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Thu 15 Feb, 2007 06:00 am
Solitude
Solitude is a valuable resource when changes of mental attitude are required?-solitude can be as therapeutic as emotional support from a friend.
Our way of thinking about life and ourselves is so habitual that it takes time and effort to change attitudes?-people find it difficult to make changes in attitude but solitude and perhaps changes in environment facilitate changes in attitude because habit is fortified by external environment?-religion is well aware of these facts?-only through experience of change in environment can one know if such change will facilitate change in attitude?-one needs not just solitude but one needs to be able to sink roots into some replenishing philosophy also.
Solitude is not to subject oneself to sensor deprivation, which can lead to hallucinations. One needs the stimulation of the senses and the intellect.
Imagination?-solitude can facilitate the growth of imagination?-imagination has given humans flexibility but has robbed her of contentment?-our non-human ancestors are governed by pre-programmed patterns-- these preprogrammed patterns have inhibited growth when the environment changes?-humans are governed primarily by learning and transmission of culture from generation to generation and is thus more able to adapt?-for humans so little is predetermined by nature and so much is dependent upon learning?-happiness, the contentment with the status quo is only a fleeting feeling?-"divine discontent" is the gift of our nature that brings moments of ecstasy and a life time of discontent?-the present is such a fleeting part of our reality that we are almost always in the past or the future.
I think that a regular dose of solitude is very important for everyone, young and old. Does that make sense to you? I think that each individual needs to make radical adjustments in their attitude toward learning when school dazes are over. Solitude might be helpful in facilitating such adjustments.
This stuff comes from reading "Solitude: A Return to the Self" by Anthony Storr. Most of this is snatches of text that is sometimes a paraphrase and sometimes a quotation.
A growing number of young people spend an increasing amount of time in solitude, stimulated by videogames. The healthiness of this trend is ever debated.
I agree that a little peace and quiet can go a long way towards finding one's center. I also agree that the world around us is so loud, we ourselves are so loud at times, that it's hard to really hear anything.
Sometimes the greatest treasures are found when we aren't even looking. And when we are looking, we have a sense of what to look for. What goes unnoticed because of this?
If we wish to end ignorance within ourselves, how can we then rely on ourselves to break out of it? How can we trust that the informaton we consciously seek is the information we need?
I say forget the self. Forget all attempts to find answers, because if we start with ignorance, how can we uncover anything but ignorance? Don't try, don't do, just be. Then mysteries begin to unveil, and we are presented with answers to questions we didn't even know we were asking. That is the path to true understanding.
Put away your books,cob. And stop flooding us with quotes and paraphrasings. Just sit down, and try not to think about anything but your breathing, because all these thoughts you import from all around you are what's keeping you from hearing your own mind.
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