“We are detracted from distraction by distraction.” T.S. Eliot
I was sitting on the porch reading with my grandson when he noticed that I had copied down the T.S. Eliot quote I had found in Paul Tillich’s classic book, The Courage to Be. He asked me what I had written, and I shared the quote with him. In a flash, he responded: “So if I’m playing a video game and Grammy asks me if I would like a slice of chocolate cake, she would be distracting me from distraction by distraction.” Since I was still struggling with what the quote actually meant, I was stunned by how rapidly he captured the idea. His response was a concrete example of a complex idea. Oh, the beauty of young, bright minds.
I had been thinking about the seduction of distraction when I came across the quote by T.S. Eliot. It was not hard to point to the multiple ways I am being seduced these days. And no, not in the way we normally think about seduction. I’m talking politics, social media, and name-your-poison news. Escaping from the reality seems like a wise choice these days. In a recent NYT column, however, Miriam Elder, a journalist who reported from Russia for eight years, warns us not to let the Donald drive us into self-imposed exile. She compares what’s happening in the United States right now with what happened in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia when authoritarians took control. The people who were able to do so tuned out and dropped out. They quit listening. They quit resisting. They let themselves get distracted. They quit taking actions to build a more democratic society. Their escapes enabled dictators like Hitler and Putin to implement the Holocaust and invade neighboring countries. Ultimately, you can’t escape reality.
We can be seduced by distractions from reality in our personal lives as well. Sarah Wildman, a staff writer at the New York Times, who courageously shared her heartbreaking story of losing her 14 year old daughter, Orli, to cancer after several years of a painful treatment regime, writes about how they were so distracted by the hopes for a breakthrough treatment that they were unable to deal honestly and fully with the real possibility that Orli wouldn’t survive. In retrospect, Wildman wonders how they would have dealt with the experience differently if they had been able to have conversations with Orli about death. The question she raises in the article is: “If my 14 year old, dying daughter could face her own mortality, why couldn’t the rest of us?” Her story made me question how many of the distractions in which we engage are simply ways to avoid the reality of our own death or truth in any form.
I first read Tillich’s The Courage to Be in a freshman English class in college. Since I had never been exposed to existential philosophy, I was both fascinated and confused by his writing. What struck me 60 years after the first reading was the notion that the courage to be is an ethical act in which we affirm our own being in spite of those aspects of our unique existence that conflict with essential self-affirmation. In short, the ability to accept/affirm who we are, regardless of who we may have been in any number of moments, cuts to the core of existential belief. Being able to accept and affirm depends on who we may have become, what our situation in the world happens to be, and how we view our own significance.
Since I started this post with a T.S. Eliot post, let me continue with my favorite Eliot poem paired with my favorite granddaughter’s quote. First Eliot: “At the still point in a turning world, there is the dance. . . . and there is only the dance.” For me, the still point represents a moment of perfect balance and stillness amidst the chaos of the world. The turning point captures the constant flux, distractions, and turmoil of life. The dance represents the beauty, rhythm, and flow of life, even within the chaos – the ability to bring a lightness of being to dark situations. In a conversation with my granddaughter about a movie we had recently scene suggesting that every decision we make is an opportunity to bring our best self to whatever moment we are in, she said, “It’s hard to bring the best of who you are to each moment when you have to drag along the rest of you who are into that moment.” That’s a bit of a paraphrase, but essentially captures what she said. It seems to me her quote is the perfect challenge to the ideal state that T.S. Eliot describes in his poem: continuing to dance in harmony with the world when the environment is so cacophonous, churning, distracting and discordant is really hard.
What you just read is what I came up after thinking about this idea for a few weeks and spending hours writing a post that would capture some of the existential challenges of dealing with distractions in a world of constant chaos and the ubiquitous intrusion of social media. I decided to ask Google Gemini to address this issue to see if AI could generate any additional ideas. Here is the question and the response Gemini created in 3 seconds. Be prepared to have your mind blown.
AI Prompt: Write an essay on how distractions can keep us from confronting the existential challenges of self-affirmation and self-acceptance. Discuss the difficulties of how bringing our best self to each moment can be complicated by bringing the rest of who we are to that moment, e.g. the psychological baggage we carry. Show how Paul Tillich in the Courage to Be, T.S. Eliot in his poem The Four Quartets; and other existential philosophers address this challenge.
