On a recent meditation retreat, I asked assembled students to share their favorite “evasive maneuvers” from the present moment, the ways we all hide out from having to be here with the direct simplicity of right now. People said all kinds of funny and not so funny things. In a discussion group later in the weekend, one student wondered why nobody had brought up Twitter and Facebook. Another student joked “Ethan asked us what our individual evasive maneuvers were, not our shared ones. Everyone’s addicted to Facebook. That just goes without saying at this point.” The best framework to analyze social networking is a concept called “coemergence.” Coemergence refers to the ability of any particular phenomenon or experience to manifest as either wisdom or confusion, helpful or harmful, a weapon or a prison. From this standpoint (which is sometimes considered an advanced framework for working with meditation practice), phenomena are in themselves neither positive nor negative, but they only become helpful or harmful according to how the mind attends to them and fixates upon them. Enter the social network. Is it the greatest tool for connection and camaraderie the world has ever seen? Or is it a dangerous time-suck, isolating us in bubbles of anxious voyeurism? Well, it’s both. What make the distinction? Whether or not you view your time online as a practice or an escape makes all the difference in the world. At the same time, recognizing the truth of coemergence is a great way to develop compassion and overcome guilt about our actions. Even Mark Zuckerberg himself seems like quite the coemergent dude. As a Buddhist teacher who uses both Facebook and Twitter to connect with friends, students, and like-minded community builders, I struggle mightily with making my time online mindful and beneficial for myself and others. Below are some very simple guidelines that have been helpful to me. It’s said that anything can become a mindfulness practice with the right intention, that we can actually cultivate our minds and hearts 24/7/365. So for all of us who spend too many hours online, here’s our chance.
Peace, and see you soon in the mindful social network. Ethan Nichtern is the author of One City: A Declaration of Interdependence (Wisdom Publications) and the founding director of the Interdependence Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to meditation and philosophy, integral activism, mindful arts, and meaningful media. Visit his website at ethannichtern.com
