Conversations For Transformation:
Essays Inspired By The Ideas Of Werner Erhard
Conversations For Transformation
Essays By Laurence Platt
Inspired By The Ideas Of Werner Erhard
And More
Be Mindful Of Nothing
Sears Point, California, USA
April 12, 2011
"In
India
we don't think who we are - we know who we
are."
... Hrundi V Bakshi aka Peter Sellers in The Party answering the
question "Who do you think you are?", circa 1968
"A mind is a terrible thing to waste."
... United Negro College Fund slogan, circa 1971
"A mind made up like a prejudice is an awesome thing to
lose."
... Laurence Platt, circa 2011
This essay,
Be Mindful Of Nothing,
is the eleventh in a group of twenty one on
Nothing:
It's a discipline I've started with myself. I've started
being mindful of it.
There are things in my life about which I'm already mindful, things
about which I'm clear it's prudent to be mindful of. If I'm not mindful
of them, my life doesn't
work
as well as it's possible for it to
work.
I'm mindful of the dates my bills are due. I'm mindful of when
provisions need to be replenished in my refrigerator. I'm mindful of
when I need a haircut. I'm mindful of when I better stop and buy gas.
I'm mindful of the speed limit. I'm mindful of how long I've been
parked when I've parked in a thirty minute parking space. I'm mindful
of the weather when I leave home in the morning, and whether (pun
unintended) I'm dressed appropriately for it.
This is all pretty basic stuff, yes? Pretty simple actually.
Dogshit reality
simple actually. In fact it's profound in its
simplicity. This is what it takes to have Life
work.
It's usually being mindful of the simple stuff which has Life
work
... and it's all simple stuff (you've heard
that before, yes?).
Even if I wasn't mindful of any of the above, Life would continue on
continuing on as it always does, as it always has. I'm not required to
be mindful of anything for Life to continue on continuing
on. Life doesn't need me to be mindful. However, when I
am mindful, my
participating
in Life, my interacting with Life, my
dancing with
Lifeworks
quantifiably better.
Yet although being mindful of all of the above (and more) is what it
takes to have my life
work,
doing so isn't necessarily associated with a shift in the
quality of my life as I experience it. It
works
for me to be mindful of paying my bills on time. But paying my bills on
time doesn't in and of itself shift the quality of my
life. It
works
for me to be mindful of replenishing the provisions in my refrigerator
when they're low. But replenishing the provisions in the refrigerator
when they're low doesn't in and of itself shift the
quality of my life. It
works
for me to be mindful of staying within the speed limit. But staying
within the speed limit doesn't in and of itself shift the
quality of my life.
It's being mindful of
nothing
which shifts the quality of my life.
Say whut? You have to read that last sentence carefully.
When I say "It's being mindful of
nothing
which shifts the quality of my life", I'm not saying
"not being mindful of anything shifts the
quality of my life" - watch out for the triple negation in
there ...
The discipline I've started with myself is being mindful of
nothing.
Just
nothing.
Not "no thing". Not "not some-thing". Just
nothing.
Really
nothing.
And if it weren't for another
context
in which it's used which is likely to distract from the terseness of
what I'm saying, I'd call it sweetnothing.
Yet that's what it really is, isn't it? Sweet
nothing.
Yes there are simple things I'm constantly mindful of which, when I
attend to them, have my life
work.
That's one distinction. But it's a shift in the quality of
my life (another distinction entirely) which comes when I'm mindful of
nothing.