The underlying thematic behind what you’ve conveyed succinctly in the triad posts of yours is the same that lies behind the notion of prison, and what it stands for as a “correction” instrument.
This stillness is rooted in our genes. It’s a fundamental genetic marker in our biology that we experience as a pressure to be still so we can focus.
In prison you’re locked into a focus because there is nothing else to do. You get locked up so you can focus, think and contemplate. You ruminate over your life, your past actions, your behavioral patterns; you get to re-evaluate them in your mind’s eye and reexamine them from every possible angle.
And it’s that process that gives you a much broader perspective, that otherwise is not possible. That is, without that necessary stillness you can’t really do that. There are so many people who have gone to prisons for things and it was a transforming experience because they had nothing else to do but be forced to be still.
More than that, by having this genetic marker, what one discovers is that it’s one of the basic frequencies of our development as a species.
Your examples about Newton et. al. reflect that exactly.
It is this stillness that is so magical because it is what focuses our pattern system. Then, the potential in being of service is by revealing the pattern. It's the only thing that makes a difference. It's the only thing that makes a difference between us being killer monkeys instead of just monkeys. You can't imagine how important that is for the development of our consciousness.
All of that opens up the possibility for humanity to transcend its physical limitations, to build tools that are far, far more precise, advanced and sophisticated than our opposable thumb, to be able to travel into space, to be able to do research deep within the body. We’re always under pressure to deal with the fragility of the form, which means we become more efficient at building forms, find ways to compensate for the deficiency in forms.
The tragedy is that nowadays, even when we have the opportunity to be still we don’t take advantage of that. The dumbphone age has robbed the individual from the possibility to contemplate and introspect which are so vital for ”correction”.
That is, if we don’t have enough people who are able to sit still in order to find what patterns are false, and instead, are just automatons being busy for nothing really, there’s no more counterpoint. There’s no more the necessary judgmentation process to scrutinize and toss that which no longer severs the larger whole.
You make me think of W.H.Murray, who is described in one of Robert Macfarlane's books. He was joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders when WWII broke out, was sent to North Africa, where he was captured.
Here's part of the Wikipedia entry:
"...He was captured south of Mersa Matruh during the Western Desert Campaign in a retreat to El Alamein in June 1942 by a tank commander from the 15th Panzer Division who was armed with a machine-pistol. A passage in Mountain magazine (#67, 1979) describes the moments after his capture:[7]
To my astonishment, he [the German tank commander] forced a wry smile and asked in English, 'Aren't you feeling the cold?' ... I replied 'cold as a mountain top'. He looked at me, and his eyes brightened. 'Do you mean – you climb mountains?' He was a mountaineer. We both relaxed. He stuffed his gun away. After a few quick words – the Alps, Scotland, rock and ice – he could not do enough for me.
He then spent three years in prisoner of war camps in Italy (Chieti), Germany (Moosberg, Brunswick) and Czechoslovakia (Marisch Trubeau Oflag VIII-F). While imprisoned, Murray wrote a book entitled Mountaineering in Scotland. The first draft of the work was written on the only paper available to him – rough toilet paper. The manuscript was found and destroyed by the Gestapo.[7] To the incredulity of his fellow prisoners, Murray's response to the loss was to start again, despite the risk of its loss and his physical condition being so poor from the near starvation diet that he believed he would never climb again. The rewritten work was finally published in 1947 and was followed by the sequel, Undiscovered Scotland, in 1951. Both concentrate on Scottish winter climbing and were widely credited with helping to inspire the post-war renaissance in the sport. "
When Murray was released, according to Macfarlane, Murray was asked his advice on life and he said "Find beauty. Be still."
I feel compelled to add something. As I've contemplated the experience the J6 political prisoners are enduring, I focused on solitary isolation. What surprised me was realizing it would not truly be much punishment for me, precisely because I would have the luxury of minimal intrusions. That part, at least, was appealing. How strange. Everyone keeps saying humans are social beings, needing constant interaction, harmed by lockdown isolation. That was not my experience...
Thanks to you and John for helping me see I'm not so strange after all.
