Maybe I shouldn't post this online, but this is one of my biggest fears. Just, being trapped somewhere, alone with your thoughts, with nothing to do.
After reading The Jaunt by Stephen King, I was on edge for a day or two afterwards.
After reading The Jaunt by Stephen King, I was on edge for a day or two afterwards.
The story has been optioned [1], will be interesting if it does come out as a feature film.
What would be really interesting is if it is used as a platform for different storytelling angles. Instead of coming out insane, someone comes out, Anathem-1,000-Apert-avout-like, with incanting-like powers from meditating for so long. The Buddhists would get a kick out of that; imagine being able to meditate without physical need for far longer than the 10,000 year increments so popular in Buddhist stories. Then put in savage plot twists: the venerated Buddhist sage is sent through and comes out blubbering insane, but an affable Cajun-drawling redneck scientist goes through and comes out with telekinetic and world tracking powers.
[1] http://io9.gizmodo.com/stephen-kings-teleportation-tale-the-...
When I was a much younger human I took quite a lot of drugs like mushrooms and MDMA. Toward the end of one such session I found myself in my kitchen, staring into the dark space behind the window and was struck with a realisation of what Hell would be, should it exist. Not spewing fields of lava and endless pains of torture, rather unending consciousness with no inputs or outputs. I imagined black (although that would technically be an input - I am unable to imagine literally nothing!) but just as easily, an infinite field of white would be as horrifically terrifying.
God, that story. Such a simple plot, and yet the existential terror of what it describes is beyond comprehension.
Or do you fear having nothing to do, being forced into no action, for that time?
It's something _everybody_ can learn and do, there is nothing mystical or religious or secret about it.
You usually start with samadhi (or concentration), where you simply observe your breath - either as air movement through your nostrils or as movements of the abdomen. In the beginning you can count your breaths 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 1 again. Most people lose track at 4 or 5 and get distracted by thoughts in the beginning. If that happens just start at 1. No blaming, just start again.
You can do this for a very long time without getting bored.
After a while you can stop counting, and naturally drift into the vipassana (insight/wisdom) part. Just observe your breath and start noticing whatever else is going on. Sounds, your thoughts, feelings, fears, joys, etc, etc.
1. http://library.dhammasukha.org/uploads/1/2/8/6/12865490/a_gu...
Why leave out 9? :-)