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All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

theguardian.com

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Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#141

Post by maggotbrain »

wpietri wrote: post #105
codechicago277 wrote: post #50

This quote comes from Blaise Pascal's Pensées, accessible here. "That is why we like noise and activity so much. That is why imprisonment is such a horrific punishment. That is why the pleasure of being alone is incomprehensible. That is, in fact, the main joy of the condition of kingship, because people are constantly trying to amuse kings and provide them with all sorts of distraction.—The king is surrounded by peo…

That has a lot of resonance for me. In this modern age, we are all kings, and there are vast industries to save us from ever being alone from our thoughts. For December, I quit sugar, social media, and video games. It's been really interesting to notice what state I'm in when I go to reach for those things. Sometimes it's just habit, but often it's because I'm uncomfortable or in distress and want to avoid those feel…

If you are commenting here, you haven't really quit "social media".

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#142

Post by hypervisorxxx »

Yeh and to think society rewards extroverts as leaders but often introverts make the best leaders as in they take long periods of time to think alone and often avoid many pitfalls by doing so instead of moving fast and breaking everyone and everything along the way.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#143

Post by OliverGilan »

hypervisorxxx wrote: post #142

Yeh and to think society rewards extroverts as leaders but often introverts make the best leaders as in they take long periods of time to think alone and often avoid many pitfalls by doing so instead of moving fast and breaking everyone and everything along the way.

What's really interesting is that it's not so clear cut. Introverted leaders tend to outperform when they lead extroverts and extroverted leaders tend to outperform when they lead introverts[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiet:_The_Power_of_Introverts...

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#144

Post by noizejoy »

OliverGilan wrote: post #143
hypervisorxxx wrote: post #142

Yeh and to think society rewards extroverts as leaders but often introverts make the best leaders as in they take long periods of time to think alone and often avoid many pitfalls by doing so instead of moving fast and breaking everyone and everything along the way.

What's really interesting is that it's not so clear cut. Introverted leaders tend to outperform when they lead extroverts and extroverted leaders tend to outperform when they lead introverts[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiet:_The_Power_of_Introverts...

It’s what some would call putting together a team that complements each other.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#145

Post by polishdude20 »

claudiawerner wrote: post #87
codechicago277 wrote: post #50

This quote comes from Blaise Pascal's Pensées, accessible here. "That is why we like noise and activity so much. That is why imprisonment is such a horrific punishment. That is why the pleasure of being alone is incomprehensible. That is, in fact, the main joy of the condition of kingship, because people are constantly trying to amuse kings and provide them with all sorts of distraction.—The king is surrounded by peo…

>The king is surrounded by people whose only thought is to entertain him and prevent him from thinking about himself. This is really interesting from a modern perspective. I'm an audiophile - I've spent countless hours just sitting in a chair in front of a stereo system I've spent a couple thousand on. If I ever lapse into non-attention to the music, I try and get back to the music. It's like mindfulness meditation,…

What game is it? I've been looking for something to play in the last few days. I've got my mind just racing with ideas for projects and things and I'm always feeling bad about not getting into it and then I'm not able to truly relax.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#148

Post by philwelch »

polishdude20 wrote: post #145
claudiawerner wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The king is surrounded by people whose only thought is to entertain him and prevent him from thinking about himself. This is really interesting from a modern perspective. I'm an audiophile - I've spent countless hours just sitting in a chair in front of a stereo system I've spent a couple thousand on. If I ever lapse into non-attention to the music, I try and get back to the music. It's like mindfulness meditation,…

What game is it? I've been looking for something to play in the last few days. I've got my mind just racing with ideas for projects and things and I'm always feeling bad about not getting into it and then I'm not able to truly relax.

Not who you replied to, but in my experience, if you play Factorio, your mind will be racing with ideas for projects and things you can do in Factorio.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#149

Post by polishdude20 »

DangitBobby wrote: post #134
camjohnson26 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Distraction from mortality is actually a recurring point of discussion in Pascal’s writing. “Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for miseries and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries.”

On this face of it and without reading any of the other writings, this just sounds totally meaningless to me. Is the belief that true meaning or purpose in life can come only from within? What about your own thoughts are so sacred that everything else should be considered a distraction from them?

To add onto this, what do you think you're doing when you're not in a room all alone with your thoughts? You're still thinking. It's not like I can't watch a YouTube video and think to myself at the same time.

I think the aversion I have to being alone with my thoughts is the feeling that doing that won't help me. It's sort of like a neural network that I'd alone with its weights with no inputs to process except itself. I feel when I think to myself alone, I can't make any decisions because what I know is already what I knew before I started thinking to myself. Yo make decisions, I need external answers to questions. I need new information and evidence to start me to some conclusion.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#150

Post by glouwbug »

fy20 wrote: post #121

Maybe I'm just weird, but I actually quite like being able to sit alone with my thoughts. Sometimes the thoughts are not good, but most of the times its just about something that's been troubling me and I haven't figured out what the solution is. When I was in education I had to take a 1 hour bus each way for 8 years, before we had the whole internet in our pockets, so maybe thats why. I do actually meditate as well,…

Are you me? I have a similar story - studied before smart phones were a thing. I eventually grew tired of my iPod, and the 2 hour commute both ways to and from school led to some deep transit thinking. Being able to just sit and gaze at passing trees for hours on end really teaches some finer meaning of life. I cannot really explain what that meaning is, but I can attest that I'm ready for whatever lies ahead, good or bad.
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