The art of doing nothing

April 15, 2020

I remember when I was a child, it was easy for me to do nothing. Before going further, I would like to explain what I mean when I say ’Do Nothing’ because I don’t mean it literally.

When you are giving some output, you are actively engaging yourself. The output could be throwing something, writing something, giving a speech, talking, etc. So, whenever you are giving an output, you are doing something. But what about inputs?\ We have 5 basic senses, or you can say 5 different types of ports to receive inputs. These ports are always active. They are always taking in information from our surroundings. Also, Most of the time, at least one of these senses is active when you are giving an output. You can not shut down these ports, but you do have the option of taking control over these senses. When you take control of these senses, you are actively engaging yourself. These could be watching a movie, listening to music, eating food, etc. So whenever you are not actively engaging of your senses, you are doing nothing.

Going back to my childhood, I remember, I used to sit at the porch and do absolutely nothing. I may watch a leaf fall from a tree or watch an insect move past the horizon of my eyes. I may even get curious sometimes and chase after the insects, but these moments were rare. I didn’t need something to fill my time. I didn’t need to activate my senses. I was at peace without the aid of anything. All this was long before I was introduced to music, computers, internet, movies, etc. But I was aware of television and cartoons(I loved cartoons). But I didn’t need cartoons to fill my time. If I got to see them, I was happy, but if I didn’t, I was still at peace. I didn’t even need any kind of social interaction. Basically, I had no desires, and I was happy.

Coming back to the present situation, It feels like the world is filled with desires, and at every second one of them is trying to pull me. Having said that, I feel like I’m in the second-best situation of my life in terms of handling desires(behind only to that child). And it feels like the moderation of these desires is a prescription. If you take just the right amount, you’ll be fine. For instance, watch a good movie, and you’ll feel good. But if you binge for too long, you’ll need something else to scratch your itch.

We have all been told time and time again that moderation is good. And to a certain extent, I agree with it, moderation may be better than both ends of the spectrum, i.e. complete indulgence and active stoicism. You’ll find people arguing for both ends of the spectrum, and they both will be content with moderation if a debate to death occurred.

But I don’t think that any one of them is right. I think that the child that’s lost in every one of us is right.

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