We ignore how our thinking—about feelings, bodily functions, friends, politics, what’s on the television— lets us down. I am not talking about the possibility that someone else—Sontag, say—might be smarter than I am or have more-incisive insights than I do. I am talking about thinking on a much more basic level: that a particular peach tastes particularly good, or wondering in the middle of kissing if it is going to lead to sex, or what’s for dinner? This is hardly the same as tasting the peach or kissing.

To read more: Click on Wild life, wild mind. Originally published in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Illustration by Pat Kinsella for The Chronicle. For more on the topic of savoring, see Zeteo: On Savoring.