"Never be afraid
to sit awhile and think."
--Lorraine Hansberry,
"A Raisin in the Sun"
It was the kind of news item that can easily get lost in the
torrent of information we wade through these days, but one which demands a
second look. In the July 4th issue of the
journal Science , researchers reported on eleven studies in which
participants were given a seemingly straightforward and simple task. To sit in a room, all by themselves, for six
to fifteen minutes and just think, with no external stimuli. No phone, no
computer, no reading material, no writing implements, nothing, save their own
company.
Here's where it gets a interesting and then a bit
weird. A majority of the folks did not
like being alone in thought or daydreaming, not at all. As University
of Virginia psychologist
Timothy Wilson reported, this discomfort with solitude was widespread, from the
old to the young, from college students to retirees. "Those of us who
enjoy some down time to just think likely find the results of this study
surprising – I certainly do – but our study participants consistently
demonstrated that they would rather have something to do than to have nothing
other than their thoughts for even a fairly brief period of time."
Now the odd part. Wilson and his colleagues decided to give some
participants the option of administering mild electric shocks to themselves for
stimulation while alone, to presumably take away their boredom and discomfort
with solitude. Hmmm...sit still and ponder, let the mind wander, or zap one's
self? Twelve of fifteen men and six of
twenty-four women chose this self-inflicted pain! One man even shocked himself 190 times!
Concluded Wilson,
"The mind is designed to engage with the world....without training in
meditation or thought-control techniques...most people would prefer to engage
in external activities." I kind of
get that and yet....is self-reflection, keeping one's own company, just sitting
and thinking sometimes, really all that bad?
That hard? So difficult that some
of us would even choose to experience pain over being alone?
We do live in a time when external stimuli is more available
than ever before in human history. I've
become much more aware lately of how cocked and ready so many folks are with
their cell phones, in hand or in pocket.
When the conversation lulls or the movie ends or there is some space to
just be, so many of us now reach right for our device and then look, swipe,
type, and lose ourselves in that screen.
At home we flip on the radio or turn on the boob tube or crack open the
computer without thinking. At work the
"ding" of constant emails interrupts any chance to wonder and wander
in thought.
The price for such unconscious addiction to
stimulation? No time for careful
thought. No space for creative impulses,
an "A ha!" moment. No chance
to give our brains a rest from constant activity. To think freely, to journey within, to slow
down and just be still. To hear the
sound of our own breathing. To face into
the relationship we have with ourselves. To pray to and know and be known by our
God. To be a human being and not just a
human doing.
I'm lucky. I get paid to think, as a pastor and preacher and
writer. The truth is our world expects
most of us to be constantly on the go, on the run and forever engaged with the
external. The next shoe to tie or dinner
to make or soccer game to rush to as a parent.
The next project to tackle at work.
The next TV show to "showverdose" on, as Netflix beckons to
us.
But to be still? Really thoughtful? Even, especially in
2014, we need this "activity" too.
Need to find spaces and places for reflection. Church.
A screened in back porch. A
hammock. A favorite well worn path in
the woods or on the beach. A comfy chair
in the corner.
It's all about balance.
Thought then action. Prayer then
wisdom. Daydreaming then direction. Wonder
then work.
To sit. To think. Can
we do it?
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