Water, Snow, Water: Constructive Living for Mental Health

Chapter 10 Whirling Dust

64 Whirling Dust How much of modern life is the equivalent of studying outdated television listings, listening to recordings of last week’s traffic and weather reports, clipping expired coupons from yellowed newspapers? How much of modern life is just allowing information to flow through, filling our mental time? (We’ll consider the possibility of procrastination in a moment.) What is the clear purpose in reading a newspaper or watching a commercial on television? When did modern life begin to be replete with word laxatives, swallowed and, well, passed—­ smoothly, effortlessly passed? Did it begin with advertising? With marketing decisions that fed us slick, soft slop? Not altogether; why blame others? When did we begin to slurp our mental soup? Many people appear to prefer to go on gathering more information than act on the information they already possess. Now I have no objection to gathering information, of course. However, the gathering of data from the media every day can continue to the degree that life’s term papers never get written. We can flood ourselves with masses of information into a state of immobility. We must know our purposes. If our data gathering is aimed at putting off necessary action, we must shift gears. I am disturbed by the thoughtless pace of communications in our time. To be sure, there is a time to use tweeting, e-mail, fax, phone, and overnight mail. But too often it seems that people use those modes of communication because they simply haven’t planned ahead or because they have become accustomed to using them, needed or not. 10 Whirling Dust 65 We are all going to die. That fact is the foundation on which our lives should be built. At reality’s pace in reality’s time we shall die, are dying right now. There are occasions when reality opens a brief window of opportunity, and we must act quickly. Nevertheless, with some foresight and thoughtful scheduling we can provide ourselves with enough time to do our communicating well, not merely fast. I am not foolish enough to suggest that we go back to reliance on hand-­ delivered messages and smoke signals in this modern age. But there is need for thoughtful, well-considered communications in any age. Those who receive our messages deserve to take in something well considered. They deserve to have time to ponder our meaning and offer a prudent response at their own pace. It is impolite and inconsiderate to ask for a prompt fax reply, an instant text return, or an immediate return call. Of course, sometimes circumstances prompt us to be impolite and inconsiderate, but not without deliberation about the inconvenience we are about to cause others. For many of us life is so easy. Some depressed people spend long hours in bed trying to kill time by remaining unconscious. They see themselves as having nothing meaningful to do with all the time their lives offer them. Modern technology frees us from many routine tasks. What are we to do with that free time? Purposeful tasks were always right before the eyes of those living a hundred years ago, for they were intimately connected to the daily needs for food, shelter, clothing, and so forth. In modern times many of us have unprecedented leisure, wealth, and resources. We take vacations, sick leave, and holidays, and we retire. We are faced with a new challenge in this era—how to use our time purposefully, meaningfully. In the absence of other clear purposes some people turn their attention to their bodies, focusing on every slight change they sense in them. They worry about their health constantly. They overmedicate themselves. They obsess about health foods, health fads, and health clubs. Others find narrow purpose in building financial security or financial empires. Still others flit from partner to partner seeking meaning in temporary liaisons. However we value or disvalue these Water, Snow, Water 66 pursuits, they provide purposes, objectives, and goals for attention, thinking, and behavior. It is important for all of us to keep our moment-by-moment­ purposes clear. What is my purpose in writing this book? What is my purpose in standing rather than sitting before this keyboard? What is my purpose in wearing these particular clothes now? What is my purpose in picking up or not picking up that magazine? I am told that guidance counselors in schools are taught to search out the...