Can you do absolutely nothing for an entire day? I don't mean nothing as in reading, watching the rain, listening to music. Literally nothing, alone. Try it, think of it as a trip without drugs. It's an interesting challenge because it reveals why we do things at all, and whether it is because it is not possible to do nothing, which you haven't done since you were born. I expect this would be torture for most people because they do not want to face the fact that most of their actions are in fact distractions to prevent them looking at themselves truthfully. Our society is basically a complex network of distractions which perpetuates and enlargens itself by the total removal of self-examination, because self-examination would kill it by allowing one to see those distractions for what they are.
Literally do nothing for an entire day is impossible and happily not needed for good self-examination. It's true though that people are easily strayed away from focussing on doing nothing or reflecting on their self in all peace. I say, start with an hour.
Whenever I trip, I think about action and doing and being, why can't we just chill out and be, why must we always do stuff.. And then I stop thinking about that and go and do something. It's perfectly possible to sit in solitude and take no action for a day. But I don't think it has much of a purpose. Sure, meditation and reflection is great, but there will always be room for doing. Activity keeps life interesting, the key is to find a happy balance between doing and being. Oh, and as others pointed out, you will always be "doing" something in the sense that you sit, or sleep, or breathe or whatever.. But I think I understood what you meant.
I agree that many people need to stop and just relax. The interactions in our day kind of shape our attitudes throughout. For one day, I don't think I could do nothing, I can't even sit through a movie. But I will lay around for 2 or 3 hours on my day off doing nothing. I love to just day dream, I have a vivid imagination.
have you ever been to jail?????????? I have. doing nothing all day is not fun trust me. I was not in jail long but you feel crazy after sitting in a room with just a bed n toilet for a long time. it has nothing to do with truthfully looking at yourself or anything like that. it is just the mind needs stimulation and once it goes dull you go crazy. I can just sit and think and do nothing for a hour or so but after that is gets old. the only thing to do is exercise so you feel tired and can lay and chill.
Have you looked into why that is? What happens if you go crazy and don't try to escape? I assume the world doesn't come to an end since you're talking here now.
I can camp in the middle of nowhere and hike in the wilderness for days but being locked up in a small room drives the mind crazy. after thinking so much your mind gets mentally tired. sure it is easy to sit and do nothing for a short while and think and relax but for some reason when you gotta do that for a long time the mind gets mentally tired and need some new stimulation. no it is not the end of the world but it just makes you feel crazy like I said. once free it is a lot easier to appreciate the world and freedom. even meditation why locked up gets old. I meditated for like 5 hours then after that the dysphoria stared. I do not know why it happens but hey if you ever get locked up you will get what I am saying haha.
I have done nothing but it took a lot of work to get there. The only time I have managed to accomplish the total lack of thought for the most part was during meditation but in a supported (ashram) setting. The tendency of thought is automatic and it is literally impossible to totally tune it out. Even if the only thought is on breath it is still measurable as a process. The counter to that is that if you could totally tune all out and have nothingness, it would defeat the purpose of the exercise as you would not appreciate it.
