Friday 27 July 2007

the art of idle

do we really need to be so busy, so productive? how come schools don't teach "the art of stillness" .... maybe they do ... these days.
i have been practicing "the art of stillness" all my live long days. i was fortunate to have been born ... gifted with an innate talent in this area. the circumstances of my life allowed me the time to indulge in my passion. be still, watch, listen and wait, let your mind float, wherever it will. soon enough mother nature will draw near, the world less obvious grows into the still window of our consciousness. our mind relaxes, withdraws from the irritations of the everyday and will often offer new solutions to old problems. inspirations, expectations and revelations burst like guy fawkes fireworks in a receptive mind.
guess some folks might call this meditation ... personally... i am unable to meditate, i fall asleep! i prefer to call this state of stillness "doing nothing with intent".
the nuns who educated me would probably describe it as idleness! as we grow we are taught ... the secrets of success ...
hard work and effort brings rewards, indeed, i have no problem with this theory , but ... do we not sometimes lose our true selves in our strivings? perhaps in our constant efforts to achieve, to grow, to be the very best that we can be, perhaps we miss the point ....
what point? ...,you may well ask....
the point of our existence, our reason for being.
our infant body enters this mortal world... covered in the slime of birth and screaming with reluctance...
being born into this world is obviously hard work, uncomfortable, perhaps even painful. as infants we scream with the red faced rage of loss. we seem to resent being thrust into earth reality from the comfort of our mothers womb. we will live our allotted time and move on to that which waits for us on the other side of death ... depending on ones belief system, either a new place or an eternity of non existence. we will all witness birth and death, the beginning or the end of a beloved being. i think perhaps ...as dramatic as these events might be, the importance we place on them, the rituals we follow to honour them....
i do not believe these events are the point. the point of our lives plays out between these two events, between birth and death.
why are we here, what is our purpose in life?
we have needs which must be fulfilled, we need to eat, sleep, quench our thirst, make love and create the next generation. to fulfil these needs ...yes, we need to work, to strive, to honour family and those we love by our efforts. we work to fulfil these needs, we work in order to live. the important question being ... why do we live?
in my rather less than humble opinion, we live to experience, we live to appreciate, we live to learn, we live to love.
in our busyness, our working, our striving and achieving ...we are successful in providing for our needs. we sometimes overlook our reason for being...
we should always honour our existence by finding the time to search for the quiet, the stillness. ... the all important "reason for being"

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