A few things I love to do that make me feel connected with the world beyond my skullspace.

• Discussion salons
• Blind contour drawings
• Co-marveling at
  • Music
  • Paintings / graphic designs
  • Oolong tea
  • Scotch
  • Crafts (like gundam building)

I’ve also gotten this from cycling, especially mountain biking.

Alienation is a loss of intuitive contact and participation in some aspect of reality. Total alienation is rare, but partial alienation is nearly universal. Wherever alienation occurs, things begin to feel unreal and we, ourselves, feel less real. It requires effort to overcome alienation, especially in conditions of mass societal alienation.

I am designing a half-day disalienation event. I would want a mix of generations and worldviews in the room.

A rough agenda.

• 20 minute meditation or prayer session to quiet ourselves down and prime ourselves to pay attention.

• 30-45 minutes of gongfu tea. We will focus on noticing the sights, sounds, smell and taste of the tea, speaking only to point out subtler features of the experience so others can notice them with us.

• 90 minutes of salon, on some experience-resonant topic. “Acquired tastes” might be a good one.

• 60 minutes of blind contour drawing. We’ll refrain from commenting on or even looking at one another’s drawings. The purpose of the activity is the activity itself, not the output.

• 90 minutes of salon, over some simple lunch, on some topic connected with awareness shifts. “Noticing” or “absorption” or “craft” are possibilities.

• 30 minutes of scotch tasting. We’ll each slow sip one dram of scotch. We will share what we smell, taste and see, and try to notice what others are noticing.

That would be an amazing day.

I might want to experiment with doing gatherings in multiple cities. A friend in Chicago expressed interest in hosting one. We were thinking we could do in-person gatherings on Saturday, then have a Zoom call the next day for participants in different cities to connect and reflect.