Well, how hard it is to express thoughts! I'll try again...
Being a technical support person forces me to take good notice of time. And the time-to-respond to events is almost always as-soon-as-possible. Everything in the day is time-bound, even sleep. Nothing escapes from it - the time it takes to respond to emails, start and end online meetings, the time to travel to work, to troubleshoot issues... the list is endless. Even the weekends don't escape from it - the time spent in the library, browsing through new books in the bookstore, selecting action movie CDs. I have to agree that I get a slight respite though, I sleep till around 2pm in the weekends. But that is not conscious relief from the clutches of the Time Devil. The sense of "what next?" doesn't die out at all.
Deviating a bit from the title now, for some time ;-)
I was introduced, almost providentially, to a workshop on personality development in another part of the city. Well, many might consider the monks who carry out this workshop as religious, but I don't think so.
I consider them spiritual. The monks there are knowledgeable, are not narrow-minded and consider different religions as different paths leading to the same destination0. And their service to humanity is really commendable. And the environment there is calm even though just few hundred metres aways is the most busiest, crowded shopping place of the city. I realised that absence of sound or noise, which we sometimes feel at work or at home, doesn't provide peace of mind. It still has that vibrations of restlessness in it though devoid of the vibrations of sound. Now the place where I went was really peaceful, a nice park in the front, the library, the bookstore, the meeting hall and prayer hall after that.
But hold on! I didn't get a way to escape from Time yet. I had to get up early on a Sunday (the workshop is on the last Sunday of every month), get into a bus, walk fast for 11 minutes after getting down, and reach there exactly by 9:30am. The revered monk is very punctual, one of the many qualities that I adore in him. I always go alone and don't talk a word to anyone. After really inspiring talks and presentations the session ends and I leave by around 1:30pm and reach home in approximately 30 to 40 minutes by bus, not precise because that depends on various factors - the traffic, the mood of the driver, the condition of the vehicle, the crowd that gets down and gets in, unforeseen circumstances and so on1. Even the workshop couldn't help to forget the sense of time.
I did find a solution though.
I started visiting that wonderful place on other Sundays. I go, sit down under the big tree in that peaceful garden, with no one else except me out there. No one to question why I came, no one to question why I didn't leave. I just sit there and lose the sense of time that keeps clinging to me forever. I listen to the chirping of the birds, see the butterflies flying, the branches moving with the wind, the ants walking on their trails. Peace it is, inside and outside! Time, for once, vanishes out of thought. No priorities, no deadlines, no urgency, no haste. And outside... no honking, no traffic, no deafening music, no construction work2. I sit there for about an hour, go to the library inside, look at the books calmly, come outside, sit down again for some more time before I leave... getting lost in the hustle and bustle of the city, the time-bound life, the tensions and anxieties of deadlines again.
Well, Time did get hold of me, again... but I did escape from it, and I got myself renewed to face the busy world with a calm attitude and a smiling face :-)
0. I just realised today (5 hours 55 minutes after I finished writing the blog) that the monks support atheists too, provided the atheists have full faith in themselves and their beliefs.
1. This brings forth another topic... the number of factors that can be brought under control.
2. Another topic here, about the motive of living beings... more on a philosophical note and more on that later.
Being a technical support person forces me to take good notice of time. And the time-to-respond to events is almost always as-soon-as-possible. Everything in the day is time-bound, even sleep. Nothing escapes from it - the time it takes to respond to emails, start and end online meetings, the time to travel to work, to troubleshoot issues... the list is endless. Even the weekends don't escape from it - the time spent in the library, browsing through new books in the bookstore, selecting action movie CDs. I have to agree that I get a slight respite though, I sleep till around 2pm in the weekends. But that is not conscious relief from the clutches of the Time Devil. The sense of "what next?" doesn't die out at all.
Deviating a bit from the title now, for some time ;-)
I was introduced, almost providentially, to a workshop on personality development in another part of the city. Well, many might consider the monks who carry out this workshop as religious, but I don't think so.
I consider them spiritual. The monks there are knowledgeable, are not narrow-minded and consider different religions as different paths leading to the same destination0. And their service to humanity is really commendable. And the environment there is calm even though just few hundred metres aways is the most busiest, crowded shopping place of the city. I realised that absence of sound or noise, which we sometimes feel at work or at home, doesn't provide peace of mind. It still has that vibrations of restlessness in it though devoid of the vibrations of sound. Now the place where I went was really peaceful, a nice park in the front, the library, the bookstore, the meeting hall and prayer hall after that.But hold on! I didn't get a way to escape from Time yet. I had to get up early on a Sunday (the workshop is on the last Sunday of every month), get into a bus, walk fast for 11 minutes after getting down, and reach there exactly by 9:30am. The revered monk is very punctual, one of the many qualities that I adore in him. I always go alone and don't talk a word to anyone. After really inspiring talks and presentations the session ends and I leave by around 1:30pm and reach home in approximately 30 to 40 minutes by bus, not precise because that depends on various factors - the traffic, the mood of the driver, the condition of the vehicle, the crowd that gets down and gets in, unforeseen circumstances and so on1. Even the workshop couldn't help to forget the sense of time.
I did find a solution though.
I started visiting that wonderful place on other Sundays. I go, sit down under the big tree in that peaceful garden, with no one else except me out there. No one to question why I came, no one to question why I didn't leave. I just sit there and lose the sense of time that keeps clinging to me forever. I listen to the chirping of the birds, see the butterflies flying, the branches moving with the wind, the ants walking on their trails. Peace it is, inside and outside! Time, for once, vanishes out of thought. No priorities, no deadlines, no urgency, no haste. And outside... no honking, no traffic, no deafening music, no construction work2. I sit there for about an hour, go to the library inside, look at the books calmly, come outside, sit down again for some more time before I leave... getting lost in the hustle and bustle of the city, the time-bound life, the tensions and anxieties of deadlines again.Well, Time did get hold of me, again... but I did escape from it, and I got myself renewed to face the busy world with a calm attitude and a smiling face :-)
0. I just realised today (5 hours 55 minutes after I finished writing the blog) that the monks support atheists too, provided the atheists have full faith in themselves and their beliefs.
1. This brings forth another topic... the number of factors that can be brought under control.
2. Another topic here, about the motive of living beings... more on a philosophical note and more on that later.
