Dear Jeyamohan,
I am writing this with reluctance. I have a lot of free time because I live outside of Tamil Nadu and have no social responsibilities. I am spending almost 6 hours on social media and YouTube. I can’t listen to movies for more than a half hour. I am engrossed in watching short videos and perusing political and minor cinematic debates. Actually, these activities don’t amuse me, but I have no other way to pass the time. I can’t read or listen to music for a long time. I know I am wasting my time, but I find no alternate way. Is there any way of escaping for me?
R
Dear R
I will define your problem like this: ‘the inability to be alone with yourself’. As a result, you are constantly distracting yourself and avoiding being with yourself. You need to learn how to be alone with yourself. You have to understand the happiness of solitude.
All forms of dhyana and yoga genuinely teach this alone. Training in art, literature, and philosophy primarily concentrates on this practice. You can observe this: a person with cultural training can find happiness in solitude. He needs no other thrill or addiction.
You can travel for fun without any cultural training, but it will become a bore within years. However, a person with cutrual training and a cultivated interest in architecture and sculpture often travels with a specific purpose in mind. His interest in travel became more and more intense and nuanced over time. It will be a lifelong passion for him.
One cannot listen to music without a proper introduction and basic training. When people voluntarily listen to music without any formal training, they often associate their memories with the songs and experience simple emotions. They tend to repeatedly listen to only a few songs before losing interest in them. It takes a circle of like-minded people to develop a constant interest in music.
Humans are not simple biological entities; they are cultural beings. Culture shapes the phenomenon we refer to as humanity. We have basic pleasures, but we can only be passionately engaged in cultural activities. Actually, we are transforming basic pleasures into cultural entertainments; for example, we have cultivated detailed cooking methods from the basic need to eat. We have transformed simple sexual desires into sublime works of art. Today, without cultural training, we cannot enjoy even our basic desires.
To live, we require training. If you aspire to be something beyond mere existence, you must possess a certain level of cultural knowledge. Members of a traditional society naturally acquire this training through their environment and language. Every Tamil village is home to a variety of traditional and classical arts. Temples and numerous festivals are present in every Tamil village.
Today, we are losing it quickly. Our culture is undergoing rapid urbanization. Many of us were born in metropolite cities with no trace of our heritage. Some of us are migrating to other lands. Today, we don’t have the inherent cultural guidance that tradition once offered. This loss has left a deep void in our lives, leading us to gravitate towards hollow consumer culture and chaotic media environments.
We must be aware of this loss and obtain proper cultural training. We must develop our own institutions to do so. We cannot return to the traditional village life of the past. We must establish our own cultural space alongside the urban life we currently lead. That is the only way to escape the emptiness we feel in our modern urban life. I wish to reiterate: learn to be alone with yourself. To do that, you must have cultural training. Go and train yourself.
jeyamohan