And I thank you. I value these types of comments as they provide opportunities for interesting exchanges.
Notice I used the term “dumbphone age”. I have no issue with phones and technology. I use them too. It's what humans do with them, and most importantly, the underlying awareness that guides their usage or lack thereof.
The grand value I found in the Human Design System is that it provides accurate mapping of one’s unique genetic code in a way that's available to them, without preconceived conditions or circumstances. To me, that’s empowerment, especially in times where our reliance and trust in outer authorities is disintegrating.
The reason I mention it is that the system reveals that about 42% of the population are designed to be self sufficient, whereas about 47% are designed to be in some sort of a partnership setting, as a means to wellbeing and stability.
Contrary to you, for years I thought I could do everything on my own and didn’t really need anyone. I found creative ways to travel and isolate myself, exactly for the purpose of finding peace. The joke is that I never did.
When I realized the underlying mechanics, everything clicked. I embraced people in my life whom for years I tried to alienate. Their company, in turn, had provided me the integration I needed in order to be able to feel wholesome. In other words, if both of us were to be put in solitary confinement, I'd be the one to lose his sanity.
The reason I mention all that is that as we step deeper into uncharted territory of confusion, deep fear and misunderstandings, I believe there’s no better time to know and accept oneself, and to embrace the difference that make us who we are. To cease, once and for all, with the “measurement business”; the need to compare in relation to societal standards, since they all crumble anyway.
So I’m content to read that you've found what works for you and that there are no qualms about it.
I tend to disagree about the lost opportunity due to phones. People inclined to reflect and ponder will feel a calling and seek isolation and quiet for that purpose. At least I have. And it's made me much better company when I rejoin others for a brief visit.
But, yes, we have to ponder what we experience and what it means. Otherwise, it's just a hollow memory of the time-line of events.
Didn't know that about Cat Stevens. Like Leonard Cohen, who was a recluse most of his life then intentionally isolated himself in a Buddhist monastery, both of those folks were huge influences on my own music. I've never been forced to endure social isolation but willingly chose it as a preference.
A gallery I know did a series of interviews with visual artists during the pandemic shutdown. It wasn't surprising to me that almost all of them hardly noticed. They were and continue to be off in their solitary studios working away. I've heard artists described "...as people with an inordinately long attention span". Decades long I might add. That is where the joy of uninterrupted, consecrated effort lies. Where you get lost and found.
Well good for them! My “confinement” almost took away our home & 30 year old family business. You are only seeing this issue from an elite, laptop money maker point of view. Not at what those sick days do to a struggling family!!!! Are you losing pay? Are you using up the PTO that you hoped would be a vacation? Are you struggling to get your kids to school or daycare, while you lay around, doing some deep thinking??? Just stop it!!
Dear Video Gramma, I lost my family restaurant and most of my life savings during the pandemic. I was taking a break from writing about the catastrophic pandemic response to write a couple of essays about sickness and confinement, as I am currently sick and confined at home. My essay does NOT endorse the lockdown policy during the pandemic, but is a personal reflection on the theme of sickness and confinement. Best regards, John Leake
I wasn’t referring to mandated lockdowns a couple years ago, I was referring to now. Sick days are awful for us self-employed & even harder on those with tough bosses! My daughter has been fighting an unfair termination for weeks, cause she was sick with a regular cold & out of sick days... Home sick is a horribly tough predicament for most.. 😔🙏
Sorry to hear about this. And I agree completely. I interpreted the essays to be about the opportunity to ponder and reflect... which, to me implies the illness cannot be so impactful as to inhibit that. A mind must be free to roam. Feeling ill and having stress I not freeing of the mind. Some illness is mild, impacts minor. But many are not. And those are a curse that harms.
I pray your daughter improves, and the burdens ease.
What a bad mother I must have been, marvelling in the creations of my children in covid isolation, far more visible and pleasing than the socialisation would've been, for me.
My children, being primarily homeschooled, have always had brief times of isolation and it has had good effect on their character and academic abilities. My son and youngest especially benefited, since the plandemic forced him and I both out of class (I was an instructional aide). We tutored each other, one on one: my teaching him language arts and him teaching me to long board in addition to all of the quiet time we were able to have individually was great.
