“Well that was — something new and different! I’m so glad Yolanda invited Typist to join her morning prayer group!” Thalia set her mug on the counter. “It reminded me of our Tuesday morning Listening Circle — only it’s open for anyone to join! And since Typist was only exploring, we got to hang out in the
I’m not being facetious in asking: while you are “retreating” this week end, if you were inspired to write a love letter one early morning, would you be any less present in doing so than in conversation with your friends? Does the medium define presence? Our lives now offer new ways to be “with” others: FaceTime for Apple users, virtual reality (think Meta and their latest VR headsets), Zoom, and surely some I’m not recalling at the moment. 😉
I’ll confess potential bias in asking this. During my studies of psychology, I learned that in the earliest beginnings of psychology, they were referred to as “scientific philosophers.” One early subject of experiments was determining immediacy of experience. Do we experience life as it is happening in real time? They couldn’t measure when one’s brain registered a sight, sound, taste, smell, or touch. Only reactions to the event. Imprecision of timing devices over 100 years ago led to the frequent conclusion that we do experience life immediately!
Perhaps today the dimension of engaging with life is governed more by the directness in our experiences. Face to face vs screen to screen. Does that distinction diminish the latter over the former? Perhaps this is not only presence, but our connections with others. IMHO I have to conclude that the distinction between sound waves and electrical impulses is not the critical dimension. Note: I split hairs with the best of them!
Enjoy your trip, Gail!
I’m not being facetious in asking: while you are “retreating” this week end, if you were inspired to write a love letter one early morning, would you be any less present in doing so than in conversation with your friends? Does the medium define presence? Our lives now offer new ways to be “with” others: FaceTime for Apple users, virtual reality (think Meta and their latest VR headsets), Zoom, and surely some I’m not recalling at the moment. 😉
I’ll confess potential bias in asking this. During my studies of psychology, I learned that in the earliest beginnings of psychology, they were referred to as “scientific philosophers.” One early subject of experiments was determining immediacy of experience. Do we experience life as it is happening in real time? They couldn’t measure when one’s brain registered a sight, sound, taste, smell, or touch. Only reactions to the event. Imprecision of timing devices over 100 years ago led to the frequent conclusion that we do experience life immediately!
Perhaps today the dimension of engaging with life is governed more by the directness in our experiences. Face to face vs screen to screen. Does that distinction diminish the latter over the former? Perhaps this is not only presence, but our connections with others. IMHO I have to conclude that the distinction between sound waves and electrical impulses is not the critical dimension. Note: I split hairs with the best of them!
Have fun up there. It's a little to cold for me now there.
Night shirt: “3 out of 4 voices in my head want to sleep. The other wants to know if penguins have knees.” 😁
Have fun and learning on your trip, Gail! Maybe you can ask if somebody knows the penguin question answer?