Life and Living Are Not the Same

Life and living are easy to collapse.

A concise distinction attributed in the source to Werner Erhard separates them: life is what is present; living is our interaction with it.

The wording is simple.

Its usefulness appears when something is not working.

A circumstance belongs to life as we encounter it.

Our speaking, choosing, relating, acting, resisting, accepting, and responding belong to living.

The distinction does not make us sovereign over circumstances.

It identifies where participation enters.

Without that separation, a difficulty in living can feel like a verdict on life itself.

Once separated, another question becomes available.

This is what is here.

How am I living with it?

Sometimes life changes because of what we do.

Sometimes it does not.

Living is still the domain in which our engagement occurs.