Practicing Presence in an Age of Distraction
by Diane M. Mills
Skylight Paths Press, Woodstock, Vt. 150 pages.
The author believes that “conversation is a way of being.” She started the Conversation Project as a way of encouraging people in the age of the Internet to engage in conversations that go deeper than the surface and touch more than information. Leaning on the wisdom of Benedict, who counseled monks that “all guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ,” Mills began to wonder what might happen if she treated each person, from the cashier to the colleague, as a “divine being.” The consequence of that decision is this book and the larger project. She reminds her readers that great conversations are encouraging, enlightening and enjoyable. They do not happen by accident, though, and the more intentional we become about conversation as a spiritual practice, the more likely we will engage in truly great conversation. The key practice, of course, is to pay attention; to enlarge our capacity to be fully present to the person(s) we engage. This is standard; what Mills does is encourage this capacity-building by specific practices and writings from all traditions. This is an ecumenical book that explicitly draws upon insights from religious traditions other than the author’s own. The art of conversation is not limited to the art of being Christian.
