I had an idea for the name of my podcast. How about the Navelcast? Why Navelcast, you might asked. Well, I’ve often felt a certain amount of self deprecating pointlessness toward my own thoughts, ideas, ramblings and writings. Somewhere along the line, I think in college, I was told that this was called contemplating one’s navel. While trying to think of what I would actually say in a podcast, I realized that aside from perhaps playing some cool music, it might only amount to contemplating the very lint in my navel and thus Navelcast.
The following is from the Wikipedia article about the Hesychasts, which was a sect of monks from the greek church.
“When thou art alone in thy cell shut thy door, and seat thyself in a corner; raise thy mind above all things vain and transitory; recline thy beard and chin on thy breast; turn thine eyes and thy thought towards the middle of thy belly, the region of the navel; and search the place of the heart, the seat of the soul. At first all will be dark and comfortless; but if thou persevere day and night, thou wilt feel an ineffable joy; and no sooner has the soul discovered the place of the heart than it is involved in a mystic and ethereal light.”
This quote is the source of the common phrase contemplating one’s navel, or more recently, navel gazing, which is used to indicate a supposed pointless form of activity.
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