Idleness, praiseworthy or devil's workshop

[hallenrm]

I have been a great fan of Bertand Russel, so evidently I have read his work "In praise of idleness" I have also heard the proverb "An idle mind is devils workshop". Well these days I am mostly idle, that means I do little besides thinking and posting on Hypography or blogging.

 

I have been wondering, Where does my mind stand now, A devil's workshop;) ? or praiseworthy vis a vis Russel's thoughts?:shrug: :hyper: :evil:

[Racoon]

I have been a great fan of Bertand Russel, so evidently I have read his work "In praise of idleness" I have also heard the proverb "An idle mind is devils workshop".

 

Looks like you get my 2000th post HallenRM! :pirate:

 

I will refer to the Chinese philosophy of -- Wu Wei

Do Nothing - Yet everything gets done. :circle:

 

You are in Praise, Brother! :circle: :shrug: :hihi: :D

Bertrand is right. The proverb is to scare you into church.

 

"Boredom" is usually what steers people in the wrong direction!:)

Not "Idelness"...

 

Be Happy HallenRM! :phones: You're mind is no devil's workshop...:evil:

Hahahahahahaha

 

Now,

If only I could empty my mind of thoughts...:hyper:

[Queso]

 

Now,

If only I could empty my mind of thoughts...:shrug:

 

Happy Trails :evil: :hyper:

[hallenrm]

Well, I sort of agree with him! Crowds can be vert uncomfortable:) ;)

[hallenrm]

A truely idle mind is one that has attained moksha, the ultimate state of blissfulness. Not many people ever suceed to attain it! Gautam Buddha is one person, whom we all know, attained moksha.

 

We the mortals can only hope to approach that stage. Perhaps, the idle mind referred in the proverb is the preliminary stage. A stage, when the mind has not yet got over the worldly desires.

 

The Idleness that Russel refers to is perhaps the intermediate stage, whereby the mind decides to be content with whatever possessions the body has acquired.

 

I am attempting, I am not very sure if I would ever succeed!!:hihi:

[hallenrm]

This idea, that idea!!!

 

The mind is in contant flux with ideas. The mind of a busy person seldom gets an opportunity to consolidate. As a result, the brain (should I call it the Hard Disk) gets fragmented it needs to be defragmented in order to meaningfully consolidate (in the sense that a stock market in a bull phase needs to consolidate).

 

It all requires maturity of the mind. A mature mind can benefit from such a consolidation, but what about an immature mind?

 

It may become a victim to many stray ideas that are not useful. It is in such a scenerio that it is said to become a devils workshop.

 

But the moot question is, How and when a mind can be said to be mature?

 

Any ideas!!! :phones:

[hallenrm]

To day, i pick up the threads from my lat post.

 

"how does a mind mature?"

 

A mind matures when it is tuned. Tuning the mind is like tuning an automobile engine or a radio receiver.

 

A tuned mind would be able to ward off stray thoughts, it is constantly facing. It is focussed! It knows what thoughts to be let in and what thoughts to beware of.

 

To tune one's mind is not an easy task;)

[Racoon]

The mind is in contant flux with ideas. The mind of a busy person seldom gets an opportunity to consolidate. As a result, the brain (should I call it the Hard Disk) gets fragmented it needs to be defragmented in order to meaningfully consolidate

 

But the moot question is, How and when a mind can be said to be mature?

 

Right, and comparing a computer to a brain is a good analogy Hallen.

You just said it about as good as it can be said. :shade:

 

And like computers, they are not all the same, but share the same fundamental features that make them run (or not)

 

If you do not turn off the computer, will it overheat?

The same can be said for thinking. (defragment as you suggested)

 

Sometimes you need to not think. Which is what meditation aims at doing, and why more people should be doing it.

 

When can a mind be called mature? Here, legally, its 18 years of age! :cake:

But really that is dependant of the individual.

 

Life is full of Variety and Mystery.

Thats part of the Fun :note2: and thats part of the Problem :gift:

 

Excellent Ideas Hallen :xparty: :D

[InfiniteNow]

I think it's better to use an analogy like erosion for this.

 

Think about water flowing down the side of a mountain in a small channel. The more water that flows, and the longer this water flows, the broader and deeper the channel will become, making it easier for water in the future to follow the same path.

 

Our neural pathways are the channel. The more we repeat certain movements or thoughts, the "deeper" the channel becomes. Thus, in the future, that action or that thought happens more easily and more quickly. (In reality, there is an increase in dendritic connections and greater synaptic interconnectivity).

 

 

Cheers. :thumbs_do

[hallenrm]

Many thanks, to both of you Raccon and Infinitenow,:) you have raised certain points for me to mull over.

 

Right now, I will expose some thoughts that have struck me lately.

 

Let me begin with the question "when does a mind mature?:QuestionM "

 

I think age has nothing to do with the maturity of mind. I have come across young children whom I would consider much more mature then many grownups.

 

I mind matures when it can discern a valuable thought from a wasteful thought. It's like filtering a signal from the noise. But, keeping what is considers a noise in a separate compartment, just in case, it would prove to be an intelligent signal. It has the capacity to ignore as well as remember the minutest detail; something an immature mind lacks.

 

The next. moot question is "What is idleness?" :QuestionM Is it leisuretime? or something more :QuestionM

[hallenrm]

What is Idleness, that Russel finds praiseworthy?

 

Idleness is not just leisurely life, people are at leisure during a holiday, can their mind be called idle?

 

Most often not. Because, it would be busy making plans for the next activity, or bothered about some arrangements. The ideal idleness is the one when the mind is free of all such thoughts and is free to explore new interconnections in the various thoughts that might have crossed the mind. In this context, I am reminded of the legends about Arcemedes, Newton and Kekule. It such an idleness that gives birth to great discoveries and inventions.:(