Peter Handke, the Austrian Nobel laureate in Literature, once wrote a kind of "contemplative novel" with the enigmatic title: "The Inner World of the Outer World of the Inner World." It consists of seemingly scattered reflections on this or that topic, presented in various linguistic formats.
In fact, the information overflow that comes from outside and the flood of thoughts that arises from within has become an existential problem for many people who deal with the Internet and other media worlds, which can, for example, trigger massive concentration problems.
For me, it's a daily, even hourly, challenge that requires a kind of squaring of the circle. You're online—you can't escape the noise of text, images, and videos, even if you work with discipline. And yet, you need phases of silence every now and then; otherwise, all creativity dries up.
A clear daily schedule, simply switching off and doing something else, doesn't always work. Because the polarity, the tension between public presence and inner concentration, heaven and earth, is enormous. Insoluble?
In mathematics, squaring the circle is considered impossible. But in the daily realm of experience, everyone living between two worlds today must find their own solution. Creativity research knows: A problem cannot be solved at the same level at which it arises. A psychological problem therefore requires a meta-psychology—a higher level of observation.
Where can such a domain be found? Perhaps in the Gospels. There we see Jesus walking on water while the storm rages. The water symbolizes the flood of human thoughts. The storm is the background noise of the world, the clamor of public life. Amidst these forces, he stands in his boat (Noah's Ark?)—calm, upright, present. With a single command, he calms the rage: "Be still, be silent."
The basic solution is: silence learnBut where is the tutorial?
The place for consciousness training is the "quiet little chamber," which—like a small Noah's Ark—is well-pitched against the flood of images that seek to flood in from outside and thus also well-protected from the excitement of thoughts that seek to arise from within. The blueprint or method for its implementation can be found in the Sermon on the Mount—inconspicuous but precise:
“When you pray, go into your room and close the door.” (Matthew 6:6; Elberfelder 1905).
Perhaps the subtle Peter Handke has dealt with precisely this tension in his literature – that daily squaring of the circle that the flow of consciousness between the inner world and the outer world of the inner world triggers.
