Barrenness

                                            

                                                        “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.”

                                                                              Socrates

Socrates was considered, in his time, to be the wisest among men, in part, because he “knew” that he knew nothing. He lived the life of a Greek philosopher, which depended on having slaves so you could sit around and philosophize all day. But Socrates really did leave a significant legacy in the Western tradition. In this quote, he is pointing to something very deep about the superficiality of a life lived that is frenetic and deluded. This advice and warning about how to live is particularly relevant to our modern times, so the fact that he spoke this quote approximately three thousand years ago, should get our attention as to how profound, timeless, and relevant it is!

We could say that modern life is characterized by busyness. By busyness, Socrates would mean several things; 1) a life unexamined, is not worth living (also one of his quotes), 2) Unless one 'knows oneself,' they are subject to empty and meaningless activity, as well as susceptible to being controlled and manipulated, and 3) the ultimate authority and power resides in oneself, and one has a moral obligation to be true to that self.

So, the busyness that leads to barrenness, is activity, habits, thoughts, attitudes, etc. that is disconnected to self-awareness and self-reflection. Our modern ways of driven, fragmented, compartmentalized, endless consuming and doing, is part of our contemporary pathology. We are addicted and compulsively consuming people, places, things, communication, information, experiences, and entertainment at a rate and ratio in which the more we have, the more we want.

 

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that 80-90% of our texts, face book posts, emails, phone calls, tweets, and internet surfs are unneeded and contribute nothing other than distraction to the greater Cosmos. If this is remotely true, it means that we are only allotting 10-20% of depth and meaning in our communications and expressions, which means that we certainly aren't allotting time to reflect and examine whether or not our journey is on track and consistent with who we feel we are. This creates a malaise in the human psyche that T.S. Elliot termed "The Wasteland." If we are being this superficial, than we are also not really taking the necessary time to get to know who we are, and who we are becoming. We are on default, and who we are, is literally being manipulated and determined by those who are very good at that sort of thing!

 

This trajectory leads to a false sense of authority, or a projection of one's authority onto others, we literally are being consumed and fed on, as we mindlessly consume. If we consumed 80-90% too much food, what would that look like? This baroness plays out in our relationship with the Earth, which is rapidly becoming more and more barren.

 

The Zen tradition is a tradition of profound simplicity and emptiness. This practice seeks to become centered in the most spacious part of the mind that is beyond thought, it is boundless awareness that just observes, delights, and is unattached to attachment. A traditional Japanese garden is an external form of this inner state of mind, and one will feel pulled into a quietness that is rich and fertile with the emptiness and space in which the soul feels it's own beauty reflected.

 

So, let's challenge ourselves and each other to be less busy, and look for ways to take time to fertilize

our souls with depth and meaning. Examine where you are on your map and how your journey is going, see what you can jettison to make you lighter and more buoyant. See if you can experience and actualize the principle less is more, and simplify your overly serious and complex complexities. We all know how good it feels to get rid of what we don't need, or want, this is the feeling of freedom!