Posted on November 3, 2008
watching the detectives
Last weekend I attended a taping of “Mountain Stage” a National Public Radio concert program. My ticket put me in the last row of the orchestra section, aisle seat, right next to the door. “Mountain Stage” is a two hour radio program and the taping is pretty much done in real time. Because there are no commercial breaks during the program, there was a constant stream of concert goers filing in and out of the auditorium. Some traveled back and forth to their seats during the playing of a song; but most managed to time there comings and goings between numbers. Audience members were waiting in the lobby or standing just inside the creaky door, until the song was finished before returning to their seat. At one point during the show there were two women standing just inside the door, one of them positioned right next to me.
Chka, chka – chka chka was the sound I heard coming from the person standing to my left. I was amused when I realized that this woman, while waiting for the song to end before returning to her seat, had taken out an emery board and was filing her nails in order to pass the time until the end of the song. Clearly someone not in the moment.
I’ve always been puzzled by what I have observed to be a reluctance by some individuals to spend time with themselves. Any period of time that presents itself as an opportunity for pondering ones position in the reality of the moment is quickly, almost instinctively, filled with the most mundane activity so as to act as a diversion for the mind. Actually, one could employ more intricate intellectual activity and still achieve the same unmindfulness. In a way this is what religious practice becomes.
Whether attending services to worship gods or sitting, counting breaths, the idea that “now I will concentrate on getting in touch with my spiritual side” doesn’t necessarily facilitate a truly religious experience. In exploring mindfulness there is a need to be more aware of the fullness of all experience, the richness of every moment, putting less emphasis on the mind. We don’t really live our lives instead life lives through us.
As long as I am in this world, I am the light of this world.
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Great post. A nice observance of folks who simply can not be in the moment. What is most unfortunate is the distraction the “chka, chka” might provide to someone fully engulfed in and enjoying the moment.
Thanks for coming to see us in NYC- we had a great trip and the NY audience was one of our most inviting.