Unplug Your Phone

At 4:49 this morning, the ringing of our phone rudely awakened us. When we went downstairs to answer it, there was no one on the line. Usually, a middle of the night call means something unforeseen has happened to someone we know, so we dialed the number. A voice-recorded operator said that this party couldn’t be reached as dialed, pleased try dialing again. Which we deigned not do, since I am averse to following instructions from any unknown, recorded entity.

We usually unplug our phone when we go to sleep, when we eat a meal, when we take a nap, when we watch a movie, when we are relaxing, or doing Tai Ji.

We have survived without an iPhone, an iPad, a Kindle, a Nook, any App, and many other electronic devices whose purposes are foreign to me. I do have a cell phone, as does my wife, but they are mainly used to communicate with one another. When I am playing table tennis with my robot in our detached garage, she will call to tell me when dinner is ready.

This Sunday we will be driving down to Esalen south of Big Sur for a five-day Tai Ji workshop.  We park our car outside our room, and there it stays.

We look forward to being without a television set, without a computer (although there are some available), and just enjoy doing Tai Ji with a group led by Chungliang. He also inspires us with his gentle and meaningful philosophy, and we find solace sitting under either the sun or the stars in the outdoor tubs overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Simple is better, and we don’t have to worry about whether or not we remembered to unplug our phone.