The Wisdom of Stillness
Is there anything easier (and more difficult) than sitting still?
Why does it feel like there is always something to do or somewhere to go?
The seventeenth-century philosopher Blaise Pascal insisted that the chief symptom of our unhappiness is simply our inability to sit quietly in a room alone. Today, we often point to social media and technology as the culprit.
However, we are wise to remember that distraction is part of the human condition. Hence, the reason for contemplative practices across wisdom traditions. Seneca pointed out in On the Shortness of Life, “It's not that we have a short time to live — it's that we waste much of it." As humans, we tend to squander our lives, whether through distraction or simply wandering about without a clear direction.
In his Pensées (or Thoughts), Pascal observed,
We never keep to the present. We recall the past; we anticipate the future as if we found it too slow in coming and were trying to hurry it up, or we recall the past as if to stay its too rapid flight… Let each of us examine their thoughts; they will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future.
