"According to an ancient Chinese legend, one day in the year 2640 B.C. Princess Si Ling-chi was sitting under a mulberry tree when a silkworm cocoon fell into her teacup. When she tried to remove it, she noticed that the cocoon had begun to unravel in the hot liquid. She handed the loose end to her maidservant and told her to walk. The servant went out of the princesses chamber, and into the palace courtyard, through the palace gate, and out of the Forbidden City, and into the countryside a half mile away before the cocoon ran out. (In the West, this legend would slowly mutate over three millennia, until it became the story of a physicist and an apple. Either way, the meanings are the same: great discoveries, whether of silk or of gravity are always windfalls. They happen to people loafing under trees.)" Jeffrey Eugenides "Middlesex"
Never limit your idle time, you never know where it will lead.
Posted by kerismith at January 25, 2004 05:46 PMKeri - many thanks for taking the time to reply. I am working very hard just now to be more idle - I have no choice really. What I'm aiming at is *stress free* idleness. I'm amazed at what a struggle it's proving. Visiting here is a help. Thank you :-)
Posted by: Michael on January 29, 2004 10:40 AMMiddlesex was one of my favourite books last year..
One of these days I am going to write to the author.. My dad grew up on the same street as his lead charactor.
Posted by: Lori on January 28, 2004 07:10 PMOlga,
I am on page 100, and loving it! I do hesitate recommending a book until I am finished usually, to be fair. His writing style goes right to my heart. (I felt this too with Gabriel Garcia Marquez.) Though they have somewhat different styles. Give it a go I say.
Michael,
I definitely struggle with being idle. I have a tendency to work too much, and make everything in my life my work, (both a blessing and a curse.) But I know deep down that we need idleness to live well and so I work at it. It has to do with contrast. In yoga they teach that the rest in between the exercises is JUST as important as the activity. And so the emphasis is placed on both states equally. In modern culture we are told things like, 'no pain no gain', or 'idle hands are the devil's worship'. This has created a culture that is so infused with stress that we think it to be the norm. Most of us are unaware of how much tension we hold in our body for most of the day. There is no balance between rest and activity. I am working on creating a space for myself to do both things in equal measure. So we must re-learn it, that is the struggle.
"Meditation (relaxation) is the art of suspending verbal and symblic thinking for a time, somewhat like a courteous audience will stop talking when a concert is about to begin." -Alan Watts
We need the quiet to be able to hear the music.
k.
Agreed. This is such a good thing to read. I've got a question Keri. Do you find it easy to let yourself be idle? If so is it something you've had to learn?
Best wishes
Michael - who is currently struggling with letting himself become more idle.
Posted by: Michael on January 28, 2004 06:04 AMAgreed. This is such a good thing to read. I've got a question Keri. Do you find it easy to let yourself be idle? If so is it something you've had to learn?
Best wishes
Michael - who is currently struggling with letting himself become more idle.
Posted by: Michael on January 28, 2004 06:03 AMOlga, 'Middlesex' is absolutely great and wonderful and certainly worth reading. Highly recommended. You asked Keri, of course, but I can't help but get up and shout: buy it! buy it! :-)
Posted by: marrije on January 28, 2004 06:03 AMoh thank you for this! I so needed to hear it . . .
Posted by: Katherine on January 27, 2004 07:14 PMKeri,
Ah, yes, I will be having some of my own idle time this weekend alone...self discovery is very powerful!
Posted by: MicheleG. on January 27, 2004 03:13 PMKeri, is the book worth reading? I looked through it yesterday in the shop and didn't buy...
Posted by: Olga on January 26, 2004 11:37 AMThanks for that Keri. I needed to hear it.
Posted by: Katrina on January 26, 2004 11:29 AMFabulous blog, absolutely fabulous. I am impressed and entertained... all in one. :)
Posted by: Rachelle on January 26, 2004 03:35 AMMan, I loved that book. I still feel like I 'm lying between its pages.
Oh, and I love tea too. That's why it's my boy's middle name.
And I'd love to lie under a tree. But I'm afraid that, these days, I'd end up as a frozen loafer.
lovely :)
Posted by: Melanie on January 25, 2004 10:24 PM:)
Posted by: stef on January 25, 2004 07:52 PM