We should never avoid, suppress or deny the trying condition of sickness; instead, accept it as a healing power and use it for our inner work of transformation.
Yes. It seems that God can cause good to come out of bad situations. My daughter and I studied A Course In Miracles during 2020 lockdown. We had planned to do that for a long time but distractions kept us procrastinating. We spent 15 months to complete the one year course and it was life changing.
I loved your article and thank you for posting that poem. But allow me a provocative snark (that perhaps I do not want to agree with myself), but is it just not the case that all mental activity requires a certain amount of peace and the effects of isolation? At the risk of being trivial, is this not the reason why there are "quiet please" rules in libraries?
Professor Cal Newport’s recent book “Deep Work” is worth the time and effort. “It tells how professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate ”. I wish every high school kid would carry a copy in their backpack! You can try out a free sample using Amazon’s ‘Kindle’. After reading the first chapter I’m sure you’ll push on !
"Deep Work" sounds excellent. I will check that out on Amazon and thanks for that information! "Flow, The Psychology of Optimal Experience" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is also s fine addition to understanding what 'deep dives' are like and where they can take you.
Have no doubts about your observations; genius arrives in the silence without distraction often.
Sometimes, wonder if it's human intellect or God speaking when we're capable of listening.
All will be revealed! I am excited by that promise. But in no great hurry to redeem it.
There is a joy in the wondering. But the need to explore our limitless-ness offers some fun.
😲Right, you are🤗
.
It Is Important To Acknowledge
That The People
Who Took The Vaccine
Didn’t Get Any Smarter
Just Because They Are Suffering.
.
.
The Chronically Vaccinated
Are On Suicide Watch.
We Are Watching
While They Kill Themselves.
.
Woah.....cool Dude....Very apropos! A+
The underlying thematic behind what you’ve conveyed succinctly in the triad posts of yours is the same that lies behind the notion of prison, and what it stands for as a “correction” instrument.
This stillness is rooted in our genes. It’s a fundamental genetic marker in our biology that we experience as a pressure to be still so we can focus.
In prison you’re locked into a focus because there is nothing else to do. You get locked up so you can focus, think and contemplate. You ruminate over your life, your past actions, your behavioral patterns; you get to re-evaluate them in your mind’s eye and reexamine them from every possible angle.
And it’s that process that gives you a much broader perspective, that otherwise is not possible. That is, without that necessary stillness you can’t really do that. There are so many people who have gone to prisons for things and it was a transforming experience because they had nothing else to do but be forced to be still.
More than that, by having this genetic marker, what one discovers is that it’s one of the basic frequencies of our development as a species.
Your examples about Newton et. al. reflect that exactly.
It is this stillness that is so magical because it is what focuses our pattern system. Then, the potential in being of service is by revealing the pattern. It's the only thing that makes a difference. It's the only thing that makes a difference between us being killer monkeys instead of just monkeys. You can't imagine how important that is for the development of our consciousness.
All of that opens up the possibility for humanity to transcend its physical limitations, to build tools that are far, far more precise, advanced and sophisticated than our opposable thumb, to be able to travel into space, to be able to do research deep within the body. We’re always under pressure to deal with the fragility of the form, which means we become more efficient at building forms, find ways to compensate for the deficiency in forms.
The tragedy is that nowadays, even when we have the opportunity to be still we don’t take advantage of that. The dumbphone age has robbed the individual from the possibility to contemplate and introspect which are so vital for ”correction”.
That is, if we don’t have enough people who are able to sit still in order to find what patterns are false, and instead, are just automatons being busy for nothing really, there’s no more counterpoint. There’s no more the necessary judgmentation process to scrutinize and toss that which no longer severs the larger whole.
It also shows why we are at an end.
Many thanks for sharing your reflections on this topic. They are very intriguing. JSL
You make me think of W.H.Murray, who is described in one of Robert Macfarlane's books. He was joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders when WWII broke out, was sent to North Africa, where he was captured.