Gemini response:
The Dance of Distraction: Evading the Existential Echoes
The modern world is a cacophony of distractions. A ceaseless barrage of information, entertainment, and obligations bombards us, leaving little room for introspection. We are perpetually plugged in, scrolling through curated realities and chasing fleeting dopamine hits. Yet, beneath the surface of this frenetic engagement lies a deeper struggle: the existential challenge of confronting and accepting our authentic selves. Distractions, while seemingly innocuous, become formidable obstacles on the path to self-affirmation, preventing us from fully engaging with the complexities of our being.
Existentialist philosophers have long grappled with the human condition, highlighting the anxieties and uncertainties inherent in our existence. Paul Tillich, in his seminal work The Courage to Be, argues that the courage to be oneself arises from confronting the anxieties of non-being, meaninglessness, and guilt. However, the constant stream of distractions effectively shields us from these anxieties, preventing the necessary introspection for self-discovery. We become so consumed with the external noise that we lose touch with the internal echoes of our own existence.
T.S. Eliot, in his poem The Four Quartets, captures this struggle beautifully in the lines: “At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless; Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance 1 is.” Eliot suggests that amidst the chaos and movement of life, there exists a still point, a moment of pure being. It is at this still point that we can truly confront ourselves, stripped bare of all distractions. Yet, reaching this still point requires a conscious effort to disengage from the ceaseless dance of distractions.
The difficulty lies in the fact that we cannot simply shed our past experiences and psychological baggage. As we navigate the world, we carry with us the accumulated weight of our memories, traumas, and insecurities. These become intertwined with our sense of self, making it challenging to discern the authentic self from the constructed persona. Distractions offer a convenient escape from this internal struggle, allowing us to avoid confronting the uncomfortable truths of our past and present.
The philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, a key figure in existentialist thought, emphasized the concept of radical freedom. He argued that we are condemned to be free, burdened with the responsibility of creating our own meaning and essence. However, this freedom can be overwhelming, leading to anxiety and a desire to escape the weight of our choices. Distractions provide a temporary reprieve from this existential burden, allowing us to relinquish control and surrender to the flow of external stimuli.
Similarly, Søren Kierkegaard, considered the father of existentialism, explored the concept of anxiety as a fundamental aspect of the human condition. He argued that anxiety arises from the awareness of our own freedom and the infinite possibilities that lie before us. Distractions serve as a defense mechanism against this anxiety, allowing us to narrow our focus and avoid confronting the vastness of our existence.
Overcoming the allure of distractions requires a conscious and deliberate effort. It necessitates cultivating mindfulness, the ability to be fully present in the current moment without judgment. By cultivating mindfulness, we can begin to filter out the external noise and tune into the subtle whispers of our own being. This involves creating space for introspection, engaging in practices such as meditation or journaling, and actively seeking out experiences that foster self-reflection.
Ultimately, confronting the existential challenges of self-affirmation and self-acceptance is a lifelong journey. It is a dance between embracing the fullness of our being, including our psychological baggage, and striving towards self-actualization. Distractions will always exist, but by recognizing their seductive power and cultivating the courage to be present, we can begin to navigate the complexities of selfhood and move towards a more authentic existence.
Wow! If you don’t believe that AI is evolving more rapidly than the human race, you may want to read that summary again. It makes me wonder how college professors are able to discriminate how much of student writing comes from their own creativity and how much is generated in three seconds with the right question and one click.
There are a couple of points I want to make here. First, while the AI generated response is a brilliant answer to the question I asked, it doesn’t contain any human warmth or any personal stories that may bring the writing alive and enable the concepts to connect with a real human being sharing a meaningful moment.
Second, the answer formulated (I think formulated is a better word here than created because the AI answer is completed mechanical) depends upon the right question being asked. I would not have been able to ask the right question, if I had not thought deeply about the idea. What I have struggled with for years in paying close attention to conversations is a real absence of deep listening, asking good questions, and sharing of intimate, soul-revealing stories.
Finally, any tool or technology can be used for better or for worse. To me, the AI answer to my question complemented and clarified the points I was trying to make in this post. AND, my weeks of introspection around this issue helped me to pose a question that might yield a powerful response. If I had simply posted the AI response to the question I was thinking about, it would have resulted in a cold and mechanical summary of documented literature from the past. Humans still possess a huge and valuable advantage in being able to generate new responses to changing conditions and to share stories that connect with people’s experience.
I’m hoping, as we move into this next phase of chaos in which distractions are likely to increase, we will deepen our commitment to bring the best of who we are to each moment in spite of the reality that we will also be bringing the rest of who we are to that moment as well. May it be so.
Also published on Medium.
Really interesting and contemplative Ricky. AI scares the crap out of me, while your (and Ezra & Annie’s comments) bring home to me the beauty of our humanness! Thank you my friend ❤️