On Solitude

Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=Av9sRpEVI6M&feature=related

more on Thomas Merton:

General:

http://www.merton.org/

Some Quotes:

http://www.octanecreative.com/merton/quotes.html

Photography:

http://www.merton.org/hiddenwholeness/


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also...an amazing meditation on solitude is the film:

Into Great Silence

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478160/


a filmmaker received permission to film monks at a monastery high in the Alps. Just one long beautiful meditation...

Originally posted by r99pawn77
Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=Av9sRpEVI6M&feature=related

more on Thomas Merton:

General:

http://www.merton.org/

Some Quotes:

http://www.octanecreative.com/merton/quotes.html

Photography:

http://www.merton.org/hiddenwholeness/


+++++++++++

also...an amazing meditation on solitude ...[text shortened]... permission to film monks at a monastery high in the Alps. Just one long beautiful meditation...

I think if we are not careful we develop habits and addictions where we sometimes
get hooked on things and from time to time we actually have no idea that we are. It
is easy to see addictions when it comes to drugs, cigarettes, and surprising to see
them other places like food and so on. I think we can become so accustomed to some
stimulus like sound that we will crave that too if we are not careful, we will walk into a
room and feel the need to turn on something like a TV, stereo, music or something
else. Solitude early on actually is a with draw from much of what we use to busy
ourselves with that we may have become addicted to in my opinion, some may not
grasp that and avoid the whole experience as they go through simulation withdraws.
Kelly

Originally posted by KellyJay
I think if we are not careful we develop habits and addictions where we sometimes
get hooked on things and from time to time we actually have no idea that we are. It
is easy to see addictions when it comes to drugs, cigarettes, and surprising to see
them other places like food and so on. I think we can become so accustomed to some
stimulus like sound th ...[text shortened]... y not
grasp that and avoid the whole experience as they go through simulation withdraws.
Kelly

Good post KJ.

I think solitude and seeking inner stillness can prove useful and instructive. For one, as you point out, it stands in contrast to any performance to which we might otherwise be habitualized. And this can give us a new view from which to take stock of such things and maybe understand them better. I was reading an essay recently on so-called "negative" virtues, which can relate to the cultivation of inner stillness. I don't feel like I have much time for the fora anymore, but if I get some time to start a new thread, that might be a good topic.

Originally posted by LemonJello
Good post KJ.

I think solitude and seeking inner stillness can prove useful and instructive. For one, as you point out, it stands in contrast to any performance to which we might otherwise be habitualized. And this can give us a new view from which to take stock of such things and maybe understand them better. I was reading an essay recently on so-c ...[text shortened]... r the fora anymore, but if I get some time to start a new thread, that might be a good topic.

The Higgins article from the collection edited by Gardiner?

Originally posted by bbarr
The Higgins article from the collection edited by Gardiner?

Right. That is an excellent collection of essays, and I thank you for that recommendation.

What do you think of the Higgins essay and her description of wuwei? It strikes me that it does not implicate practical wisdom or acting from practical reasons, but rather coming into some greater natural harmony with one's environment. I think this could play into what KJ was talking about.

Originally posted by LemonJello
Right. That is an excellent collection of essays, and I thank you for that recommendation.

What do you think of the Higgins essay and her description of wuwei? It strikes me that it does not implicate practical wisdom or acting from practical reasons, but rather coming into some greater natural harmony with one's environment. I think this could play into what KJ was talking about.

I like the article, but it has a weird overall structure. I guess wuwei seems so different from the traditional notion of virtue as a complex of reason-responsive dispositions that I wonder why the term 'virtue' is used at all. Further, the account of rightness and wrongness tacit in the article seems to insulate wuwei from traditional forms of moral assessment, which is a real disconnect from what is going on in the virtue ethics literature.

Originally posted by bbarr
I like the article, but it has a weird overall structure. I guess wuwei seems so different from the traditional notion of virtue as a complex of reason-responsive dispositions that I wonder why the term 'virtue' is used at all. Further, the account of rightness and wrongness tacit in the article seems to insulate wuwei from traditional forms of moral assessment, which is a real disconnect from what is going on in the virtue ethics literature.

Thanks. I largely agree with you. The article sucks me in at first because I find interesting both the idea of cultivating "inner stillness" and the idea of probing "negative" space within the virtue domain. That said, I found her description of wuwei to be very bizarre when taken as a description of virtue. It seems that when one is in accord with wuwei as she describes it, one is acting "naturally". But it is not at all clear to me upon reading the essay why I should think that to act naturally in this sense is also to act virtuously. The disconnect between virtue and practical reason in her description also does not sit well with me.