Here's part of the Wikipedia entry:
"...He was captured south of Mersa Matruh during the Western Desert Campaign in a retreat to El Alamein in June 1942 by a tank commander from the 15th Panzer Division who was armed with a machine-pistol. A passage in Mountain magazine (#67, 1979) describes the moments after his capture:[7]
To my astonishment, he [the German tank commander] forced a wry smile and asked in English, 'Aren't you feeling the cold?' ... I replied 'cold as a mountain top'. He looked at me, and his eyes brightened. 'Do you mean – you climb mountains?' He was a mountaineer. We both relaxed. He stuffed his gun away. After a few quick words – the Alps, Scotland, rock and ice – he could not do enough for me.
He then spent three years in prisoner of war camps in Italy (Chieti), Germany (Moosberg, Brunswick) and Czechoslovakia (Marisch Trubeau Oflag VIII-F). While imprisoned, Murray wrote a book entitled Mountaineering in Scotland. The first draft of the work was written on the only paper available to him – rough toilet paper. The manuscript was found and destroyed by the Gestapo.[7] To the incredulity of his fellow prisoners, Murray's response to the loss was to start again, despite the risk of its loss and his physical condition being so poor from the near starvation diet that he believed he would never climb again. The rewritten work was finally published in 1947 and was followed by the sequel, Undiscovered Scotland, in 1951. Both concentrate on Scottish winter climbing and were widely credited with helping to inspire the post-war renaissance in the sport. "
When Murray was released, according to Macfarlane, Murray was asked his advice on life and he said "Find beauty. Be still."
Interesting. Thank you.
I feel compelled to add something. As I've contemplated the experience the J6 political prisoners are enduring, I focused on solitary isolation. What surprised me was realizing it would not truly be much punishment for me, precisely because I would have the luxury of minimal intrusions. That part, at least, was appealing. How strange. Everyone keeps saying humans are social beings, needing constant interaction, harmed by lockdown isolation. That was not my experience...
Thanks to you and John for helping me see I'm not so strange after all.
And I thank you. I value these types of comments as they provide opportunities for interesting exchanges.
Notice I used the term “dumbphone age”. I have no issue with phones and technology. I use them too. It's what humans do with them, and most importantly, the underlying awareness that guides their usage or lack thereof.
The grand value I found in the Human Design System is that it provides accurate mapping of one’s unique genetic code in a way that's available to them, without preconceived conditions or circumstances. To me, that’s empowerment, especially in times where our reliance and trust in outer authorities is disintegrating.
The reason I mention it is that the system reveals that about 42% of the population are designed to be self sufficient, whereas about 47% are designed to be in some sort of a partnership setting, as a means to wellbeing and stability.
Contrary to you, for years I thought I could do everything on my own and didn’t really need anyone. I found creative ways to travel and isolate myself, exactly for the purpose of finding peace. The joke is that I never did.
When I realized the underlying mechanics, everything clicked. I embraced people in my life whom for years I tried to alienate. Their company, in turn, had provided me the integration I needed in order to be able to feel wholesome. In other words, if both of us were to be put in solitary confinement, I'd be the one to lose his sanity.
The reason I mention all that is that as we step deeper into uncharted territory of confusion, deep fear and misunderstandings, I believe there’s no better time to know and accept oneself, and to embrace the difference that make us who we are. To cease, once and for all, with the “measurement business”; the need to compare in relation to societal standards, since they all crumble anyway.
So I’m content to read that you've found what works for you and that there are no qualms about it.
I tend to disagree about the lost opportunity due to phones. People inclined to reflect and ponder will feel a calling and seek isolation and quiet for that purpose. At least I have. And it's made me much better company when I rejoin others for a brief visit.
But, yes, we have to ponder what we experience and what it means. Otherwise, it's just a hollow memory of the time-line of events.
Excellent discourse. Our talents and tasks given to us by God the Creator and Sustainer are fired up in solitude.
I would add to your list Emily Dickinson, Emily Bronte and John of Revelation.
Didn't know that about Cat Stevens. Like Leonard Cohen, who was a recluse most of his life then intentionally isolated himself in a Buddhist monastery, both of those folks were huge influences on my own music. I've never been forced to endure social isolation but willingly chose it as a preference.
