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Why might a lifelong traveler like Pico Iyer, who has journeyed from Easter Island to Ethiopia, Cuba to Kathmandu, think that sitting quietly in a room might be the ultimate adventure? Because in our madly accelerating world, our lives are crowded, chaotic and noisy. There's never been a greater need to slow down, tune out and give ourselves permission to be still.
In The Art of Stillness—a TED Books release—Iyer investigate the lives of people who have made a life seeking stillness: from Matthieu Ricard, a Frenchman with a PhD in molecular biology who left a promising scientific career to become a Tibetan monk, to revered singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, who traded the pleasures of the senses for several years of living the near-silent life of meditation as a Zen monk. Iyer also draws on his own experiences as a travel writer to explore why advances in technology are making us more likely to retreat. He reflects that this is perhaps the reason why many people—even those with no religious commitment—seem to be turning to yoga, or meditation, or seeking silent retreats. These aren't New Age fads so much as ways to rediscover the wisdom of an earlier age. Growing trends like observing an "Internet Sabbath"—turning off online connections from Friday night to Monday morning—highlight how increasingly desperate many of us are to unplug and bring stillness into our lives.
The Art of Stillness paints a picture of why so many—from Marcel Proust to Mahatma Gandhi to Emily Dickinson—have found richness in stillness. Ultimately, Iyer shows that, in this age of constant movement and connectedness, perhaps staying in one place is a more exciting prospect, and a greater necessity than ever before.
In 2013, Pico Iyer gave a blockbuster TED Talk. This lyrical and inspiring book expands on a new idea, offering a way forward for all those feeling affected by the frenetic pace of our modern world.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
November 4, 2014 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781476784731
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781476784731
- File size: 15356 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from October 15, 2014
A brief, spiritually minded book that offers practical wisdom on reducing stress through stillness. The latest from Iyer (The Man Within My Head, 2012, etc.) can fit in a pocket and be read in one sitting. As a prolific journalist for Time magazine and a travel writer, the author experienced frequent exhilaration but also discovered that he "was racing around so much that I never had the chance to see where I was going, or to check whether I was truly happy. Indeed, hurrying around in search of contentment seemed a perfect way of ensuring I'd never be settled or content." This book isn't a meditation guide or a New-Age tract but rather a celebration of the age-old practice of sitting with no goal in mind and no destination in sight. He frames this collection of interrelated essays with the example of songwriter/poet Leonard Cohen, "my hero since boyhood," who retreated into a monk's remove and has returned to peak popularity and extensive, exhaustive touring, through his 70s, in three-hour concerts that "felt as if the whole spellbound crowd was witnessing something of the monastery, the art that stillness deepens." Iyer offers plenty of suggestions for those inspired to go deeper into the practice, but the book and the act of reading it offer a prescriptive that is tough to deny: "In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still." Rather than reading it quickly and filing it, readers will likely slow down to meet its pace and might continue carrying it around as a reminder.COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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