A Zone Above...

       

         Zoning out is one of the most under-considered things everyone does. It is often associated with anxiety, lack of concentration, and daydreaming. However, I think there is much more to it. Let us have a look at the same.

I have noticed we have layers of thinking. With the lowest one being the most practical one and about our daily life; as we go above, we think about greater, abstract, and more comprehensive things, e.g. Will I be remembered in the next 100 years? How would this world even be in the next 200 years? Is Indian mythology really real? Does God exist? Is the universe timeless? Etc. etc. Zoning out is a pathway to this abstract and comprehensive thinking.

Now some people might say that this abstract and non-practical thinking is not at all important. However, what do you think philosophers did? ‘What exists? How do we know it? What is of value?’ What do you think these questions suggest? These are the three fundamental questions in philosophy, and they bud the abstract and extra-practical thinking. Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Descartes, Voltaire, every single philosopher has written – thought – wondered about things greater than our everyday doings. We all know about the story of the falling of an apple leading newton to the discovery of gravity. How do you think that happened? That happened because he zoned out of whatever he was doing beneath that tree and started contemplating about the causation behind the falling of the apple!

I say, this is often the case. Behind some not-so-usual event, there are always some not-so-usual thoughts. And these same not-so-usual thoughts are originated from nothing but zoning out. This not-so-usual event can be a super-cool invention, a discovery, a life-changing decision, or even choosing to write about this topic! Viz, anything we are unlikely to do without particularly contemplating about it…

Not only does zoning out lead to some not-so-usual events, but it is also a moment of awareness. When we zone out, we shift upwards in our thinking layers. When we are doing something, we are thinking about or of our work. But when we zone out, we think around our work. We suddenly go into the third-person perspective, without even realizing it. We become the ‘narrator’ of the story, rather than the protagonist. We also often think about our thoughts while we were zoned in (Or not- zoned out). Our mind goes into an ‘awareness state.’

The simplest of this is, when we are conversing with our friends, we are thinking about the topic of the conversation. However, when we zone out for some reason, we are thinking about the conversation, or maybe about the friends, or maybe even about the existence of God. But whatever it is, it is going on above the level of the topic of the conversation. And that leveling up is labeled as lack of concentration, daydreaming, or sometimes even anxiety. 

You see this zoning out process is much more than what it first looks like. It is not some useless thing we should avoid; rather it is an inevitable deep pathway to greater thoughts and awareness of the situation. So, happy zoning out to everybody!

 

Ps. I myself had to purposefully zone out a few times to come up with content. However, I was majorly zoned in while writing it. That is quite the contrary, isn’t it?