"All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone"
Hmmmm. Is it really that simple? Not that this thing is actually simple, far from it I think. But is it possible that every misery we have stems from this Pascalian thought? I don't believe it but it does open the door to thinking about this thought and what it might mean today.
Personally, and I've said this before, I don't have any phobias or anxieties that I am acutely aware of. Sure, I think crocodiles are vile killing machines and they give me the heebee jeebies and my well known aversion to stupid is legendary, but I'm not sure those qualify as anxieties per se. I'm not debilitated by them in any way if that means anything. Having no real "issues" and certainly no regret to hold me back I may not be the poster child for how meditation can help someone. And I do think it can help...quite a bit actually. I have seen this in friends and while it borders on voodoo to me I don't discount it for others. Nay, nay...I say if it works for you then by all means....slow your breathing and be in the moment. We could all probably use more of that...myself included.
Back to this not being so simple. Try this sometime and tell me how you do. Find a quiet place and turn off everything that could possibly be used as a distraction. No music, no background noise of deep forest or whale song. Your phone and pads or pids or pods or whatever they are...stowed away. Sit upright and simply be. I threw in the sitting part because I would be asleep in about three microseconds so I can assume there are others like me out there. Those of us that don't mediate would find it difficult, I think, to simply turn off the brain and let it do other things than simply be spoon fed stuff on Facebook or Instagram. I think our brains crave input...I know I do often, even banal idiocy is preferable to actual nothingness.
I have a hard time turning off my brain. And as has been commented on numerous occasions, even slowing down would be a goal to strive for but not likely to happen. My brain is like that proverbial pinball machine...ping, pong, ping, ping, pong...and on and on. I actually think the majority of us are like that, a million things running through that grey matter. I simply lack the good sense to stay quiet about it. On the contrary...I say just about everything that comes to mind, makes for interesting pillow talk I'll say.
So does that mean my miseries are tied to the fact that I can't or won't sit in a quiet room alone? I think not but I can understand where this sentiment comes from and where it might go in the greater context of the world at large. The ills of the world aren't going to be solved if Drumph would simply go sit in a room quietly, although if he never came back out that would be pretty awesome. If I may, I think this is a more personal sentiment...one of self reflection. Quiet your mind and listen to your heart...hold that mirror up and look beyond the reflection to who you truly are. The search for truth is a universal constant and I think it is never as important then when looking for our own truth.
A million years ago I took a drivers education course. From it I remember two things, lanes are 11 feet wide and aim high. The first thing is simply inane trivia that has somehow stuck in my brain...that stays but I can't remember my own medical history, WTF. The second piece of information is quite useful for driving and life in general. The theory is that when you stop looking down at the road in front of your hood ornament and instead look to the horizon, better drivers we become. Our peripheral vision picks up on anything around us while the bigger picture is being focused on...potential issues are picked up on before they become issues.
As much as possible I use that principle in my life...think big picture and the little things will be taken care of. Of course it doesn't always work because as we know, all too well, life has a habit of getting in the way. I say fuck it, deal with it and move on. It works for me, mostly. If I look back on my life, the times when I felt bogged down and driving through negative town can probably be tied to times that I was looking down at the road in front of my hood, so to speak, and not aiming high. Not seeing the forest for the trees, keeping my eye on the ball...yada, yada, yada....you get the idea I'm sure, you're smart that way.
So, either literally or metaphorically, being able to sit in a room with my own thoughts should provide the one thing that really matters in this discussion, perspective. Despite the domain of this blog and some of the things I may have written here, I am a pretty calm and reflective kind of guy. I don't over react, I rarely make large decisions without thinking things through and I almost always look at the bigger picture. That is perspective...working for me.
Ciao
D
A million years ago I took a drivers education course. From it I remember two things, lanes are 11 feet wide and aim high. The first thing is simply inane trivia that has somehow stuck in my brain...that stays but I can't remember my own medical history, WTF. The second piece of information is quite useful for driving and life in general. The theory is that when you stop looking down at the road in front of your hood ornament and instead look to the horizon, better drivers we become. Our peripheral vision picks up on anything around us while the bigger picture is being focused on...potential issues are picked up on before they become issues.
As much as possible I use that principle in my life...think big picture and the little things will be taken care of. Of course it doesn't always work because as we know, all too well, life has a habit of getting in the way. I say fuck it, deal with it and move on. It works for me, mostly. If I look back on my life, the times when I felt bogged down and driving through negative town can probably be tied to times that I was looking down at the road in front of my hood, so to speak, and not aiming high. Not seeing the forest for the trees, keeping my eye on the ball...yada, yada, yada....you get the idea I'm sure, you're smart that way.
So, either literally or metaphorically, being able to sit in a room with my own thoughts should provide the one thing that really matters in this discussion, perspective. Despite the domain of this blog and some of the things I may have written here, I am a pretty calm and reflective kind of guy. I don't over react, I rarely make large decisions without thinking things through and I almost always look at the bigger picture. That is perspective...working for me.
Ciao
D
Important post in these times of internet onslaught Daniel. I find when I sit and allow the "chattering monkeys" to just have their say and move on, the big picture comes into view and the banality recedes.
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