, in fact.

The second, and perhaps most important, is that the active use of agency is essential to personal growth, happiness, and progress. We cannot overcome our weaknesses and start becoming who we want to be without actively using our agency. We have to choose what we want for ourselves, then go out and make it happen. Reaction, on the other hand, means passively waiting around for external forces to buffet us from one forced decision to another.

An astute reader might ask, “but isn't the decision to study for tests the same, whether or not you did it in reaction to the demands of another or because you chose to do so for yourself? Aren't you studying in either case?” Very true. And I did well in school, despite a less than maximal use of agency. There is an important difference, however, even though it is often hard to distinguish from the outside.

From my perspective, there are two kinds of actions: deliberate and undeliberate. The first I call “choices” and the second “reactions.” The difference lies in the heart of the agent (the one possessing agency and engaging in action). A choice reflects inner desire, intention, hope. A reaction reflects little, other than a decision (probably made unconsciously) not to use agency; and, of course, fear.

In my opinion this internal difference, the decision to use or neglect agency, is a crucial turning-point on which our mortal lives hinge. Those of us who decide to actively use our agency to realize our desires (for ourselves, others, and the world) will unlock an immense source of power and will go much further towards realizing our potential than those who do not. Worst of all, if we default on our use of agency, we may go through this life without even discovering what it is we want, or who we are. That, in my mind, would truly be a tragedy.

Our immense endowment of agency is what sets us humans apart from everything else in the universe. The key to using it is to be deliberate. To live deliberately. Don't live life from day to day, reacting to needs, demands, and fears. If you do something, choose to do it. And know the reason why you are doing it. If you honestly can't find a reason, or don't agree that it is valid, have the courage not to do it. Instead, choose to do something more worth while.

Key questions I ask myself are

• Why am I doing this? Is it something I really want to be doing?
• Am I doing this because someone else wants me to? Or because I choose to?
• How deliberately am I living my life?

Don't misunderstand: living deliberately doesn't mean living selfishly. On the contrary, doing things for other people is one of the greatest sources of happiness you can find. The difference lies in the reason behind your action: are you doing it because you fear to offend someone by saying no? Or because you want to serve them because you love them? One is a reaction, the other a choice. The guiding principle is that conscious choices are likely to lead us to happiness, whereas reactions will likely not.

This dichotomy of action and reaction, of acting or being acted upon, will start cropping up everywhere you look, once you wrap your mind around it. Above all, as you start to notice it in your own life, you will be presented with the opportunity to reclaim your agency – a God-given birthright that only you can take away from you.

This principle will also start cropping up in my posts. I've wanted to mention it many times before now, but held off until I wrote this article.

I'll end with the words of the same ancient American prophet who first drew my attention to the concept. Before he died, he said to his sons, “Awake... arise from the dust and be men.” Shifting from reaction to a deliberate, action-centered life is a lot like waking up – waking up to the reality of our potential. May the inspired, wise words of this prophet be a wake-up call for all of us.