This cover represents Being as the ground of living, showing an open doorway and a deeply rooted tree as symbols of self-discovery, inner rootedness, and outward expression.
Being — The Ground of Living brings together twelve poems exploring the ground beneath our changing identities and expressions.
This is the first book in the FGI Poems Series, a collection of ten series with twelve poems in each series. The poems emerge from Feel Good Infinity’s ongoing independent research on human potential.
We learn to introduce ourselves through names, roles, abilities, and achievements. Over time, these introductions can begin to answer a deeper question for us: Who am I? Yet a name can fall from a door while someone remains inside. A thought can say “I” and pass away while someone remains to hear it. A costume can be removed while life continues beyond the character it announced.
Through familiar objects: a door, a window, a hammer, a cup, a ladder, a tree, etc. - the first series brings deeper questions into everyday experience.
The poems draw upon six interconnected movements: Recognition, Longing, Understanding, Instrument Mastery, Self Mastery and Living. These movements appear through images, encounters, pauses, and discoveries.
The series invites the reader to encounter Being as the ground from which learning, work, relationships, and contribution can unfold.
What This Book is About
This book explores Being and its relationship with becoming. Becoming includes the names, roles, skills, achievements, and identities that take shape through life. Being points towards the Self—the deeper ground that is not exhausted by those changing expressions. The poems examine how we become identified with a name, a thought, an expectation, or a role. They also explore longing, the direction of effort, the refinement of our instruments, openness, inner steadiness, and participation in life.
Across the book, the inquiry moves towards a central possibility: becoming can be the fruit of Being, with roles and capabilities available for meaningful contribution.
Who This Book is For
Readers drawn to poetry that opens deeper questions through simple images.
Individuals exploring who they are beyond names, roles, and achievements.
Students and young people questioning the direction of their becoming.
Professionals whose work or position has become closely tied to their identity.
Educators, parents, and mentors exploring human potential beyond performance.
People interested in the relationship between inner understanding and outward participation.
Anyone who wants to pause, observe, and encounter familiar experiences differently.
Problems This Book Addresses
Life can become centred on what we do, achieve, or appear to be, while the question of who we are remains unexplored. This book addresses situations such as:
Feeling defined by names, roles, achievements, or other people’s recognition.
Continually trying to become “enough” through comparison, approval, or accomplishment.
Becoming absorbed in thoughts and expectations without examining what they say about oneself.
Putting effort into learning and work without clarity about direction or purpose.
Struggling to remain open, listen deeply, or respond flexibly when life changes.
Measuring the meaning of participation and contribution mainly through acknowledgment or personal return.
How To Read This Book
Read these poems slowly, with openness and attention.
As you read, notice how their images meet your own experiences of identity, effort, relationships, and change.
Some poems may feel familiar immediately. Others may invite you to pause or return later.
There is no need to find a lesson in every poem or apply anything immediately. Allow the questions to settle and understanding to unfold.
Table of Contents
Copyright
© FGI Publications. All rights reserved.
Preface
Twelve reflective poems that invite readers beneath names, roles, thoughts and achievements to encounter being as the quiet ground of living.
1. The Name on My Door
A fallen nameplate opens an inquiry into who remains beyond the name used to introduce us.
2. The Window That Breathed
Breath upon a window becomes an encounter with longing and the apparent distance between within and beyond.
3. The Answer That Changed Its Question
A recurring question about being enough turns towards the assumptions it carries and the one who asks it.
4. The Hammer Blamed the Hand
A hand and hammer discover that meaningful work depends on direction and relationship beyond mutual blame.
5. The Cup That Did Not Beg to Be Filled
A cup receives and releases water without making fullness the condition of its completeness.
6. The River Kept No Attendance
A river expresses contribution through the life it nourishes without keeping a record of recognition or return.
7. Before the Thought Said “I”
Thoughts claiming the word “I” invite recognition of the presence that hears them come and go.
8. A Blank Page Leaned Forward
A blank page welcomes uncertainty as something unformed begins to find expression.
9. The Ladder at the Wrong Wall
A climber discovers that real effort and growing capability still need understanding to orient their direction.
10. The Ear Behind the Ear
A listener sets aside a prepared reply and becomes available to what another person has not yet found words to express.
11. The Tree Did Not Choose the Wind
A tree discovers rootedness that allows bending and release without losing itself within change.
12. The Costume That Stayed After the Play
An actor who continues living as a king discovers what remains when the costume and its demands are set aside.
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my gratitude to all those—known and unknown—who, directly or indirectly, became part of this unfolding inquiry.
About the Author
Ekta Bafna
Key Ideas
A name can help others recognise us without containing the whole of who we are.
