Today's Meditation is on TEMPTATION and CLUTTER, and the path past it to SALVATION.

Brothers and Sisters: Join me in Meditation.

Relax and breath deeply. Observe your place of toil with an unclouded eye.

Meditate first on the tools on which a monk depends for crafting quality Perl. Are these tools within ready reach? Can essential references come into your hand without the need for arising? For arising risks TEMPTATION! A thousand diversions await the monk who arises from his toils in search of the Camel. Yeah, the Camel or its brethren should always be within a monk's reach.

Relax and breath deeply. Moving only your eyes, take note of what lies within reach that is not ESSENTIAL to thy work. Yeah, verily, what is not essential is CLUTTER, and clutter displaces the essential, breeding diversions most foul. The unused box of paperclips that rests on a monks desk and not in the drawer benearh is a tool of SATAN!.

Relax and breath deeply. Moving only your eyes, take heed of those things bright and shiny that might temp thy attention, and cause it to wander from thy toils. For wandering temptation risks a Monk's very SOUL, and leadeth not on the path to the CODE most blessed that they toils produce.

Now, having noted these things, turn thy attention inward, and choose a single action to perform today. An action that will either remove CLUTTER or TEMPTATION from your place of toil, or that will bring an essential reference within reach. An action that will set thy foot firmly on the path towards CODE most blessed. An action that will help thee avoid the brambles that lurk to snare the unwary traveler who is lured off of the path.

Having made thy choice, perform it NOW, lest they mortal soul remain in PERIL.

Amen

(The bell of midday caffiene retreat has sounded.)

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: A Meditation on a Monk's place of toil
by mikfire (Deacon) on Feb 07, 2001 at 02:20 UTC
    Clutter? Why remove the clutter? If I remove the clutter, I will simply go looking for more clutter. My desk being cluttered, I can concentrate on the code I write.

    What is clutter? Do the 4 yo-yos on my desk count as clutter? I call them meditation aids, to occupy the hands so that the mind may be unfettered. The same to be said of the many toys which litter my desk.

    Is clutter the NTI switch on my desktop? But how better to put a real keyboard ( ie, Sun Type 5 ) onto a PC so I may type correctly, instead of shouting at my editor because some useless git has decided the CAPLOCKS key needs to be where the CONTROL key really belongs?

    Clutter is camouflage of the best type. Somebody who has a clean desk obviously does not have enough to do and the managers, team leads and users will find more to be done. Thus, even the items without obvious use become useful to me.

    Clutter is that which allows me to study the ways of Perl without interuption. mikfire

[reply]
      There is overlap between "clutter" and "essential tools". (Where would I be without my pile of PostIt notes?). But on most of the desks I look at, there is (to my eye) non-essential clutter. For example, tape dispensers are standard-issue here; everyone gets one. But nobody uses the damn things. And yet there they sit, taking up space on 9 out of 10 desks (Including mine, until the Meditation earlier today).

      So much of the stuff we surround ourselves with just sort of fades into the background, never to be questioned.

[reply]
        On my desk, today's essential clutter becomes tomorrow's non-essential clutter.
        On my desk, today's non-essential clutter will ultimately become shale.

        Somehow, this appears as the natural order of things.

[reply]
      I do not believe that clutter is bad. The clutter is a defence against the prying eyes around me and as mikfire stated, a clean desk will call the attention of managers and other mundanes.
      Who knows what would have happened if my zipdiscs wasnt well hidden among paper, postit notes, books and once tasty snacks, not that they contain anything else than old projects and labreports.
      Aslong as the camel book (or in my case the llama book) surfs ontop the clutter all is well.
[reply]
Re: A Meditation on a Monk's place of toil
by lemming (Priest) on Feb 07, 2001 at 01:05 UTC

    For the heck of it I went ahead and looked up tempatation on google. Wow! What a treasure trove of information! How to deal with tempatation biblically or perhaps some Lovely office ladies.

    All in all a good spend of the day. oooh, look. shiny things!

[reply]
Re: A Meditation on a Monk's place of toil
by terb (Acolyte) on Feb 07, 2001 at 01:47 UTC
    What then does one do with that which is essential for work and a temptation? Sure, I could try removing netscape from this system but I am sure it would not be appreciated. And of course I would miss out on the sage advice of the perl monks which could lead away from the path to the code most blessed.
[reply]
      A vexing problem, and one that will doubtless be the subject of a later Meditation.
[reply]

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