Walpola Rahula v. Herman Miller

I recommend saving intellectual discourse until seated on the floor. I' m serious. It's very satisfying. There you are, under your desk, cross-legged, and discussing the vagaries of unclaimed property law with a senior partner at your firm, via phone. Of course, the situation is vastly improved if you are both sitting on the floor. Although there is something incredibly satisfying about you knowing that you're sitting on the floor, but not knowing whether the other guy is, and knowing that he certainly doesn't know that you are. What would he do if he knew? What if he's seated on the floor as well?

Why is it satisfying? Because it is subversive and good for posture (back straight, hips open, etc.), a combination that is bound to fortify the soul. It brings your practice into meditation, or the "culture of the mind." It's so much easier to be mindful of what you're doing when seated below the world, below the flurry of politics. When seated in a chair, at the acceptable level of business culture, the desk level, it is too easy to be hit by a stray bolt from some battle of office politics. But on the floor, you're below the fray.

And after all, why should I sit in the chair? I'm perfectly comfortable on the floor. And as Walpola Rahula says, "To force oneself to believe and to accept a thing without understanding is political, and not spiritual or intellectual." And so, I refuse the political affiliation and partisanship of the "chair." The humble floor is good enough for me.

Today's rule: sleep as well tonight as I did last night.