The balance between thinking and doing?

[Modera]

One of the things that I have been thinking about recently is that this problem is more difficult than normally credited with. What do I mean? There seems to be a tension here. I find that in everyday practice, although the realms of action and thought are deeply intertwined, they are also sometimes at cross-purposes.

While I feel that I should give every decision it's proper degree of thought, and make appropriate plans for the future; this thinking can itself become an arduous process and paralyze any concrete action. At the same time, while simply doing things usually yields new understandings and solutions, one can never entirely transcend the fear that without thought one is moving blindly...

Are these more general problems or something merely I have to contend with? What do you all think? How do you find the balance in your lives between deliberation and practice?

 

[googoos0ng]

Well, finding a balance between thoughts and action is one of the hardest purposes ever. Sometimes we get lost in our thoughts, unable to find the way of giving them a direction on actions. At the same time, some people act without a line, without any purpose, and most of them get to regret it and be unhappy as they have just "done". Dostoevsky used to say that there are two kind of people, thinkers and people of action. Thinkers never act, never get to choose and their thoughts paralize their actions. People of action, instead, are the happy ones, because they do and do and do, without questioning about anything. I admire him as he has lifted important questions, but i don't agree so much with his thought. I think we can find a balance between action and thoughts, but it takes very strong efforts. My idea is that sometimes we are just too lazy and "flabby" to be detarminated and get where we do really want to go.

 

[JessiFox]

I do have a lot of trouble with this- then you complicate it even further by considering that in some instances...for certain professions, goals, and lifestyles, thinking IS doing. Or at least it can be. Brainstorming, thought experiments, writing...there are plenty of examples. So it all depends on what kind of person you are and what you need to get done, sometimes it can be beneficial to "live your life in your head" a bit more than other people might understand.