Thanks for this lantern-light, Simeon. Heeded or not, your point is always a vital reminder to those of us raised to consider visible busyness an heroic virtue. Too true that rest is routinely devalued, even when most desired or desperately needed for physical health to support inspiration of any kind.
There is a pragmatic edge to this as well: as an employee, I learned that only a hard-won medically-mandated rest-factor in my work contract allowed me to bloom as a creative, effective prof through 30+ years. So damaging that recognition of rest's SOCIAL and economic benefits still lags appallingly.
Yet meditation and mindfulness may be making inroads enough that we can eventually achieve a critical mass of rested human beings more open to kensho and satori -- I've forgotten the theoretical figure that Stephen Mugen Snyder, Roshi gave you in your recent interview with him, but my antennae sparkled to hear it!
Thank you for sharing this, Catharine; I am personally in the process of discovering the significance and power of rest, and I believe this recognition necessarily takes one beyond the “common sense“ values and ambitions of our times. It is encouraging to hear your personal experience with this and the practical benefits of rest you observed! And I agree, recognizing the value of rest is deeply connected with deepening one’s practice of mindfulness :)
Much appreciation, Simeon. In particular, thanks for this silly-to-dispute insight: “A full mind is a mind with no capacity to receive new understanding or to question what understanding it has.”
Thanks for this lantern-light, Simeon. Heeded or not, your point is always a vital reminder to those of us raised to consider visible busyness an heroic virtue. Too true that rest is routinely devalued, even when most desired or desperately needed for physical health to support inspiration of any kind.
There is a pragmatic edge to this as well: as an employee, I learned that only a hard-won medically-mandated rest-factor in my work contract allowed me to bloom as a creative, effective prof through 30+ years. So damaging that recognition of rest's SOCIAL and economic benefits still lags appallingly.
Yet meditation and mindfulness may be making inroads enough that we can eventually achieve a critical mass of rested human beings more open to kensho and satori -- I've forgotten the theoretical figure that Stephen Mugen Snyder, Roshi gave you in your recent interview with him, but my antennae sparkled to hear it!
Thank you for sharing this, Catharine; I am personally in the process of discovering the significance and power of rest, and I believe this recognition necessarily takes one beyond the “common sense“ values and ambitions of our times. It is encouraging to hear your personal experience with this and the practical benefits of rest you observed! And I agree, recognizing the value of rest is deeply connected with deepening one’s practice of mindfulness :)
Much appreciation, Simeon. In particular, thanks for this silly-to-dispute insight: “A full mind is a mind with no capacity to receive new understanding or to question what understanding it has.”