“Rigidity increases with increasing entropy in the human. As the old timers are wont to say, ‘Just ain’t what I used to be. The old parts are wearing out. Stiff as a board every mornin’ so it takes me a while to loosen up.’ Isn’t that the case with many, and maybe eventually with all of us?”
“Well, maybe,” you respond, “but there are many who practice yoga. They appear to retain much of their youthful flexibility.”
“What you just said gives me a thought. Although I do think many are stiff and inelastic physically, sometimes the physically inflexible have very flexible minds, and, of course, vice versa. Is there a yoga of the mind?”
You continue, “That’s not a bad thought. We’re advised to be active and remain flexible, and yoga does that for the body, but the mind is a different matter. So, that gets me thinkin’ about what a yoga of the mind would look like. Hmmn. Reading what I would ordinarily not read might work, reading what appears to be a different point of view especially. Trying to argue from another side of an issue, but that’s really, really hard to do. I’ll bet there are more ways to keep the mind flexible. Meditating? Doing math? Leaning new skills. Mastering another language… I just need some time to think of other ways.”
“Now you have me goin’,” I say “especially when I look over what I perceive to be the thoughts of the young today. I might generalize and say many of them are intellectually rigidly old. It’s as though they’re being taught to practice noga, the ancient art of inflexibility and stiffness. Many of their tutors are, in fact, masters of intellectual noga. But then, maybe that’s always been the human condition. One generation affects the pliable minds of the following generation. Those minds then stiffen, and they affect the minds of those in the next generation.”
“You are exhibiting your own inflexibility when you generalize like that,” you say. “It’s true that developing minds can be shaped while they are elastic, but that doesn’t mean that once shaped, those minds have to be inelastic. Yet, at the same time, I think I see your point.”
“I realize that everyone has to deal with his or her own everyday problems and concerns, but when I look at the trends on social media and the national media, I see an insidious stiffness pervading the minds of youth,” I observe. “Forget the adults. They’ve been practicing mental noga for too long now for most of them to regain their elasticity. You can see it in the political arena, and there isn’t a mental yoga instructor anywhere who seems to be capable of loosening up those arthritic thoughts. The body politic seems to be especially the body inflexible. Likewise the Fifth Estate appears to be locked into stiffness now that news appears to be agenda-driven.
“But I also realize that practicing mental noga is nothing new. Each of us, however, might think of limbering up a bit, doing a little mental stretching, and bending some ideas that are becoming very stiff.”
“Well, maybe,” you respond, “but there are many who practice yoga. They appear to retain much of their youthful flexibility.”
“What you just said gives me a thought. Although I do think many are stiff and inelastic physically, sometimes the physically inflexible have very flexible minds, and, of course, vice versa. Is there a yoga of the mind?”
You continue, “That’s not a bad thought. We’re advised to be active and remain flexible, and yoga does that for the body, but the mind is a different matter. So, that gets me thinkin’ about what a yoga of the mind would look like. Hmmn. Reading what I would ordinarily not read might work, reading what appears to be a different point of view especially. Trying to argue from another side of an issue, but that’s really, really hard to do. I’ll bet there are more ways to keep the mind flexible. Meditating? Doing math? Leaning new skills. Mastering another language… I just need some time to think of other ways.”
“Now you have me goin’,” I say “especially when I look over what I perceive to be the thoughts of the young today. I might generalize and say many of them are intellectually rigidly old. It’s as though they’re being taught to practice noga, the ancient art of inflexibility and stiffness. Many of their tutors are, in fact, masters of intellectual noga. But then, maybe that’s always been the human condition. One generation affects the pliable minds of the following generation. Those minds then stiffen, and they affect the minds of those in the next generation.”
“You are exhibiting your own inflexibility when you generalize like that,” you say. “It’s true that developing minds can be shaped while they are elastic, but that doesn’t mean that once shaped, those minds have to be inelastic. Yet, at the same time, I think I see your point.”
“I realize that everyone has to deal with his or her own everyday problems and concerns, but when I look at the trends on social media and the national media, I see an insidious stiffness pervading the minds of youth,” I observe. “Forget the adults. They’ve been practicing mental noga for too long now for most of them to regain their elasticity. You can see it in the political arena, and there isn’t a mental yoga instructor anywhere who seems to be capable of loosening up those arthritic thoughts. The body politic seems to be especially the body inflexible. Likewise the Fifth Estate appears to be locked into stiffness now that news appears to be agenda-driven.
“But I also realize that practicing mental noga is nothing new. Each of us, however, might think of limbering up a bit, doing a little mental stretching, and bending some ideas that are becoming very stiff.”
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