Prescence

“In this age of the quantified self, we measure how many hours we slept, steps we took, calories we burned. Yet we know nothing about ourselves. We spend more time checking-in to our stats than our souls. Our experience is mined for data but not depth. We have all these numbers to improve now, but no idea how to dial back the numbness. Life doesn’t need to be a spreadsheet, yet our useless fascination goes on. We spend more time shopping, in considering the thread count of our sheets before purchase, than we do soul-searching, that beautiful art of thinking about the quality and purpose of our lives. We are addicted to the constant digital stream, often peering gape-mouthed into the sordid details of other peoples’ lives; in the process we have checked-out of reality, neglecting our own life so pregnant with potential and meaning. If we are to measure and monitor and improve anything, let it be our presence and character, a mindfulness for who we are and how we are experiencing and relating with the world. Have I been true to myself? Have I lived vibrantly today? Have I love openly today? Have I made a difference today? Let us check in to ourselves in these ways; for, in the end, these are the only measures that matter.”

“What do love and hate matter when I’m here alone, listening to the sound of the rain late in this autumn evening.” -Dogen from The Zen Poetry of Dogen: Verses from the Mountain of Eternal Peace” by Steven Heine