The Lost Art of Solitude

Zenhabits has a thoughtful piece on what's happened to the concept of solitude in this age of hyper-connectivity.

The hustle and bustle of everyday life is exacerbated by technology devices that allow us to always be doing something, whether it's productive or not.

In a non-scientific, completely random sampling of friends and family, I found that seldom is someone alone for any significant period of time without performing some action that either connects us to the outside world or occupies our time for no good reason.

As an example, I'm up to Bejeweled level 307 on my iPhone. Sighs.

The article describes some of the benefits of solitude:

• time for thought
• in being alone, we get to know ourselves
• we face our demons, and deal with them
• space to create
• space to unwind, and find peace
• time to reflect on what we’ve done, and learn from it
• isolation from the influences of other helps us to find our own voice
• quiet helps us to appreciate the smaller things that get lost in the roar

It's pretty clear why some of us avoid solitude at all costs. We face our demons? Find our own voice in a world where we're constantly being messaged and directed on what to do? Get to know ourselves? How scary is that?

It takes courage to be alone - completely, utterly, painfully alone, even for a devoted introvert like me. Alone to the point where there are no thoughts or influences other than your own. And it takes an incredible amount of focus to clear your mind of what you need to prepare for dinner, or which work deadlines should be prioritized, as you cease being a puppet to past conversations and conflicts while being present in the now, the future unknowable and unimportant.

A couple of years ago I took my son, then 7, out on our back deck, and we played a game where we didn't talk for three minutes. Instead, we listened, the goal being to identify the sounds of as many different things as we could on a typical warm Saturday morning.

The results were amazing - more than fifty distinct sounds and activities going on in the world around us, the majority blissfully ignored on most days, but not on that day.

On that day, we were present, and engaged in the world around us, making us privy to a universe we'd grown accustomed to ignoring. Sadly, it's a world that often ignores us in return.

Solitude. Go get yourself some of that.

Buddhist Compassion for Brit Hume

This response by Buddhism scholar Ethan Nichtern to CNN commentator Rick Sanchez on the whole Brit Hume/Tiger Woods/Buddhism triangle speaks volumes.

Watch the differences in approach between Sanchez and Nichtern - one is calm and measured in his demeanor, while the other is anxious, interrupting, and in a hurry for singular answers to explain everything.

I only wish I had been as mindful in my discussing this issue as Nichtern was in this clip.



Via Precious Metal

Dalai Lama Kills a Mosquito

Via Precious Metal

Is Goodness Invisible?

thinkBuddha has an interesting piece entitled The Invisibility of Goodness, where Will Buckingham posits that we have a natural tendency to notice "the bumps and the ruts and the knocks" because they tend to interrupt the normal flow of life, but that common acts of kindness or charity are often overlooked.

There's a lot of truth to that view. In examining my own mindfulness, it was apparent that it was quite easy to pick out instances where I wasn't exhibiting right thought or right action, but it was much more difficult to pinpoint specific acts of goodness because, as Will explains:

What we don’t notice are the everyday kindnesses, the moments of ease, the small acts of generosity. These things are not invisible to us because we are gloomy or ungrateful, but because they have kind of natural ease to them.

There's also the lack of a math component to living a life of goodness. You can't add or subtract based on whether a particular act was good or not, so as to keep a running total of where you stand. First of all, it doesn't work like that - and it would drive you insane if you attempted this approach. Secondly, that would entirely invalidate the premise of leading a good and mindful life, which is to act in a manner that is kind and generous while understanding how we're all connected in a myriad of ways.

So what do you think? Is goodness truly invisible, or are we just not looking for it?

Impermanence is Funny

Fatigue - A Poem of Dying

A few weeks ago I stumbled on a very special blog, written by Michael, that was about photography, life, and for the last several years, the act of dying.

Michael was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2002, and his blog continued to be a multi-facet view of his existence.

If you want to read more and explore, please visit his blog, One Foot In Front Of The Other and peruse his works. For now, please take a moment to read this poetry that Michael posted shortly before he left the bounds of this Earth. The comments are worth a read, too - at least most of them.

Looking in my bathroom mirror
I see the steady progress of death
as he moves like an eclipse
across my face

My skin grows more taut
my beard is shot through with gray
my eyes are increasingly bloodshot
I can't recognize this person staring back at me --
in fact
this stranger is scaring me

My physical weakness astounds me
my arms don't listen anymore
my sense of balance has forsaken me

But, blessing of blessings
I can still feel the life spark
I can still feel the life spark

Video: Learning from Everyone

Via The Art of Noncomformity, a short video that reinforces an interesting perspective. Rather than being critical, look for opportunities to learn something new from people and viewpoints with which you disagree.

Music and Life

Via PreciousMetal - for my daughter, who graduates from Ohio University in two weeks. Stop worrying and enjoy the music, Bear.

What I Know About Buddhism

From GraphJam

Religious Truths

Breathe

People Who Deserve It?

Are you thinking to yourself, "What is a person who studies Buddhism doing visiting a website called PeopleWhoDeserveIt.com?"

I'm curious, for one thing. And what better way to reinforce the Four Noble Truths or gain a better understanding of karma than to see what the competition is doing?  

There is some rich material to poke through at this site, from Creepy Mall Santa to Passive Aggressive Emoticon User.

My favorite so far is Self-Important Bluetooth Guy:

Hey there buddy, I see you got one of those fancy cyborg ear attachments for your cell phone, you must be pretty important?
 

No?

Oh, of course you’re not, you’re not even on the phone right now, instead your just walking around with a blinking light in your ear like a metro-sexual robot.

Honestly, unless you’re police dispatch, or air traffic control, there is no way you’re getting enough calls to justify sporting that glorified techno-earring 24/7. So do us all a favor take that “thing” out of your ear and rejoin regular society.

Otherwise, it’s open season, and our fist-to-face connection is one call that always goes through. Can you hear us now?

Generally, I get the impression that it's a site for folks to contribute what bothers them about humans in general. 

There's nothing wrong with a good, old-fashioned snark. I've been known to fling some psychic knives at unsuspecting targets before, but I'm feeling much better now. A special prize will be awarded to anyone who can tell me in the comments what television show used that line as a running gag.

We're all interconnected on this blue marble we share, and we're gone in the blink of a cosmic eye, so let's embrace those special qualities that make us all unique contributors.

Our lives would be so much less rich without Guy Who Takes Office Magazines Into Bathroom.