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“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” -- Blaise Pascal
According to Pascal, we fear the silence of existence, we dread boredom and instead choose aimless distraction, and we can’t help but run from the problems of our emotions into the false comforts of the mind.
The issue at the root, essentially, is that we never learn the art of solitude.
...
our aversion to solitude is really an aversion to boredom.At its core, it’s not necessarily that we are addicted to a TV set because there is something uniquely satisfying about it, just like we are not addicted to most stimulants because the benefits outweigh the downsides. Rather, what we are really addicted to is a state of not-being-bored.
Deep thoughts by Blaise Pascal. Was he right? Are we addicted to not-being-bored? Is boredom good for us?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday November 28 2018, @03:52AM (9 children)
Being locked up, alone, with yourself, is scary. Unless of course, you can love yourself.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 28 2018, @04:11AM
the runaway reveals that he hates himself
would make his posts make more sense
what does he hate about himself? probably his closeted ligbuttism leading to unsatisfied homosexual urges
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 28 2018, @05:50AM
I'm not that limber.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday November 28 2018, @05:57AM
For example, Lawrence Calvin "Rusty" Foster III - the founder and owner of what used to be Kuro5hin, as well as the principal author of the Scoop CMS became a Country Western Star by the name of Larry Calvin.
I've been meaning to write him a snail mail to tell him that; he never reads his email but he often wrote me whenever I was in the slammer.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday November 28 2018, @01:53PM (4 children)
I read a short story once about a man who bet a wealthy fellow he could stay locked up in a room for a long period of time; he could leave any time he wanted, but then he'd lose the bet. At the end when the time was up he had won the bet, but he had found the solitude so beneficial, so conducive to reflection and study, that he told the rich guy to keep his money.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by pipedwho on Wednesday November 28 2018, @06:33PM (2 children)
I hope that room was the bathroom.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday November 28 2018, @08:14PM (1 child)
It was more like a one room shack, with a bathroom inside. They put his meals through a slot in the door and gave him all the books he asked for.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 29 2018, @12:40AM
Sounds like a Vipasana retreat where people spend 6 days in the 'shack' per session, then come out and help out with the running of things, then back in the shack for the time they're on their retreat - sometimes 6 months to a few years.
(Score: 3, Touché) by maxwell demon on Wednesday November 28 2018, @09:35PM
Obviously he didn't reflect and study enough yet. Otherwise he might have noticed that the money would have helped him to afford more time in solitude.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 28 2018, @03:30PM
I, too, lock the door when I masturbate.