The strange message left me squinting into the middle-distance in abject confusion. I had just emailed a friend to ask if she was still able to meet me that evening. ‘I’m meditating right now :),’ her reply said. And it was crowned with the addendum: ‘Sent from my iPhone.’
After a few disorientated seconds spent trying to process this bizarre sophism, I finally decided to be outraged. Why on earth had she taken her iPhone into a ‘meditation’ session? How was I supposed to know not to email her because she might be ‘meditating’ with a twitching mobile at the edge of her crossed knees? The more I thought about it the crosser I became. I drafted several retorts, one of which particularly pleased me: ‘Wow! Well done for meditating while also sending an email. Have you alerted the international Sivananda centre to inform them of this breakthrough in meditative techniques?’
I also thought about how great spiritual moments in history might be transformed by the addition of remote communications technology.
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