Over 2500 years ago, the famous Greek mathematician and philosopher, Phthagoras, said, “Learn to be silent. Let your quiet mind listen and absorb.” Almost 22 centuries later, Blaise Pascal, the French scientist who made invaluable contribution to hydraulics and pure geometry, reiterated, saying, “All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room, alone.”
Pythagoras was a major contributor to the development of mathematics and western rational philosophy and his writings influenced the thoughts of philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. Blaise Pascal invented the hydraulic press, syringe, and the first digital calculator. Everyone has learnt the Pythagoras theorem in school, and Pascal’s law of pressure is still taught in science classes around the world.
Both of these men, who both lived over 2,200 years apart, and left such strong marks on the world, emphasised the importance of silence and meditation in life. A student should understand, and he or she will not learn this at school, that there is a lot to be gained in finding time to spend in silence. To rid your worries, quiet your anxiety, and to find a rejuvenating peace, learn to sit silently in a room, all by yourself, and meditate.
A person has, on an average, about 60,000 separate thoughts every single day. That is remarkable, except that we have the same 60,000 thoughts every day, filling our minds with the same chatter, every day. Silence and meditation offer an effective way to enter the spaces between those thoughts. In these ‘gaps’, one can find a sense of total peace and tranquillity. One can find his direction, pull himself back toward his goals and set his priorities in life. It is imperative for a student to find those gaps, if he or she is to choose and sustain a fruitful career.
There is one problem, however. The train of 60,000 thoughts every single day leaves us no time to enter the spaces between our thoughts. Our minds race at top-speed day and night, zipping through studies, schedules, financial problems, sexual fantasies, fashion and accessories, friends, parents-on and on, in a vicious circle.
What we need to realise, and the earlier in our lives, the better, is that the mind is like a pond. There is a lot of disturbance on the surface, yet the surface is just a fraction of the pond. It is in the depth below the surface that you find stillness, where you realise the true essence of the pond. So it is with our minds.
Pythagoras was a major contributor to the development of mathematics and western rational philosophy and his writings influenced the thoughts of philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. Blaise Pascal invented the hydraulic press, syringe, and the first digital calculator. Everyone has learnt the Pythagoras theorem in school, and Pascal’s law of pressure is still taught in science classes around the world.
Both of these men, who both lived over 2,200 years apart, and left such strong marks on the world, emphasised the importance of silence and meditation in life. A student should understand, and he or she will not learn this at school, that there is a lot to be gained in finding time to spend in silence. To rid your worries, quiet your anxiety, and to find a rejuvenating peace, learn to sit silently in a room, all by yourself, and meditate.
A person has, on an average, about 60,000 separate thoughts every single day. That is remarkable, except that we have the same 60,000 thoughts every day, filling our minds with the same chatter, every day. Silence and meditation offer an effective way to enter the spaces between those thoughts. In these ‘gaps’, one can find a sense of total peace and tranquillity. One can find his direction, pull himself back toward his goals and set his priorities in life. It is imperative for a student to find those gaps, if he or she is to choose and sustain a fruitful career.
There is one problem, however. The train of 60,000 thoughts every single day leaves us no time to enter the spaces between our thoughts. Our minds race at top-speed day and night, zipping through studies, schedules, financial problems, sexual fantasies, fashion and accessories, friends, parents-on and on, in a vicious circle.
What we need to realise, and the earlier in our lives, the better, is that the mind is like a pond. There is a lot of disturbance on the surface, yet the surface is just a fraction of the pond. It is in the depth below the surface that you find stillness, where you realise the true essence of the pond. So it is with our minds.