David Cole on Donkeyspace

I love and use both of those lines when I'm not practicing myself. They're old favorites and I think they're pretty true. “Ultimately, the great incentive for self exploration is our growing sensitivity to the vacuous, insipid nature of life. It is not really a question of renunciation, but rather of interest dying naturally.” My main worry is always that people imagine getting into meditation as if it were prioritizing diet and exercise, but it's really more like choosing to learn an instrument. Akin (equivalent?) to aesthetic experiences, meditation is worthy as its own end and not because of some other "practical" benefit. It should be fun and loose and exploratory, in addition to being challenging and complex. It accumulates depth for the rest of your life, even if your practice wanes, particularly in how it reshapes/opens up the "listening" experience forever. I agree that you're the type who "picked up the guitar" of introspection/meditation at a young age and taught yourself to play, and as skillfully as anyone. Your whole book is a testament to this in the aesthetic context. To keep straining the metaphor, I suppose I'm merely a stodgy trad ranting on the virtues of studying the classics and practicing fundamentals for an instrument you've already dedicated your life to. (Also what you want in your back pocket is a gun, not a gun catalog.)