Place in the digital age
It is 3:30am. I am awake. My thoughts of sensibly writing this letter in the morning are surrendered to the night. It is so still. So quiet. There is magic in this time. As I wander downstairs to settle into writing, I am inspired to take a photo of the view outside. I am surprised by the snapshot, that somehow it captured the stars along with the night sky. When I look up at the split of a starry sky held between the dense tall trees, my perspective is cracked open. Wonder of the world that exists when all are asleep.
Wonder is a result of being connected deeply to the body and the land. My growing dependence on the digital realm for my knowledge, business and social life seems to put wonder at risk. These days, I seem to need conscious reminders to get outside, to really BE in the physical world. Of course I am in it by the mere fact of being alive. Yet I don’t know the land as my ancestors did. Understanding the patterns of the clouds to determine the weather. Being able to read the quality of the soil. Understanding the land’s limits, its timing. Even being able to navigate without the use of google maps. My experiences are continually filtered and mitigated through the digital. Looking at my phone, I can scroll through information and images at lightening speed. Working at my computer, I can be sucked into the task at hand, entering into a digital wormhole. All of this can make me forget the simple fact that I am a physical human alive in this very awe-inspiring physical 3-dimensional world.
The digital age is extraordinary. It offers up knowledge, connections, and opportunities that are miraculous. Yet, I find I am longing to be connected and rooted to the physical world in a way that slows down time. I want to put limits on my time spent in the digital realm. I want to learn the language of the land. I want to be cracked open in wonder just by the shear force of being present and alive to the physical world.