The recently published research by a team of psychologists about people giving themselves shocks instead of sitting quietly has gotten lots of attention. No single item in the media has been picked up by more of the writers I look at regularly. Many different reactions and opinions have been expressed.
The subject of course brings to my mind the matter of meditation. Many of my friends know a little about meditation and they often tell me they want to give meditation a try but not yet. Reminiscent of St. Augustine calling out to God to give him a chaste life, but not yet. Meditation is not difficult but it can be surprisingly scary to purposely try to do nothing.
In a nutshell, directions for meditation can be stated as "sit quietly and still for 10 minutes. Pay attention to your breathing. When your mind wanders, as minds will, bring it back to a focus on your breathing." The meditation period can be just one minute. Dr. Charles Stroebel recommended 6 seconds, repeated throughout the day, when convenient. But you can see the similarity between being asked to sit still, alone and quiet, and trying meditation. So, if ⅔ of college-aged men, not known for the especially deep quiet and monkish demeanor and ¼ of college-aged women, prefer to shock themselves while sitting through an endless 15 minute period of boring nothingness, maybe it relates to people of all ages being reluctant to try meditation.
I have read in several places that the French genius Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) wrote that all of mankind's difficulties stem for an inability to sit quietly alone in a room. I wanted to find the exact quote. It is passage 138 in his Pensees. I thought it would be a passing reference to general figgidiness of us humans but it is a long and wonderfully written passage about the same theme that opens the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes: the vanity (uselessness, pointlessness) of much of what we do. His favorite term for hunting, gambling, throwing and catching a ball, dancing and such activities is "diversion." He says that a man will hunt a rabbit for hours but would not want the rabbit as a gift. Another will gamble for a small stake but would be unhappy being given that small stake instead of winning it.
Of course, one man's diversion is another man's anathema. One woman's music drives another bananas. But, what the heck? We are primates, born to move and to explore, hungry for variety and excitement. Practicing quiet is good but we need diversions of all sorts and we will find them.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
