This is a wonderful post. I have been reading about being present in the digital age. John is accurate busyness is not new. It might be harder to manage. Thomas Merton warned us about the violence of activism decades ago and Parker Palmer has reiterated the theme over the years. The person I am most afraid of listening to is my self. It takes the fullest presence to hear my spirit, my soul, my inner voice. The need to sit with one’s self is essential to life.
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David Kanigan, over at Lead.Learn.Live, this morning posted this excerpt from a book by Tony Schwartz . I read it and commented. I’m reposting my commenting here as well, because it goes to the heart of what I write about on this and my other blogs.
http://davidkanigan.com/2013/02/28/the-addiction-of-our-times/
“I believe this is a very special moment in history, a kind of perfect storm. There is a growing recognition — to borrow language from AA — that our world has become unmanageable…The addiction of our times is digital connection, instant gratification, and the cheap adrenalin high of constant busyness. The heartening news is that more and more are beginning to recognize the insidious costs of moving so relentlessly and at such high speeds. Just below the surface of our shared compulsion to do ever more, ever faster, is a deep hunger to do less, more slowly. I saw proof of that a…
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ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 
Enjoyed.
Thank you Jamie.
I call it our Instant Soceity, which I try so hard to not get lost in it, which is no small thing…
That is a good way to understand it. It is a challenge not to be lost in the forest the Internet offers up. Thank you Sheri.
Hello Ivon,
Thank you for commenting and for reblogging this. I very much appreciate you doing that and introducing my blog to your audience.
And I agree with you: Sitting down with oneself is so so essential in life. As Camus wrote, “everything begins with consciousness and nothing is worth anything except through it.” Or as Socrates said, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” But it’s also tough and oftentimes scary stuff, because it tends to bring up the existential stuff.
But, irrespective, it needs to be done. Because if it’s not done, then we tend to be unconsciously driven in a very basic way regarding why we do what we do, and we tend to sense intuitively that slowing down and contemplating our life and lot in the grand scheme of things, is like opening a Pandora’s Box of anxieties and fears and terrors. So why do it? Why do that to ourselves? Why not live as unconsciously as possible? Why not “dance through life” (as they sing in “Wicked” — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKds0aM1NVs)? Why not skim the surface? Sure, surface skimming has its troubles, but at least they’re not of the “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then” variety.
So why do that to ourselves?
Especially when so many people around us are also not doing it to themselves?
“Everyone should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.” – James Thurber
I agree. It’s the only way to make for a truly better society. Millions of people in denial about their own and each other’s mortality will never create a better society, because their society will always be based on what they’re afraid of and in denial of, and keeping their cherished denial and avoidance mechanisms in play. That is what “Freedom” and “Happiness” will mean to them. (The pursuit of happiness will amount to better and better ways of avoidance and self-numbing, especially disguised ways of self-numbing.)
Of course millions of people facing their own mortality and yet being unable to deal with doing so, may not be any better of an option. It may lead to even nastier ways of leading lives of quiet and not so quiet desperation.
A lot to think about and ponder. . . .
But I digress. . . . Thank you for reblogging this post, Ivon, and for your wonderful and kind comment.
Kindest regards,
John
You are welcome John. It is an important message to get out there. We need to find the time in the busyness of our world to sing, dance, create, and be our fullest self. In an increasingly digital world, this is becoming more and more important. That is the message that emerged from Wisdom 2.0 in San Francisco recently.
Thank you for the wonderful comment John. I appreciate it.
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