Productivity, Getting Things Done and Meditation
For me the hardest part about overcoming my shortcomings, be it bad habits or something more serious, is recognizing one as such and determining if overcoming it is worth it at all. Actually, I don't think I've ever overcome anything, I just made myself grow tired of doing something.
Smoking
It took a long time and considerable amount of pain for me to quit smoking. But as with most other habits, I never made myself a promise that I wouldn't start again. I just got to the point where I recognized it as an unnecessary, possibly even harmful part of my life - and convinced myself I wasn't really interested in doing it anymore.
Not doing can be harmful, too
Shortcomings for the most part are not about doing something, but about not doing it. Thanks to Michael Nagler's lectures on non-violence, I'm now not completely blind to the fact that doing something wrong can be a far better choice than not doing anything at all. In fact, I've never committed to being a "good" person in whatever sense, I just like being one for now and acknowledge that for reasons dependent or independent of me I can become a complete opposite of my current principles. What I've always tried to avoid to be is something in between.
Devoid of alignment
Life's full of surprises. First we learn what's good and bad, then we learn there's more to that, then some of us refuse to accept the universal "moral", then some of us discover heart and learn to trust it - and every step of the way, not only are we trying to tell right from wrong, but also to choose a side and stick to it. It just so happens, many people give up too early, follow the "public opinion", however unstable and ridiculous that thing is, and just ignore the question of sides for the rest of their lives.
Eyes wide shut
And without the inner sense of alignment, you are indeed blind. You'll see daylight, people, stuff, but you'll keep stumbling into perils, banging your head against low ceilings, falling down the great pitfalls of life. Only your body won't hurt. Something deep inside will, instead.
It's not enough to see
The thing is, even if you "see", it doesn't make you anyone special. You just have one excuse less for not doing anything. And this "sight" is never perfect. It takes a lifetime to develop it into something you can walk into a situation with and know what you should do and what you shouldn't. And even knowing it is not enough. Going the path you see before you is never easy, wherever it may lead. The easiest thing to do is just stand.
Getting back to the topic
Recently I've been learning about a lot of stuff which could be classified as self-
something. Self-improvement, self-help, self-awareness, self-motivation, self-whatever. And for me the big question about most techiques is, do they really help? "Getting things done" enables you to achieve whatever you planned for the next year within the next couple of weeks. Increased concentration and meditation help you brain-storm ideas quicker and deeper than a roomfull of geniuses ever would.
The problem is I can't see where it's going. Following a simple routine (like spend 45 minutes a day in a holy corner for the next 10 years) can slow me down or speed me up in a life-turning way, but I can hardly see anything "good" or "bad" about it. In fact, it's hard for me to imagine that there exists a system of values where being efficient, spiritual or motivated immediately makes you a "good" person.
The open questions
There are lots of them.
- Doesn't becoming super-productive, in an almost-industrial kind of way, make you less human?
- Is it better to be speeding down a cool highway than snailing down your own path?
- All this self-stuff has been written by human beings, maybe following their advice is like learning by their mistakes, which might be a good thing.
- ...
Main.AndrewPantyukhin - 08 Nov 2007:
Test comment 567.