This piece was originally published as a part of the Rao Institute’s weekly newsletter.
The world I grew up in does not exist.
It is entirely possible that it never existed.
It certainly was a different era and children today cannot comprehend it.
I do not recall ever feeling ‘bored’. There was no TV. There was no Internet. There was no Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Discord, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit or social media of any kind. We did not have a telephone.
I always had a pile of books and two dogs whose antics were enchanting and could go out and play with the other kids in the neighborhood in the evenings.
I did not know I had mental chatter then, but it was on an even keel. There was no anxiety.
A journalist interviewed The Dalai Lama soon after he fled from Tibet to a refuge in India. “How does your society deal with alienation” the journalist asked?
“What is alienation,” the monk asked, and the journalist explained.
“I feel so sorry for your people,” said the Dalai Lama. “We do not have this problem in Tibet.”
I recalled that interview when I was talking to a group of undergrads. They reported feeling incredibly stressed. Even burnt out. They were bothered about their grades. About their looks. About feeling unsafe in class. About politics and what was happening in the world. About their sexual identity. About being discriminated against.
The root cause of this unsettlement is mental chatter running amok.
Yes, the world is complex. Yes, there are ‘problems’ we confront that did not exist two decades ago. Yes, we need creative new solutions. But, NO, we do not need to be in a tense, upset state as we deal with all this.
Visualize what I am about to share with you. Take a glass beaker with clear water in it. Throw in some gravel and stir vigorously. It becomes cloudy but, in a few minutes, the gravel settles down and the water becomes clear again.
Now put in a handful of sand and stir again. It takes longer but the sand finally settles down and the water becomes clear once more.
Now put in some gooey mud and stir. It could take weeks before that muck gets to the bottom, and you have clear water again.
And what happens if you stir this mixture every day?
You never have clear water in your beaker.
That is the situation we are in. All the stuff we let into our brain clouds and disturbs our mind. In the old days there were fewer distractions, and we could return fairly easily to a state of relative calm. These days there are many disturbances causing influences and they take forever to settle down. And, we have been brainwashed into liking the gooey mud, so we keep stirring the water and it never becomes clear.
Have you noticed that the pace of movies now is faster than ever? That there is more gore in them? That the norm in politics would have been unacceptable two decades ago? That our culture is gross and becoming more so?
We are stirring that muddy beaker and refusing to let the sediment settle.
So, look at yourself. Do you feel bored? Stop trying to find something to titillate your jaded senses. Don’t look for distraction. Observe your boredom and relax into it. Create stretches of uncommitted time and just observe how your mind goes batty telling you to do something, anything, to relieve its misery.
Let the mud sink down.
It will take a long time. And you will eventually experience a sense of calm that will make it all worthwhile.
Peace!
