A zoologist who observed gorillas in their native habitat was amazed by the uniformity of their life and their vast idleness. Hours and hours without doing anything. Was boredom unknown to them? This is indeed a question raised by a human, a busy ape. Far from fleeing monotony, animals crave it, and what they most dread is to see it end. For it ends, only to be replaced by fear, the cause of all activity. Inaction is divine; yet it is against inaction that man has rebelled. Man alone, in nature, is incapable of enduring monotony, man alone wants something to happen at all costs—something, anything…. Thereby he shows himself unworthy of his ancestor: the need for novelty is the characteristic of an alienated gorilla.
~ Emil Cioran, The Trouble With Being Born
Source: Quote – Schonwieder. Photograph – Tim McCoy
Live & Learn 
Point very well taken..
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Reblogged this on Philosophy Impact.
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Thanks for sharing Keith
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Yes, David; peacefulness sure beats activity – though some things do need to get done… Maybe there’s a middle ground?!
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Yes Carolyn. Your comment reminded me of Michael’s post…
http://www.execupundit.com/2015/02/unwise.html
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Such a fascinating perspective…
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I think I am half gorilla…………
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And I’m the disenfranchised gorilla
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let us meet sometime over bananas instead of coffee (which is not much of a treat for me anymore as I have stopped using sugar)
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Always in pursuit of the next best thing. Is kind of funny, really (not the ha ha kind). If man is incapable of enduring monotony, how come we endure so much of it in our pursuit of whatever it is we are pursuing? Rise at the same hour, workout at the same gym, take the same route to work, work until the same hour, eat dinner, watch t.v., go to bed at the same hour and then do it all over again, every single day. I’d say we’ve gotten pretty good at it.
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Yea. So agree. Will say that I was a wee bit disappointed not to have read a Haiku in response. 🙂
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My life is full of
Activity. Why can’t I
Learn to just sit still?
Your request is my command 😀
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Wow. That’s GREAT! Still smiling.
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😁
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I guess that gorillas aren’t thinking about how much they must pack into their lives before they die.
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Laughing. Now that’s uplifting!
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This seems quite an ethnocentric perspective…. which I disagree with.
I would say that busy achieving man is characteristic of someone living in industrial and post industrial societies.
The more I travel the more I see and appreciate others who live more simply and slowly.
What if our natural state is actually more like the guerrilla 🙂
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Hmmmmnm
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meditation is good for the soul. any soul.
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Food for thought.
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It is!
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Unlike man, an ape does not contemplate what may be around the next corner. He may sense when something is near, but can not wonder about that when, as we.
Just as a dog who sits by the front door awaiting his master’s return from work. To him it is as though his master just left.
I’ve never seen an ape nor dog with a time piece; other than for novelty.
That is why our animal friends can linger with no distress. They don’t experience boredom as we. Because boredom requires an affect of time.
-Alan
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Deep. Loved it. Thanks Alan
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Wowza. Humbling. I am so very much one for novelty; something to respond to, etc. I am getting better at ‘being’, and can amaze myself on some days at my outstanding ability to do absolutely nothing, but at the same time, my mind is sooo happy when something new to react/respond to presents. I was fascinated to read the line: “Was boredom unknown to them?” What a mind-bending concept – I can’t fathom.
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My reaction to this passage: Same.
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I’ve met a few humans much like this, society tends to call them lazy. But there’s something to ponder here, anyway. The “just being” aspect.
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And that’s the moral of the story. Right there Helen
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You know I have no trouble being still and relaxing! I would get on very well with the Gorilla’s. Its from all that time in Fi…..not going to say it :).
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Note to self. There needs to be an intervention here, and fast!
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Aww man … I know this already, but I hate to see it. Look at those eyes. Just look …
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It’s always in the eyes…
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