A rich inner life

Susan Cain uses the phrase ‘a rich inner life’ when talking about the quiet power of introverts. Logic suggests that there must also be middling and poor inner lives, and rich, middling and poor outer lives.

So there is a nine box matrix:

	Inner	Middling	Outer
Rich	1	2	3
Middling	4	5	6
Poor	7	8	9

1. A rich inner life. Sitting quietly doing nothing, Spring comes and the grass grows by itself. ‘You’ can be a non-judgemental witness to the thoughts feelings and moods that well up from the unconscious. The mind has a mind (intention) of its own. ‘You’ are blissfully non-egoic in the Oneness. Practice mindfulness. Flow.

3. A rich outer life. Not enough hours in a day. Busy-ness within the family, and at work and play. Happiest when mixing with many people.

7. A poor inner life. ‘Makes no time to stand and stare.’ Monkey mind. Zombie on auto pilot. Caught up in the unconscious churn. Anxiety,depression etc

9. A poor outer life. Limited social life. Lonesome.

5. A middling middling life. The condition of most people. The manner of being depends on the social context. Shades of grey. Sometimes I sit and think and sometimes I just sit.

I studied psychology at university and was rated as a submissive introvert with some extrovert tendencies. I was uncomfortable being my ‘true’ social ‘self’ but could be active when playing a part such as Mr Clark the School teacher or a character on the stage or in a folk club.

My work/study/play pattern has been episodic. Contract work financed the rest of the activities. Study has been ongoing in small doses when working, and in heavy doses during several lengthy retreats. There is a tendency to ignore play – life is short and the mind needs to be observed and controlled (by the mind(?)) such that there are limits on sex, drugs, rock and roll, politics, religion and ICT.

ICT is cute. It decentralises command of the socio/cultural agenda. It enables those with a rich inner life to share their experiences in the blogisphere.  I note that I do not seek out or follow like minded souls. I remain wary of subjective ramblings – including my own. But there is a fruitful fascination with ‘stuff’ that passes through the attention centre.

My blog gets about 30 page views each day and they come from many countries. There are graphics in each post. Some time back there were photos from the garden and, recently there are doodles. But - there are very few comments and they come mostly from people that I have physically met. So – it has not gone viral. But – this is not a problem. The intention and associated behaviour is non-egoic and thus blissful most of the time – I have a rich inner life (?)