Monday, October 18, 2010

Today I Wrote About Nothing


All all the trees go piff
all all the rocks go paff
all all of nature poof.
Daniil Kharms (from Today I Wrote Nothing)

If at first an idea isn't absurd, There's no hope for it.
Albert Einstein

...all in all, doing nothing’s a lot easier when I’m supposed to be doing something...particularly if I have a precise idea of what that something's supposed to be...then I know just what to ignore...(even if I can never really ignore it completely)...and if it’s something I really don’t feel like doing...or, better yet, a whole bunch of things I don’t feel like doing...which, alas, is the case most of the time...almost anything can serve as a distraction...and the hours go by like...nothing...

...but seriously doing nothing...focusing on doing nothing...doing nothing with a sense of purpose...with discipline...that’s a different matter entirely...then, suddenly, everything I could possibly be doing instead seems to intrude as if by some kind of deep imperative...check the oil, clean the bathroom, buy some cheese...run for president, get a sex-change, find out what it’s like to eat a whole pocketful of sand...though, of course, if I quit meditating with an imperative to get all of these things done in a timely and efficient manner...most likely I’ll be right back to nothing in no time...

...started meditating again...like, a day or two ago...half an hour a day.......okay, twenty minutes........

9 comments:

Karin Bartimole said...

i can so relate to what you are saying!! nothingness with intent and focus generally brings an avalanche of 'doing' ideas through my mind - or the opposite extreme, where I go from a state of alert readiness, to suddenly feeling as though I've ingested a bottle of ambien... congrats on beginning again!

earthtoholly said...

Thanks for mutton. (or so said Elaine Benes)

Happy medidatin'!

:o)

earthtoholly said...

Such a short comment, and I still goofed up...or was it a Freudian slip of sorts? Hmmm... Anyway, it's buggin' me, so...

Happy meditatin'!

And nice photo.

Okay, I'll go away now.

Brooks Hall said...

Lately, I find myself wondering, "Am I meditating?" when I am sitting with that intention. People at my neighborhood Zen center think that's a good sign, which seems pretty absurd.

Lydia said...

I love the Einstein quote, relate to most of the things that might have popped into your head, and am inspired to (again) begin meditating (tomorrow).


word verification sound yogic = isesingi

Melinda said...

This is where I used to get stuck when I was meditating. I used to worry so much about clearing my mind that it was always cluttered with those thoughts! I worried that I wasn't spiritual enough to meditate properly. Then I realized what a bunch of hooey that was--and started just *trying* to clear my mind. Once I stopped worrying about reaching profound silence, I came closer to approaching it (although I'm still no there!).

I don't know if I meditate 'the right way' but I no longer care--LOL!

Take care,

Melinda

Claudia said...

I was laughing while reading this, can Sooo see myself in your words...

Eleanor said...

procrastination? meditation? For me, it often turns out to be laziness.

Laura said...

And so it goes for every creative person (who is hyper focused on their beloved art-like writing or photographing when one should be doing something IMPORTANT, like an editing project they promised to do for a friend) and then there's the sitting and focusing that is suddenly impossible when one intends to just be present and all the stuff we didn't want to do before is calling out, shouting..."Hey, what about blah, blah, blah...you need to..." And on and on...and that is of course why meditation is called a practice...this noticing of thoughts, desires, emotions, touching them gently even when they are grabbing our mind with all their might....and returning to breath or a mantra or metta phrase...practice...practice...practice.

I'm so with you buddy!