Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
New Visions
Why Being is Enough

Why Being is Enough

Last updated on: June 20, 2021 at 1:17 pm by Karl J. Forehand

Why Being is Enough 2021-06-20T13:17:39-06:00 Karl J. Forehand

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Mandarin Characters that mean “exist.”

I’m working on my next tattoo. A lot of people can’t believe I have even one tattoo, but the one I have is important to me! It looks like this,

真實

It is the traditional Mandarin characters for authentic. If you know anything about my new book Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity, there are two ideas that are very important to me: Being who we are (authenticity) and being where we are (presence).

When I turned 50, and entered the second half of my life, I decided to get the first tattoo and commit myself to being authentic for the rest of my life. I was so thrilled to hear people at the book release for my new book describe me as real and authentic. It was the best possible thing they could say about me.

But now I want to get the other tattoo. In addition to being authentic, I also want to be present. So, I started talking to my son and his friend in Taiwan. They use the traditional characters that I like and I appreciate their input. I don’t want to end up like Elaine, on the Seinfeld show, with a soup tattoo so I am consulting with experts. This is the other half of my life mantra and I wanted it to be right.

The following is what we decided on. It is pronounced Cúnzài and is closely related to being present.

存在

The literal meaning of the word might actually be exist, which discouraged me a little at first. I thought to myself, “Is that close enough to what I want to portray?”

As I wrote my latest book, Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity, I thought a lot about the two times in the Bible when I remembered the Father and Jesus describing themselves. When Moses said to to God in essence, “Who should I say sent me?” and God describes himself by saying “Tell them ‘I am’ has sent you.” Translated as “I am” in English, the Hebrew word hayah could easily be translated as “I come to pass.” It’s as much about becoming as it is about being. This presence of God – this being and becoming — is one of the things I hold on to.

Later, in the New Testament, Jesus words were recorded in Greek. In response to the Jews, Jesus tells them, “Before Abraham was, I am (ego eime). This phrase literally means, “I exist.”

When I think about being and becoming ( or being present and being authentic), I think about these Hebrew and Greek phrases often. And then today I came back to them once again when I researched the Mandarin word that supposedly is the best fit for being present only to find it means to exist.

Somehow my body and soul long to be authentic, but it seems they also need to understand that existing is not only enough, but is what will bring me ultimately to a better path of being and becoming.

I say to other people, “Be where you are, be who you are,” as I travel this journey of discovery. The thing I keep discovering over and over is the same thing other journeyers have discovered before me. Presence and authenticity are not only enough, they are possibly 2 of very few things that matter enough to pursue.

So, once again, I simply leave you with this simple hope.

Be where you are, be who you,

Karl Forehand

Previous Post

June 15, 2021

The Pain We All Must Face

Next Post

July 2, 2021 Spiritual Bypassing

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abuse Addiction Advent adventure Alpha Male Animals Answers Attachment Attitude authenticity Authenticty Authentiicity Awareness being Bible Black Community BLM body awarenss book Books Bravery Bullying Bypassing Certainty Certianty Chamge change children Christianity Christmas Church Comfort community Compaasion Compassion Complementarian Complementarianism Conditioning Consciousness Contemplation Control Conversation Converstations Covid-19 Creation Darkness Death Debate deconstruction demons depression desert Devil Disciples discussion Divine dreams Easter Eclipse Empathy Essence evolution evolve faith fatherhood Fear fiction Flood Focus Focusing Focussing Future Genesis Goals God Gratitude grief growth Guns Hate healing Health Heart Hell Holiday Hypnosis ignorance Improvement infallible Inner Child Integrity Intuition Jesus Jezebel Journey King LGBTQ+ Love MAGA Marriage meditation Men Mercy Message metaphysical Mindfulness Misogyny Mourning Music Mystic mystical Narcissism Nationalism Nature New Year Novel Nutrition Organization other Pain Pandemic parenting Pastors Patriarchy Patriotism Personal Growth Plan Poet poets Police politics Power practice praise Prayer presence pro-life Problem Solving Progress prolife Prophet prophets Purity Culture Purpose Queer Questions Racism Rape Rapture reconstruction Recovery Religion Resolutions Restoration Resurrection Retribution Reviews Root Cause Sanctuary Satan SBC Scripture Seeking Self-Care Self-esteem Seminary Sex Shadow shame social justice social media solitude Spirits Spirituality stillness Story Survivor Thanksgiving Theologians Theology Tradition Trauma travel Trump Uncategorized Unchurching Universe Violence Vision Voice Volunteer Vulnerability War Women Word worship Writing

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does Paul say we see now as in a mirror dimly, but will one day see face to face?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Heaven Christ Knowledge God

Books by This Author Books by The Desert Sanctuary

See All Titles »