From 2015
Distraction has become much more sophisticated and endemic to the 21st century. It’s available every waking hour. Though, surely for most of us some distraction is necessary: for survival… activities of daily living; activities necessary to earn a living; relational activities – the necessary interaction with others either social for pleasure or associated with business, related to our survival.
So… from what is it that we’re distracted? Just what is it that we’re distracted from?
From ourselves of course…. our own purpose in life and ultimately our own demise… the exit from our lives… or more accurately: the exit from my life for me and the exit from your life for you.
It is certainly easier to become all engaged in the season of your favorite athletic team than to ponder the imponderables of life… the questions without answers… the painful questions for which there is no intellectual resolution.
Much easier to get consumed by work, by identifying with a team or group or by joining a team or group.
For me, my favorite distraction is my grandchildren. My wife and I spend a good deal of time with them. One of my other distractions is vegetable gardening. Of course the activities of daily living consume quite a bit of our time: bathing; making beds; cooking meals; shopping; cleaning; washing clothes… etc. And… the biggest distraction for me is the continual struggle with my clutter… the accumulated detritus of my lifetime. If there is any redeeming value to my indecisiveness about pitching my “stuff” it is the distraction it provides me from wondering about my purpose in life and my ultimate disposition.
Perhaps… Just perhaps… The ultimate meaning to my quest is to move my clutter in a sysiphisian struggle… Like the ant, over and over I move the same stuff… Moving some here today and then relocating it tomorrow, skimming a little off here and there into the trash, only to be replaced after this week’s shopping, the mail carriers leavings as well as visits from the private carriers who deliver items purchased over the Internet. .
My distractions… my life, systematic and all encompassing.