vitalwholeness

It’s a strange question because “time is constitutive of the reality in which it participates.” That’s how the fancy existential philosophers put it. In other words: our experience of time’s speed is determined by what’s going on. Time seems to move fast if it’s filled with great, exciting things. Time seems to move slowly if we’re bored, agonizing, anchored in burden or drudgery. If things are really significant, time may seem to stop. The most pleasurable moments may pass most quickly.

What’s the longest I’d want to live without being plugged in?

I’d want to live without long enough to not depend on it, long enough that it didn’t act as a replacement for face-to-face relationships, long enough for it to not be the security blanket in my pocket, long enough so that I’m reminded of the deeper ways I’m connected to the universe.

I’d want to live without it no longer than if I felt disconnected from the way the world communicates, no longer than I lost touch with communities who do communicate that way, no longer than I couldn’t receive texts from my brother across the state, emails from friends who live 12 hours away by car, blogs from people I care about living 12 hours away by plane, news piped in from cell phone cameras live in some global hot spot.

How long without? Time is a funny business – it depends on what is going on. It could be long and it could be short, but in the end, I don’t want secondary things to masquerade as primary things and I don’t want to be disconnected from what I care about. That’s how long.