The title “BE” reminds me of my philosophy class back in uni. Prof told us this short story.

Exam day. Prof asked his students “using everything you learned in class, prove that this chair doesn’t exist”. Not long after, a student got up, submitted his paper, got perfect marks.

You know what the student wrote in his exam paper?

Nothing. It was a blank piece of paper.

So why did he get perfect marks?

Because if the chair doesn’t exist, then you don’t have to *prove* that it doesn’t exist. It just doesn’t.

I loved that class a lot because I learned so much from that from. One of my favorites will be our discussions on existence.

Why do I exist?
What is my purpose?
Do I matter?
Do I *really* exist?

But here’s the thing.
You’re a human being.

You are “be”-ing.

We all know Shakespeare’s famous line, “To be or not to be? That is the question.”

The fact that you ask yourself these already prove that you exist. A non-being can’t question itself because it doesn’t exist.

When you give thought to your “being” then you are already “be”-ing.

Now if we take that idea in the context of this “new normal” that we are in, the pandemic and the quarantine and the impact these have had on our daily lives, we may find ourselves asking, “Are we still living? Do I still matter? What’s my purpose now?”

As someone in the field of psychology, we’ve seen a spike in developing mental health concerns because of the pandemic. Those who’ve had pre-existing concerns have seen their symptoms get worse.

Apart from the lives lost, it’s the isolation that has taken a toll on people.

People have lost loved ones, jobs, and the sense of normalcy since the pandemic happened. It’s easy to feel that we’ve lost our sense of identity because in many ways, this pandemic has stripped us of a lot of things that defined our “normal“.

Those feelings are very much valid.

I’m not psychic, but I feel like the new album will be something along those lines. Our boys want to send us a message of healing and hope, and what better way than to remind us that despite everything, life goes on, we are valid, we are loved, we have a purpose, we matter.

Btw, Carl Jung never said “I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become”.

The actual quote is actually more of just “be”-ing rather than actively choosing or creating.

“It is not I who create myself, rather I happen to myself.”
⤑ C.G. Jung, CW 11, Para 391

On happiness, Jung said...

“The more you deliberately seek happiness the more sure you are not to find it. It is therefore far better to take things as they come along, with patience and equanimity.”
⤑ C.G. Jung

Happiness and “you” just happen to you.

You just “BE” https://twitter.com/jessikatsu/status/1284482608194154497