Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens. -- Chogyam Trungpa
I am attending a meditation retreat this weekend at Discovery Yoga in St. Augustine. We started talking about boredom.
I really understand the desire for more, better, different. I really do. I get bored easily.
As a former English teacher, I also know that the first sign of a student who does not understand the meaning of the words in a passage is when they say, "This is boring!" That means they really don't understand what is going on at a basic, fundamental level-- the level of vocabulary, most likely.
And I've heard so many times people say, "I didn't do well in school because I was bored." As if to say, "I was too smart for school to begin with."
I've found that boredom is often just a desire for entertainment. The kind of thinking which provides learning and the kind of learning which provides growth requires much more than entertainment. It requires discipline.
Meditation practice teaches me to be bored. What it is like to be bored and what it means to be bored. Meditation is all about being okay with boredom and developing a relationship with boredom. Learning to be bored is a beautiful thing. It is teaching the mind to slow down and stop its search for more, better, different.
But there must be some sense of discipline if we are to get beyond the frivolity of trying to replace boredom. -- "The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation" by Chogyam Trungpa
I am attending a meditation retreat this weekend at Discovery Yoga in St. Augustine. We started talking about boredom.
I really understand the desire for more, better, different. I really do. I get bored easily.
As a former English teacher, I also know that the first sign of a student who does not understand the meaning of the words in a passage is when they say, "This is boring!" That means they really don't understand what is going on at a basic, fundamental level-- the level of vocabulary, most likely.
And I've heard so many times people say, "I didn't do well in school because I was bored." As if to say, "I was too smart for school to begin with."
I've found that boredom is often just a desire for entertainment. The kind of thinking which provides learning and the kind of learning which provides growth requires much more than entertainment. It requires discipline.
Meditation practice teaches me to be bored. What it is like to be bored and what it means to be bored. Meditation is all about being okay with boredom and developing a relationship with boredom. Learning to be bored is a beautiful thing. It is teaching the mind to slow down and stop its search for more, better, different.
But there must be some sense of discipline if we are to get beyond the frivolity of trying to replace boredom. -- "The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation" by Chogyam Trungpa
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment