tHE aBSURD lIFE, pART dEUX

Multitasking. Sounds like a good idea, doesn't it? Good computer operating systems do it really well. Moms perfected it long before there was a word for it. And most, if not all of us strive to get better at it. To a degree, multitasking is a necessary and profitable tool for living life; past that point it becomes absurd.

At the precise moment that the absurdity of multitasking struck me, I was working out in the gym before showering and heading upstairs to my day job. I caught myself simultaneously walking on the treadmill, marking up the manuscript of a book I'm editing, whitening my teeth with those wonderful, chemical-impregnated plastic strips, and catching bits and pieces of current events from CNN on TV. Only the apparatus affixed to my teeth prevented me from accomplishing the other necessary goal for my workout-time - downing my first pint of water for the day. I had to actually work that in around the time allotted for developing a blinding smile.

The sad thing is, I really don't need a mental distraction from the routine of working-out; I actually enjoy the sensations of walking (alternating level and incline) and lifting weights. That is, I enjoy those experiences unless I ignore them in favor of editing a book, timing my teeth, and catching some tidbits of news. I want white teeth. I want to work as a writer and editor. I want to have some idea of what's going on in the world. And I want to feel my muscles doing something other than cramping in an infernal office-chair.

Unfortunately, while I can simultaneously do the activities of whitening, editing, listening, and exercising, I cannot experience them all at the same time. I have to allocate my consciousness in a rotation that visits each activity for just enough time to adequately maintain it.

At this point someone will no doubt raise the obvious objection - who in their right mind wants to "experience" teeth-whitening strips? I agree, but my point is not so much in the details as in the overall philosophy. Overdone, multitasking reduces our lives to a set of time-units into which we must stuff as many things as possible. This leads us to accomplish everything except the enjoyment of our accomplishments.

Jesus' promise of life is that we should have it in abundance, not that we should stuff it with abundance. Solomon looked at the way life was lived around him and called it, "vanity." I call it, "absurdity."