Thoughts can describe experience while their claims about identity remain open to inquiry.
Longing gives continuity and depth to the search for the Self.
Understanding can change the question we are asking, rather than merely supply another answer.
Effort and capability need orientation; movement alone does not establish direction.
Instruments become more effective through refinement, relationship, and attention to the work.
Listening deepens when we make room beyond our prepared responses.
Openness includes receiving and releasing without making possession the ground of completeness.
Rootedness can support flexibility within changing circumstances.
Roles can serve life when we recognise their place and limits.
Contribution can remain meaningful beyond visible acknowledgment.
Becoming finds its ground in Being.
Core Themes
Being and Becoming
Self and Identity
Recognition and Longing
Understanding and Direction
Human Instruments
Listening and Presence
Openness and Release
Rootedness Within Change
Roles and Responsibilities
Contribution and Service
Inner and Outer Life
Human Potential
Book Summary
Being — The Ground of Living begins with a name on a door. When the name falls, the door, the house, and the person remain. This simple encounter opens the book’s central inquiry: what is the relationship between the Self and the definitions through which we move in the world?
The early poems explore longing, the recurring demand to become “enough,” and the relationship between instruments. A window becomes a meeting place between inward and outward movement. A question turns towards the one asking it. A hand and hammer discover that proving each other wrong does not complete the work. The cup and river bring the inquiry into openness and contribution. Receiving does not have to become possession, and giving does not have to become a record of personal return.
The second movement of the book revisits these movements through thought, creativity, direction, listening, change, and role. Thoughts claim “I,” yet come and go. A blank page welcomes what has not found form. A ladder reveals the difference between learning to climb and understanding where to climb. The closing poems explore participation grounded in presence. Listening makes room for another person. Roots allow a tree to move within the wind. An actor discovers that a role has a place—and that carrying it beyond that place can obscure life itself.
Together, the twelve poems explore how recognition of Being can orient becoming and find expression in the way life is lived.
Questions This Book Answers
Who am I beyond the name and role through which others recognise me?
What is the difference between Being and becoming?
What can recurring thoughts reveal about how I understand myself?
Why might reassurance leave the question “Am I enough?” unresolved?
What gives direction to effort and capability?
How can instruments work together beyond blame?
What does it mean to listen beyond spoken words?
Can I receive and release without depending on what I hold?
How can I remain rooted while responding to change?
When does a role support participation, and when does it obstruct connection?
What makes contribution meaningful beyond recognition?
How can inward understanding find expression in outward living?
FAQs
1. What does “Being” mean in this book?
Being points towards the Self—the deeper ground beyond identification with body, mind, name, achievement, or role. The poems approach this inquiry through familiar images and experiences.
2. What is the difference between Being and becoming?
Becoming concerns the roles, capabilities, identities, and achievements that develop through life. Being concerns the ground from which these expressions arise. The book explores how becoming can remain rooted in Being.
3. Does this book suggest giving up roles or responsibilities?
The poems explore how roles can become instruments of participation. The name returns to the door, the hand returns to the work, and the actor returns to relationship with his child. Outward life continues with a different understanding of its place.
4. How is the book connected to FGI’s research?
It emerges from FGI’s ongoing research on human potential and draws upon Recognition, Longing, Understanding, Instrument Mastery, Self Mastery, and Living.
5. What are “instruments” in this framework?
The term includes the body, mind, breath, senses, emotions, intellect, attention, memory, imagination, and other faculties through which we experience and act. These instruments are to be respected, trained, and made available for meaningful living.
6. What does Self Mastery mean here?
It concerns the progressive stabilisation of life in Being: rootedness, steadiness, and clarity through which roles and responsibilities can be carried without becoming the whole basis of identity.
7. Is this a book of techniques or exercises?
Neither. It is a collection of poems with images which create opportunities for observation and reflection through the reader’s own experience.
8. Do I need a background in philosophy or spirituality?
No. The poems use everyday objects and encounters as entry points into deeper inquiry.
9. Should I read the poems in order?
The order follows two explorations of the six movements. You can read sequentially or begin with any poem that invites your attention.
10. How does this book fit within the FGI Poems Series?
FGI Poems Series has 10 books. This is the first book of the 10 series, each containing a collection of twelve poems. This first series introduces Being as the ground of living.
Access and Usage
This book is freely accessible for personal reading and non-commercial sharing.
Commercial Use:
Printing, distribution, adaptation or commercial use of this book requires prior written permission and may involve licensing or royalty agreements.
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human potential poetry
poems on self-understanding
Being and becoming
reflective poetry
poems on recognition
poems on longing
poems on understanding
poems on self mastery
poems on instrument mastery
poems on living
Ekta Bafna poems
FGI Poems Series 1