06/06 - Embracing silence

 My meditation and my blogging are both becoming slightly irregular. And without meditation perhaps, the quality of mind isn't quite the same. And yet here I am, writing today. 

Today's world is a world of distractions. This world has all sorts of addictions to offer. Our minds, our attention, are merely bill boards for which companies and individuals compete. They use all kinds of knowledge and tactics modern marketing and psychology has to offer, to trick us into consuming their goods. 

Another unprecedented occurrence has been continuous presence of social media in our lives. Our daily life is peppered with small time gaps, during which we do not do much. Sitting in the loo, waiting for the cab, going in the cab, waiting for the laptop to start, waiting for the email. There are so many moments in the day when we wait, which if we add up, would be sizeable. And all of these times are most conveniently too short to do anything meaningful and perhaps too long to simply sit around, doing nothing. The mobile phone and social media take over these gaps. There is a lot going around in these moments, from a psychological standpoint. There is great anxiety or rather momentum, that the mind carries as it carries out a task. When a gap arrives, the mind refuses to give up on the momentum. It wants to continue being busy. It also wants an immediate release of dopamine, as it knows that it is perfectly accessible. To settle into the work-less moment, and hitting a pause on the mind and it's craving, can be onerous. 

Life was always simpler and healthier earlier. More options, sources of dopamine and pleasure, have only degraded this mind and body. This has also put a premium on being in control of one's mind and body. As the liberty outside expands, so does the need to exercise it internally expand. 

So the question is, how do we stay. How do we wait? How do we hold on to those little gaps, of waiting, of boredom, of exhaustion and keep away from becoming consumers. How do we relish the moments of silence?