It's not what you do but how you do it.

He's back!
We have always heard that it's important to do your duty. From earliest recollection:
 "Have you done your homework?"; "Did you clean your room?"; "Are you going to do it?"; "I need you to do it ASAP!";
"If you don't eat your meat, how can you have any pudding? How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat? Wrong! Do it again! Wrong! Do it again!"

This last little lyric you might recognize as perhaps the best known words to Pink Floyd's "ALL IN ALL IT'S JUST ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL." And that is precisely what I'm getting at.
The vast majority of doing is done in total unconsciousness. Do you need proof?

Experiment 1: Look at how you do things.
Experiment 2: Look at how others do things.
Conclusion: The vast majority of doing is done in total unconsciousness.

So, do you agree now? Irregardless (ah yes, a favorite Bushism or product of some other uncult and uncouth uncivilization which now appears in our modern vernacular), you will be converted by the end of this post if you read it, which is no given since you might tune out at any moment.

So, getting back to the point, the point is: "it's not that you do, but how you do it."

Certainly, an artiste would understand. Why, isn't artistic creation all about the sublimation and exaltation of the fact that others will see how great I am?

For instance, we greet people every day, sometimes dozens of different people and do we ever ask ourselves how we perform this greeting; that is, with what mood, what attitude, what coloration? In other words, am I conscious of myself when greeting another human being? Do I even notice when I don't greet another human being but simply ignore them because they are outside my little bubble of perception?

And what of the qualitative approach? For example what we write and how we write, is this important? To communicate well, is that important? You wouldn't think so by looking at  people's emails and text messages.And who writes letters anymore? In very fact, I bought some writing paper months ago in order to write some close friends a good, old fashioned missive and have yet to get around to doing so, such is the pull to electronic keyboard entry.

So, the question is: how did we forget that quality is important?  Why do we not see that how we do things is just as important, if not more important, than the act of doing?

I have to cook a meal. Do I have any sense of the attention I can have to preparing this meal?
I have to clean the house. (My personal favorite.) Am I conscious of my mood while I'm working?
I have to get dressed and go to work. Am I aware of how I do this?

I believe you understand my point and I even believe you have your very own questions about the engagement necessary to become more conscious of the how am I in this or that act.

 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. - Galatians 6:7

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. - John 3:18

By their fruits, you shall know them. - Matthew 7:16

 Just so you know, I am not a bible quoting fundamentalist -- quite the contrary (whatever the opposite of a fundamentalist is?) -- but for those who know and understand what I like to call the Qualitative Approach is, the teachings of the Sages are wise.

So here's a Buddhist rendition of it:

Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives. - Will A. Foster 

See film excerpt form Across the Universe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg_uoixTsbY

And with that I bid you Adieu. Please leave a comment, if you please...