Utter

Being in an utter state of flow is something that should be taught. I think most people experience it only by chance. We try to do something and maybe we get there, maybe not — but we do not do it deliberately. We are more inclined to be distracted. Is this a phenomenon of the last couple of centuries? Perhaps in the past it was easier — in the sense that we now feel there are too many devices, and we act as though they were extensions of ourselves. Maybe the distractions of past centuries came instead from fantasies of the imagination. And those would have been the result of boredom. And from that boredom, imagination and creativity surged — producing great inventions and great discoveries.

I think of it as a line from -10 to 10: one extreme is utter distraction, the other is utter flow. Over the last couple of centuries, the average may have shifted towards the negative side.

But further back in the past, were there not also fewer distractions? Perhaps the difference between BC and AD centuries is that more people now have the opportunity to be creative, and have access to environments and tools that ignite and fan the fire of creativity — better conditions overall. And that is why there are more discoveries and inventions. Ancient times were more about survival, about finding food.