A gallery I know did a series of interviews with visual artists during the pandemic shutdown. It wasn't surprising to me that almost all of them hardly noticed. They were and continue to be off in their solitary studios working away. I've heard artists described "...as people with an inordinately long attention span". Decades long I might add. That is where the joy of uninterrupted, consecrated effort lies. Where you get lost and found.
Well good for them! My “confinement” almost took away our home & 30 year old family business. You are only seeing this issue from an elite, laptop money maker point of view. Not at what those sick days do to a struggling family!!!! Are you losing pay? Are you using up the PTO that you hoped would be a vacation? Are you struggling to get your kids to school or daycare, while you lay around, doing some deep thinking??? Just stop it!!
Dear Video Gramma, I lost my family restaurant and most of my life savings during the pandemic. I was taking a break from writing about the catastrophic pandemic response to write a couple of essays about sickness and confinement, as I am currently sick and confined at home. My essay does NOT endorse the lockdown policy during the pandemic, but is a personal reflection on the theme of sickness and confinement. Best regards, John Leake
I wasn’t referring to mandated lockdowns a couple years ago, I was referring to now. Sick days are awful for us self-employed & even harder on those with tough bosses! My daughter has been fighting an unfair termination for weeks, cause she was sick with a regular cold & out of sick days... Home sick is a horribly tough predicament for most.. 😔🙏
Sorry to hear about this. And I agree completely. I interpreted the essays to be about the opportunity to ponder and reflect... which, to me implies the illness cannot be so impactful as to inhibit that. A mind must be free to roam. Feeling ill and having stress I not freeing of the mind. Some illness is mild, impacts minor. But many are not. And those are a curse that harms.
I pray your daughter improves, and the burdens ease.
Many sincere thanks... It’s still horrible, for us working, struggling class... 😢🙏
What a bad mother I must have been, marvelling in the creations of my children in covid isolation, far more visible and pleasing than the socialisation would've been, for me.
Yin...Meet Yang. We all should get acquainted by these two. hahah
🙌
You make a case. I'm sure John Bunyan of Pilgrim's Progress has a spot. Come to think of it, add Apostle Paul. I'm for choosing, for sure.
My children, being primarily homeschooled, have always had brief times of isolation and it has had good effect on their character and academic abilities. My son and youngest especially benefited, since the plandemic forced him and I both out of class (I was an instructional aide). We tutored each other, one on one: my teaching him language arts and him teaching me to long board in addition to all of the quiet time we were able to have individually was great.
We should never avoid, suppress or deny the trying condition of sickness; instead, accept it as a healing power and use it for our inner work of transformation.
Yes. It seems that God can cause good to come out of bad situations. My daughter and I studied A Course In Miracles during 2020 lockdown. We had planned to do that for a long time but distractions kept us procrastinating. We spent 15 months to complete the one year course and it was life changing.
Thank you, John Leake. A joy to read at 2:30 in the morning when one can't sleep!
"And never the twain shall meet".....but in the Word, and love of God.
I loved your article and thank you for posting that poem. But allow me a provocative snark (that perhaps I do not want to agree with myself), but is it just not the case that all mental activity requires a certain amount of peace and the effects of isolation? At the risk of being trivial, is this not the reason why there are "quiet please" rules in libraries?
Along these lines, it is said that.... Boredom is the mother of creativity. Distraction is the death of it.
I really, REALLY like the back half of that saying!
Great stories about all three of these people. I was aware of Newton's but not the other two.
Thank you for sharing these gems with us.
Danny Huckabee
Professor Cal Newport’s recent book “Deep Work” is worth the time and effort. “It tells how professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate ”. I wish every high school kid would carry a copy in their backpack! You can try out a free sample using Amazon’s ‘Kindle’. After reading the first chapter I’m sure you’ll push on !
"Deep Work" sounds excellent. I will check that out on Amazon and thanks for that information! "Flow, The Psychology of Optimal Experience" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is also s fine addition to understanding what 'deep dives' are like and where they can take you.