Wood storks in flight
In his book Authentic Happiness, Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman tells of a would-be Buddhist monk. After three years of concentrated studies on all aspects of the religion, the novice, prepared to answer the deepest questions possible, entered the dwelling of his teacher.
“I have but one question to ask,” his teacher intones.
“I am ready, master,” he replies.
“In the doorway, were the flowers to the left or right of the umbrella?
The novice retires, abashed, for three more years of study.
As I read this exchange, I was reminded of the dialogue between Emily and the Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder’s classic Our Town.
“Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? - every, every minute?”
“No...The saints and poets, maybe - do some.”
The state expected by the Buddhist teacher is called “mindfulness.” Especially in our fast paced Western world, we live more in a state of “mindlessness,” where we are totally unaware of the specifics around us. By contrast, a state of “mindfulness” allows us to record in memory most of the minute details that enhances any experience, much with the same intensity of a young child who delights in retelling every gory detail of some minor incident. Maturing supposedly enables us to select with discretion the more important details of an event to retain. Instead, we often forget to take notice.
The writers we like most, as Wilder suggests, live in a state of mindfulness. They look for the story in every insignificant incident that occurs because to them, nothing is trivial. When they connect with us, they allow us to see what they see.
Seligman also tells of the work of Ellen Langer, a Harvard professor considered the leading academic in the study of “mindfulness.” In one of her studies, she discovered that high school students who were assigned to study Stephen Douglas and the Kansas-Nebraska Act from both the perspective of Douglas and that of his grandchild retained far more information about the subject than the group given a standard assignment of reading the chapter, answering the questions at the end of the chapter and memorizing the important facts for a test. When we are not challenged to use information that we are gleaning, it is easy to slip into that state of mindlessness that prevents us from focusing on the task at hand. Instead we daydream about what interests us.
When we define the difference in a student and a scholar, we discover that the defining line also lies in mindfulness. The dutiful student learns what is assigned; the scholar, who loves learning for learning’s sake, follows every tangent that arises in any study. However, the state of mindfulness, the state of being aware of what is going on around us is not only necessary to the student and the writer specifically, it also can enhance living for anyone in general. For that reason, journalizing has become one of the fastest growing hobbies in America.
However, it is not enough just to gather the details of each event. Although we tolerate rambling in children and novice storytellers, one of education’s most important lessons to teach beyond mindfulness, is the organization of those wonderful thoughts and minutiae of details. Scientists would never make any great discoveries if they didn’t classify their work in such a way that the next generation could build on their efforts. Engineers draw detailed blueprints before construction workers ever pick up hammer and nail. Those in business keep track of their inventories and the most enticing way to display their wares. Attorneys connect the dots of evidence for juries.
While the content, the substance, of any activity always remains the most important element, the organization of that content into some coherent pattern allows us to connect with others. Likewise, true invention and creativity comes in seeing a new way to present old information. Thank goodness for good old American ingenuity. It assists the rest of us in remaining mindful, not only in noticing the umbrella and flowers at the door, but also in knowing the best ways to use both.
2005
Comments