Now
I was recently on a group camping trip for twelve days in a remote area. With limited mobile coverage there was only occasional access to news of the outside world. What was fascinating was the experience of the very different quality of being together when mobile phones were working. The difference was something that was immediately evident, something one could feel. People were no longer present, they were somewhere else.
Arriving back in “civilisation”, I was aware that I had missed nothing by not checking email, or surfing the web, or accessing world news. I was aware of how I had not even missed not doing those things, that I was aware of being present in my daily life in a way that was more real in some way. The cold and the rain and the environment were not something easily ignored. It was a great “be here now” experience.
As if to emphasise that awareness, I was amused to read an advertisement for a news media website for people on the go. “Turn your downtime into uptime, be in the now” it said. I had to laugh. It wouldn’t even be my now that I’d be in, it would be someone else’s, a now that someone else decided I should be in. No thank you!
It’s a great question to ask from time to time. “Where am I now? Am I really here or am I somewhere else?”