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

theguardian.com

221–230 of 468 posts

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

#221

“You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.” - Franz Kafka

Ecstasy. This dude knew how to meditate. A lot of people think meditation is just an exercise in patience and self discipline to stop the chatter of the mind, and that that is the end in itself. They are unaware of where meditation can lead. When the central channel (referred to as sushumna in yoga) is open and energy flows freely, you can feel ecstatic sensations in the centre of the brain as the upper centres becom…

Any idea what scientifically is actually happening?

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

#222
post #102
post #100

I used to have a close friend who was constantly getting into trouble (and calling me to bail her out, sometimes literally). Minor run ins with the police, car accidents, making shady deals or getting into debt to random lowlifes she just met. I always used to say that I wished she would just stay in her room and sit on the bed. Save both of us so much trouble! This was in the days before social media, otherwise I'm…

That's a good point. Makes me wonder what the reality is with kids nowadays that are right there under their parents nose noodling around on their phone. Are they getting into less trouble, or more trouble?

Modern phones have done a tremendous job of taking the thrill out of various troublesome activities.

You could let someone else play a game, you could let someone else risk STDs, someone else do the risky heists and killing etc all while watching from the comfort of your couch, living your life as a voyeur.

IMO that definitely means folks are getting in lesser trouble: I think it draws a lot of poison out.

Now is that a good thing: I don’t know. I like the above benefits, who wouldn’t appreciate a docile community! I don’t like the fact that it is drawing away the youth from action. Yes it went wrong in oh so many places, but it is what brought us here. I hate stagnation. Anyway - just me rambling.

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

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

HN to me at least is an place I actively go towards when I have the time and I want to. I don't believe in dogmatism, if you want to reduce the impact social media has on you, just reduce your usage. You don't have to become a recluse and you won't become a heretic for going to social media once in a while, if you make it a conscious choice.

Just like that if you want to eat less meat because of the environment, just eat less meat. If you eat selected meat once in a while on selected occasions this won't make you a heretic, because you are still reaching your goal of reducing your impact on the environment etc.

The people who say "if you want to reduce X you are a heretic if you don't abstain 100% from using X" are projecting their own lack of dicipline onto others — they feel they wouldn't have the discipline to do it, but also realise it would be good for them to have it. So they have to invent an excuse why this is a goal that cannot be reached, not worth reaching etc.

Being a free thinking and acting person fundamentally means also to notice when you are manipulating yourself by making your thinking fit the image you already have of the world. I for example often fall into the trap of "if I can't do it perfectly it might not be worth doing at all", and because I know that, I try to work against it.

So what your comment does here is undermining another people's effort to be in control of their social media environment. Why you deem such an act necessary should be something you should know yourself.

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

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN is also in a strange category for me. The articles and the conversations are better quality than on any other social media with the added bonus that what I read is relevant for my daily job and career. At the same time, it's still distracting, I almost never finish an article and go straight to the comments, thinking "entertain me, comment section". I feel productive, but in reality, it's superficial knowledge, an…

I feel the same way. I've spent countless hours in the last ~5 years on reading seemingly useful articles, and comment sections. I cannot pinpoint even one instance where anything helped me IRL. Something might've helped indirectly, but the connection is not clear.

Does it need to be a "direct" benefit? I think sometimes the things we do out of our own volition shape ourselves not only directly but also indirectly.

As a personal example, I have noticed how my way of discussing heated topics has changed based on discourse I have seen here.

And this would not have happened if I didn't invest time similar to yourself.

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

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a bit more on why Pascal thought even a king is unhappy when he thinks about himself: Whatever condition we picture to ourselves, if we muster all the good things which it is possible to possess, royalty is the finest position in the world. Yet, when we imagine a king attended with every pleasure he can feel, if he be without diversion, and be left to consider and reflect on what he is, this feeble happiness wil…

the day you can sit for hours without doing anything, you've attained the state of self-realization – self-love free from all conditions. The conditioned mind is no longer there, the thoughts no longer bombard you, the emotions no longer disturb you. You enjoy the deep peace, contentment and bliss of your infinite self. Then you can truly contemplate deeply on anything you feel important, then the deep mysteries of e…

Not if you are hungry. Deep mysteries are fine and all but doing so in -1 deg celcius on an empty stomach lays out the reality of existence with exacting clarity. We are merely animals. Nothing more. Nothing less.

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

#227
post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ecstasy. This dude knew how to meditate. A lot of people think meditation is just an exercise in patience and self discipline to stop the chatter of the mind, and that that is the end in itself. They are unaware of where meditation can lead. When the central channel (referred to as sushumna in yoga) is open and energy flows freely, you can feel ecstatic sensations in the centre of the brain as the upper centres becom…

Any idea what scientifically is actually happening?

No idea. Biology isn't my area. Some kind of resonance in the central nervous system perhaps, accompanied by a quietening of some parts of the brain?

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

#228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

How helpful to have a person who knows nothing about my situation police my behaviors because of a vague congruence and an apparent desire to score internet points.

No, for the purposes of what I'm doing, HN was not included in that. From my perspective, HN isn't really designed for addiction in the same way. No personalized, UAM-optimized algorithmic feed, no infinite river of small content bites, no rich mechanisms for interaction. And, very importantly, it has the noprocrast feature, which I long ago set to low usage levels.

And as others point out, it's not like I took some sort of vow of internet chastity to a god who will now smite me because I looked at HN. The point was to partially undo some bad habits that had built up during the election cycle. I'll often make some 1-month change at the beginning of the month. For me it's valuable mainly as self-experiment and a way of getting back to some baseline.

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

#229
I know it's might seem like unrelated topic, but I encourage you to read Branko Milanovic's view on success and failures of COVID19 strategis in west vs east.

The public, and thus I think, the governments were unwilling to take the East Asian approach to the pandemic because of a culture of impatience, of desire to quickly solve all problems, to bear only very limited costs.

https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/15/12/2020/impatien...

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

#230
post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then, you see the truth, of life, existence and the universe. Pretty words, but do they mean anything? For example, if I reach this state, will it be revealed to me why there is something rather than nothing? I think not, otherwise someone would have reported back with the answer already. I'm interested in meditation to learn more about my own body and mind, maybe improve my life somehow. But IMHO the discussions a…

Would you believe someone who reports back? FWIW I have a friend who is deep into spirituality, still works at a FAANG but definitely feels like he can attain higher states of awareness in his meditations. I don’t see him active on social media, he leads a reasonably ascetic life and so on. This person doesn’t have much success in making others believe. At best, he gets ‘hey, I am happy that you’re happy’ from folks…

Just a comment regarding belief in the context of learning: a lot (in fact almost all) of learning is through our innately held beliefs. Without having beliefs we would be no different than an ML model, which just keeps adjusting weights according to the data it receives. Each of us has some beliefs, which "seems right" to us and this is what shapes our understanding of what we see around us, no matter what the "data" says.

If the belief is weak (or false), it might lead to confusion and distrust, which will make it impossible to learn anything.

Also, experiencing heightened states of awareness is not necessarily beneficial, people on drugs experience it routinely.

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