With the sort of access and connectivity we have now, we can seamlessly circumvent any resistance to our desire by pursuing a reasonably close substitute for what we were originally after, or by opening ourselves to something easier among the many alluring diversions begging for our attention. Such are the productive pleasures of convenience, translating inclinations into results without fuss or rumination. Who has the discipline to choose frustration? But lurking beneath the surface of this fantasia of frictionless desire is a desperate fear of boredom, a sinking sense that surplus gratification is snuffing out our very capacity to conceive of wishes. We are in danger of conquering wishful thinking, leaving ourselves only a dull, insatiable hunger for distraction.
And:
The question, then, is how do we keep alive the possibility of difficulty? How do we find resistance when digital media efface it? How do we shake the superficial self when it reaps more immediate rewards than ever
From Love Worth Fighting For. It’s a good article on the subject and I encourage you to read the whole piece. Who has the discipline to choose frustration. Indeed. That statement is true, in the context of love as well as in the context of studying a musical instrument or any other craft.
swissmiss | Distraction One of the more embarrassing and self-indulgent challenges of our time is the task of relearning how to concentrate. The past decade has seen an unparalleled assault on our capacity to fix our minds steadily on anything. To sit still and think, without succumbing to an anxious reach for a machine, has become almost impossible.
And
The need to diet, which we know so well in relation to food, and which runs so contrary to our natural impulses, should be brought to bear on what we now have to relearn in relation to knowledge, people, and ideas. Our minds, no less than our bodies, require periods of fasting. Alain de Botton on Distraction
Finished reading The Dream of Scipio, by Iain Pears, on Sunday and started One Hundred Days of Solitude yesterday. No. that’s not One Hundred Years of Solitude… this is a book by a woman, who spent 100 days of a snowy New England winter in a tiny cabin in the woods, adherining to a schedule of sitting, walking, chanting, bowing and chopping wood. She had no contact with the outside world. Great example of a distraction-diet, fasting for the mind. Goes well with the Distraction link above..
When you plant seeds in the garden, you don’t dig them up every day to see if they have sprouted yet. You simply water them and clear away the weeds; you know that the seeds will grow in time. Similarly, just do your daily practice and cultivate a kind heart. Abandon impatience and instead be content creating the causes for goodness; the results will come when they’re ready.
– Tibetan Buddhist nun and author Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron
Those words can easily be adapted for musicians or calligraphers.
Here is another Lava track. This one has the unromantic title Reel 2 Song 1. Such a pretty piece deserves a nicer title, a more evocative title… well, pretty except for the freakout towards the end.
Despite its artistic pretensions, its sophistication, and its many accomplishments, humankind owes its existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.
– Anonymous
We’re all downstream. – Ecologist’s motto adopted by Margaret & Jim Drescher, Windhorse Farm, Nova Scotia
I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.
E.B.White
