Moments of being are impactful and memorable experiences, contrasting sharply with moments of non-being, during which daily life is often lived without conscious awareness. Virginia Woolf describes moments of non-being as mundane and repetitive activities that blend into a blur, lacking the vivid details that characterize extraordinary experiences. Rita Felski adds that people often move through life like automatons, unaware and detached from their actions. In modern life, such moments dominate, leaving little room for the meaningful and awake experiences that remain vivid in memory.
I longed for what Virginia Woolf...called 'moments of being' - those exceptional experiences that stand out in memory.
Moments of non-being lack the crisp details of more indelible experiences and often coincide with activities we repeat in our everyday lives.
We act without being fully cognizant of what we are doing, moving through the world with the uncanny assurance of sleep-walkers or automatons.
My days often pass in a smear of non-being, marked by the rhythms of daily life.
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