Yesterday I decided to try a little experiment. I turned everything off. I "unplugged". I turned off all the plug sockets in my flat; I switched off the cooker and the microwave. I switched off my internet router. I switched off the hot water. I don't own a fridge, but if I did, I would have switched that off too. What the hell. Just switch everything off. Then I went for a walk in the park. It was dawn.
I left my phone at home. It occurred to me as I crossed the road and entered the park that I didn't know exactly what time it was. I don't wear a watch anymore (I sold my smartwatch last year) so I could only guess. It was just beginning to get light. About 4am? That felt right. Then it occurred to me that it didn't matter what time it was. I was unable to reach for my phone to satisfy my curiosity. Then it occurred to me that my curiosity didn't matter either. The line from the Beatles song that had been looping in my head the last few days came suddenly to the fore:
When you've seen beyond yourself then you may find peace of mind is waiting there.Good old George. He knew things.
Peace of mind is, I think, all I really want from life. This emerging sense that the true barrier to peace is not simply "capitalism", the "elites" or "the system" - which I can't remove from inverted commas because I just don't know what those things really are - but stuff, is where we need to focus our attention. Beware those who are using this trend to market themselves and sell you stuff: stuff marketed somehow as not really stuff because it will help and "inspire" you to get rid of stuff. These people may not be on your side. Maybe they are; it's too soon to tell. But beware. Minimalist they may be; but revolutionaries they most certainly are not.
I walked slowly through the park, without earphones. I listened to the birds and the breeze. I watched the ducklings on the water. I sat, and I thought. I came to no conclusions. It was nice.
When I got back inside it was 5:07am. My phone had charged overnight, as had my laptop. The idea was to use only that energy all day, to limit myself, to take a small step towards a "digital detox". If my phone ran out, it ran out. I couldn't connect to wifi, only 4G. If there was something I really, urgently needed to know, or do online, I'd be able to do it, but there'd be no hours of browsing YouTube or reddit or twitter when I could be doing other things.
I did some other things. I read almost half of the book I started a few weeks ago and probably would have finished by now if I'd unplugged a little sooner. I tended to my microgreens. I have a wall in my living room covered in post it notes - ideas, things to do, reminders - anytime I find myself distracted by such thoughts, that aren't immediately relevant, I write them on a post it note and stick them on the wall. It's a way to avoid distraction. Then later I can see them, and pick one, or more. I picked several. Tiny tasks that took mere minutes to complete, but that I know I wouldn't have done that day if I'd stayed plugged in. Curious. I took a nap.
For breakfast I ate cold porridge; for lunch some leftover boiled rice from yesterday mixed with a few herbs and spices and a little soy sauce. For tea I ate bread and pickles. The cold porridge for breakfast wasn't exactly pleasant, but it was adequate. I used the water still warm in the tank and left it to settle while I walked in the park. Cold rice was fine; as was bread and pickles. No cooking today. I didn't die. A discussion occurred of what it meant to "need" something. Someone suggested that to need something means only that you would die without it. I wouldn't die without my right arm, I replied, but I still need it. "Need" is a relative concept.
I took another pile of books I was never going to read, plus some other bits and pieces, to a charity shop. A little less stuff in my life. A little more peace.
What did I learn from my day unplugged? Nothing special or new, not really. What I noticed most was how the day just felt longer. I became more present. Time didn't rush away from me. I think this has something to do with what peace of mind involves. I want to live a very, very long time. Perhaps millions of years. I hope the transhumanists succeed in finding ways to transcend our biological limitations. I really do; but if they don't, I have an solution. Unplug. Just for a day, every now and again. Wittgenstein was on to something when he said that eternal life belongs to those who live in the present, but he's dead now. You, however, are not.
Related posts
"I have everything I need"
Is minimalism boring?
Thoughts from a non empty room
Imagining No Possessions Part One and Part Two
Sitting on a Landfill (Waiting for the End to Come)
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