{"id":473,"date":"2009-11-20T21:17:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-20T21:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be\/"},"modified":"2009-11-20T21:17:00","modified_gmt":"2009-11-20T21:17:00","slug":"just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be.html","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Just Be&#8221; vs. &#8220;Be All You Can Be&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>Via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alternet.org\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">AlterNet<\/a>, here\u2019s an essay titled \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.alternet.org\/politics\/143684\/our_produce-or-die_culture_is_killing_us_--_and_we%27re_idiotically_grinning_and_bearing_it?obref=obnetwork\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Our Produce-or-Die Culture Is Killing Us \u2014 And We\u2019re Idiotically Grinning and Bearing It<\/a>\u201d by Joe Bageant.  His thoughts are summed up toward the end, where he says \u201c<em>the truth is that we are all very commonly issued products of a profit driven workhouse where no human commons is allowable, lest the workers find meaning and joy in each other as human beings, and perhaps become less work driven, less productive and less profitable.<\/em>\u201d  His point is that we should quit striving to get ahead in the material world and just be.  He has a valid point.<\/p>\n<p>And yet, for some of us (maybe many of us), that desire to do something more than \u201cjust be\u201d remains.  As good Pagans, we\u2019ve come to understand that there is much to enjoy in the natural, material world, even though we know we\u2019ll never find ultimate fulfillment in it.  For some of us, there is a strong desire to do something uniquely and importantly helpful.<\/p>\n<p>Do we find that by peering behind the veil and bringing back knowledge of the Otherworld?  Do we find it by building a better world here and now?  We can find it by doing ordinary things extraordinarily well, but what of those of us with a thirst for doing extraordinary things?   And how do we concentrate on those extraordinary things while living in the same \u201cproduce or die culture\u201d that Bagent rants against???<\/p>\n<p>So many questions, so few answers.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Via AlterNet, here\u2019s an essay titled \u201cOur Produce-or-Die Culture Is Killing Us \u2014 And We\u2019re Idiotically Grinning and Bearing It\u201d by Joe Bageant. His thoughts are summed up toward the end, where he says \u201cthe truth is that we are all very commonly issued products of a profit driven workhouse where no human commons is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&quot;Just Be&quot; vs. &quot;Be All You Can Be&quot;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Via AlterNet, here&#039;s an essay titled &quot;Our Produce-or-Die Culture Is Killing Us -- And We&#039;re Idiotically Grinning and Bearing It&quot; by Joe Bageant. His\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;Just Be&quot; vs. &quot;Be All You Can Be&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Via AlterNet, here&#039;s an essay titled &quot;Our Produce-or-Die Culture Is Killing Us -- And We&#039;re Idiotically Grinning and Bearing It&quot; by Joe Bageant. His\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-11-20T21:17:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be.html\",\"name\":\"\\\"Just Be\\\" vs. \\\"Be All You Can Be\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-11-20T21:17:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-11-20T21:17:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\"},\"description\":\"Via AlterNet, here's an essay titled \\\"Our Produce-or-Die Culture Is Killing Us -- And We're Idiotically Grinning and Bearing It\\\" by Joe Bageant. His\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"&#8220;Just Be&#8221; vs. &#8220;Be All You Can Be&#8221;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"description\":\"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Beckett\"},\"description\":\"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. Wandering through them gave me a sense of connection to Nature and to a certain Forest God. I\u2019m a Druid graduate of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, the Coordinating Officer of the Denton Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans and a former Vice President of CUUPS Continental. I\u2019ve been writing, speaking, teaching, and leading public rituals for the past eleven years. I live in the Dallas \u2013 Fort Worth area and I earn my keep as an engineer.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/author\/johnbeckett\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Just Be\" vs. \"Be All You Can Be\"","description":"Via AlterNet, here's an essay titled \"Our Produce-or-Die Culture Is Killing Us -- And We're Idiotically Grinning and Bearing It\" by Joe Bageant. His","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Just Be\" vs. \"Be All You Can Be\"","og_description":"Via AlterNet, here's an essay titled \"Our Produce-or-Die Culture Is Killing Us -- And We're Idiotically Grinning and Bearing It\" by Joe Bageant. His","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be.html","og_site_name":"John Beckett","article_published_time":"2009-11-20T21:17:00+00:00","author":"John Beckett","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Beckett","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be.html","name":"\"Just Be\" vs. \"Be All You Can Be\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-11-20T21:17:00+00:00","dateModified":"2009-11-20T21:17:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad"},"description":"Via AlterNet, here's an essay titled \"Our Produce-or-Die Culture Is Killing Us -- And We're Idiotically Grinning and Bearing It\" by Joe Bageant. His","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/11\/just-be-vs-be-all-you-can-be.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"&#8220;Just Be&#8221; vs. &#8220;Be All You Can Be&#8221;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/","name":"John Beckett","description":"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad","name":"John Beckett","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"John Beckett"},"description":"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. Wandering through them gave me a sense of connection to Nature and to a certain Forest God. I\u2019m a Druid graduate of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, the Coordinating Officer of the Denton Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans and a former Vice President of CUUPS Continental. I\u2019ve been writing, speaking, teaching, and leading public rituals for the past eleven years. I live in the Dallas \u2013 Fort Worth area and I earn my keep as an engineer.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/author\/johnbeckett"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}