Zen And The Art Of Showering
The shower. The final frontier. The last thing we do without our smartphone or AI. How to maximize this new first-principle — and build a daily practice to cleanse our Body, Mind, and Spirit
Give Us Today Our Daily Shower
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” — French philosopher Blaise Pascal.
Modern life — an endless fire drill of digital content.
Our smartphones — an endless buzz for attention.
As an elder Millennial, I can assure you, life in the 2020’s lacks quietude. I hardly need to explain this, we all feel it. The itch. The nagging lack of peace.
But — there’s still the shower.
A New First-Principle
Here’s the basic proposition — Showering is the last thing we all do without our smartphones.
The only thing. ALL of us do. Without the phones.
The shower, where we also get our best ideas.
So it follows that I believe the humble ten minute shower may hold the power of the ocean.
This truth about the shower is so suddenly profound — I frankly consider it a first-principle for the 2020's.
I see potential here. How much potential? Let’s peak behind the curtain.
A Brief Undressing Of The Smartphone-Era
While the water’s warming up, here’s some cornerstones of culture that died since June 2007 (when Apple released the first smartphone).
Network television. Hand-written letters. Paper dollar bills. Record stores. Cameras. Photographs. Road maps. Newspapers. Telephone conversations. Memorized phone numbers. Human Intelligence. Etc.
The smartphone replaced all that — by following the money — with a new, postmodern infrastructure:
Apps. Texts. Emojis. TikToks. Influencer economics. Likes. Followers. Thirst traps. Shock culture. GPS tracking. Wearable devices. Digital currencies. Artificial Intelligence. Etc.
It is compounding in both speed, breadth, and depth.
Each new smartphone upgrade and AI advancement — a re-lathering on top of prior iterations. A shampoo effect making it easier and easier to kill the deep, old ways of being human.
Alas, I don’t want to get political here — I wish to get spiritual.
Two Words — My. Precious.
Some ways needed to die sure. Burn off the dead wood. And obviously the smartphone can’t be all bad, right?
After all, it’s our own fault — we humans got a lizard brain.
But let’s just agree for brevity sake that smartphones control us now.
Cue the study that says we check our phones 96 times a day — every ten minutes. The same study that says we touch our phones 2,600 times per day.
I picture a soft caress. (My preciousss.)
“And honestly, I like your Jacuzzi,” said the frog.
We need it for work. We use it for play. We use it for everything in between (the legs).
Do we use it, or does it use us?
A tool that wags the dog.
Despite our fetch state of smartphone addiction — We all still perform that ritual with 1/96th of our day.
Can a ten minute shower really fortify hope, belief, and connection — to the higher power above, and within, and without ???
That seems like a lot of mindfulness.
But here’s how I think this works.
Thus Return The Primordial Waters
We do this ritual of our own free will.
We set the smartphone down.
We shed our masks and strip naked.
We step through the glass doorway. We pull back the veil-curtain.
We step into the primordial amniotic rainwater cocoon.
We do the dance under a perfect warm drizzle.
We clean and care for the bodily vessel.
Easy as ABC. Our brainwaves synchronize with the water. But the Alpha, Beta, Gamma waves retreat.
And we drop right into the pocket of a cherished Theta wave.
We are ritualistically primed to hang ten in this moment of Zen — this moment of spiritual awareness, human creativity, intuition, daydreams, meditation — prayer.
Let us be most intentional here. We say thank you. We ask guidance. From above. From within.
We listen. We are quiet in a room alone.
We allow our thoughts to clear upon an open field. The rainwaters flush and feed the meadow of our minds. Peace.
We have found the space for fresh thoughts — and pure answers — to emerge.
Thus we can reemerge to the world. Spiritually fresh. Renewed. Evolved.
This Is The Final Frontier
This is it. This is the final frontier — This is the space we must explore.
The daily shower holds the ritual-power to bend the arch of humanity towards the light. One intentional person, one shower at a time.
How can I be so certain about this fresh take?
Because my friend — the idea came to me, in the shower.
Try for yourself.
BUT— before you turn off that water, I recommend a cold shower finish.
Get convinced on cold showers here:
And if you think this shower idea is wild — wait til you read about The Car Sauna:
