Ways of Being Human: Producing, Consuming, Witnessing, and Beyond

This article relies heavily on my use of ChatGPT. (8 min read)

To be human is, first and foremost, to be aware. Before we act, before we consume, before we even speak—we notice. We inhabit a body that perceives, feels, and remembers. Our lives unfold in the field of awareness: of sensation, of time passing, of others near us, of the world not just as it is but as it might be. From this basic condition of awareness, different modes of being emerge. We create, we respond, we observe, we care, we seek, we disrupt. Each reflects a different facet of how we relate to the world—and how we come to understand ourselves within it.

In this post, I explore a set of human modes of being, beginning with the producer, the consumer, and the bearer of witness. I then add several others: the steward, the contemplative, and the disruptor. These aren’t rigid personality types, but ways of being that many of us shift in and out of throughout our lives—or even over the course of a single day.

The Producer: Humans as Makers and Actors

The most celebrated and visible form of being is the producer: the one who creates, builds, and acts upon the world. From artisans to engineers, organizers to entrepreneurs, producers are driven by the impulse to make and transform.

Philosopher Hannah Arendt, in The Human Condition, distinguishes between labor (survival tasks), work (durable creations), and action (political and relational engagement). The producer often straddles all three but aligns most with work—the crafting of a lasting world.

To be human as a producer is to assert oneself in time and to trust in one’s capacity to shape change. This mode is often valorized in industrial and capitalist societies, where productivity defines worth. But it also includes artists, healers, and anyone who brings new meaning or possibility into being.

The Consumer: Exchange and Desire

Consumption is sometimes seen as passive, even problematic, but it reveals another important side of being human. As consumers, we trade time, money, and attention for nourishment, experience, and relationship.

Ivan Illich critiqued how consumer societies can erode our capacity to engage with the world directly. And Herbert Marcuse warned against becoming "one-dimensional" in a culture where consuming crowds out other ways of being.

Still, consumption isn’t inherently empty. It can be a site of agency, care, and even creativity. What we consume—and how—shapes our identity and expresses our values.

The Bearer of Witness: Attentive Presence

To bear witness is to attend—to observe reality without immediately reacting to it. Philosopher Simone Weil called attention the "rarest and purest form of generosity."

This mode can be moral (staying present to suffering) or ontological (practicing deep presence). Martin Heidegger’s notion of Dasein—being-there—describes a human capacity to stand in the clearing of Being itself. Witnessing, in this sense, is a kind of active receptivity. It prepares the ground for insight and authentic action.

The Steward: Sustaining and Repairing

Stewards care for what already exists. They sustain ecosystems, maintain communities, and attend to the quiet work of repair. While the producer is often associated with novelty, the steward resists the cult of the new.

Drawing on the ethics of care (as explored by Carol Gilligan and Joan Tronto), this mode highlights the value of responsibility, patience, and continuity. Stewards are often invisible in systems that celebrate innovation, but their work is essential to resilience.

The Contemplative: Seeking and Dwelling

The contemplative turns inward—not to escape the world but to understand and dwell more deeply within it. This mode includes mystics, philosophers, and spiritual seekers.

In Heidegger’s later work, especially Poetry, Language, Thought, he suggests that authentic dwelling means listening to Being and allowing it to reveal itself. The contemplative dwells in mystery, often through silence, stillness, or deep thought.

Otto Scharmer’s idea of "presencing"—sensing and co-shaping emerging futures—also aligns with this mode.

The Disruptor: Questioning and Unsettling

The disruptor is the one who asks difficult questions, resists the status quo, and makes space for the new by challenging what is. This mode is playful, provocative, and sometimes uncomfortable. It includes artists, critics, satirists, and social change-makers.

David Graeber’s work on bureaucracy and "bullshit jobs" exemplifies this spirit—showing how disruption can expose the absurdities we’ve come to accept.

Disruption doesn’t mean destruction. It often opens space for healing, imagination, and renewal.

A Plural and Dynamic Humanity

These ways of being are not mutually exclusive. You might move through several in a single day: preparing a meal (producer), listening to a friend (witness), scrolling your phone (consumer), cleaning the kitchen (steward), journaling in silence (contemplative), and questioning a policy at work (disruptor).

Rather than offering a strict typology, these modes invite reflection. Which ones do you dwell in most easily? Which ones are calling for more attention?

Being human is not reducible to doing or having. It also includes attending, sustaining, wondering, and questioning. Our lives are made richer when we recognize the full range of ways we can be.

Thanks for reading. If this sparked something for you, I’d love to hear your reflections.