the current environment, a virtual lobotomy. performance factor
death by a thousand cuts - each one just steals a second of your life

when you are intent upon your work
and you raise your head to see
time has passed
the feeling you get is what Gibson said of his family and Atlantis -
there was something there , but it's gone now

now if you're killing time, the feeling is different

and neither is better

it's not so much a meditative state we need to get into  than to get out of our own head and to _somewhere_ else

the manual of adventure

in this age of ever increasing stratification and stultification, the only possible adventure is to de-re-form the blackboxes of your reality. And 'Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance' isayour manual.

Bill Watterson's commencement address at Kenyon is good reading.
Chimes with Alan Watts points on work as play.
Hugh Macleod's 'Ignore everybody ' complements  all this nicely
-- excerpt --
Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it's to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential-as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth.
You'll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you're doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you'll hear about them.
To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble.