Is boredom the opposite of distraction?
What do you miss when you are distracted?
Well, you might miss the exit on the freeway, or something the person speaking to you just said. This is ordinary distraction.
But most of us are distracted in a more insidious way most of the time.
I had a funny dream a few years ago that will help to explain. I was in a large public place with lots of people running around doing ordinary things. Barbara Walters and I sat at a table in a great atrium. We were having a gossipy conversation — I think it was about Paul Newman!
Suddenly, an extremely loud voice interrupted our conversation and shouted some words. The words were a profound transmission about the nature of Reality. The shouting was like saying: “We interrupt this ignorance to bring you a message from wisdom!”
This dream taught me that if I weren’t so busy gossiping, I might hear the wisdom that is always available in every moment.
“Gossiping” in this case was a living symbol for the constant undercurrent of distraction that characterizes our entire relationship to the world.
Many of us believe that the opposite of distraction is boredom. Without our attachment to thoughts, emotions and activities, we will have a boring, blah humdrum life.
But even if you are not a great yogi, it is likely that you have had the experience of realizing something or receiving some intuitive wisdom when you were not particularly attached to anything.
These are moments when thoughts and emotions might be happening, or not. But you are not grabbing at life or chasing after anything. You are in the sandhi. Sandhi are gaps or openings through which wisdom can flow. Many people get a taste of this in the moments between waking and sleeping.
Wisdom is like a great ocean. Our distractions are like a concrete wall holding the ocean back. When a little gap or hole develops in the wall, the water flows through.
There are oceans upon oceans and worlds upon worlds of direct communications waiting for us to relax and open to them. These are anything but boring.
I thought of this today because as I was brushing my teeth, the background level of distraction became lower. In that moment, I heard my Guru singing a beautiful kirtan, and I managed to sing along with Her. Someday soon, I’ll share it with you.
Jaya Ma Sri Guru
Shambhavi
Posted by Shambhavi on
December 11th, 2009 | Explore More! Tags: nonduality, transmission
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Without fail, sometime during my formal practice, my musical mind begins singing. As I read your recounting of the experience you had brushing your teeth, in my mind flashed a picture of you brushing before a white pedestal sink, and then my mind began singing “Gopala, Gopala”. Peace returns. I have recently incorporated the upper body practice I learned five years ago at YogaNow into my basic Sivananda practice to help release my neck and shoulders. Many thanks to you and all of my teachers. Peace. Namaste. Craig. _()_
Precious Self
That is wonderful that your mind is regularly producing bhajan rather than habit pattern thoughts.This is a good example of how we create new vasanas (mind conditioning) that eventually lead to relaxation of vasanas. It is important to understand, however, that this is not the same as the kind of transmission discussed in the post, or what is called “piercing the mantra.” That is a stage at which a person might directly experience the more subtle mantra body of the world. Craig, I am writing this for everyone, just to make sure there is understanding, not only in response to what you describe. I am very happy to hear what you have written. Jaya Ma Sri Guru!