An appointment with now
All is Change
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,284
An appointment with now
It’s one thing being in prison. It’s another entirely to be in a prison of one’s own making and still another to be aware of that. How to be free?
An appointment with now :
https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=41&v=FDhn7e8MCWI&feature=youtu.be
An appointment with now :
https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=41&v=FDhn7e8MCWI&feature=youtu.be
All is Change
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,284
Hello dear Obladi. It’s wonderful to hear from you. Thank you for the reply.
……..
Many decades ago I was introduced to the idea of now by reading ‘Be Here Now’ by Ram Dass yet it’s taken a long time to figure out the deeper meanings of it. I think One Day at a Time kind of points to it. And also ‘let go, let god’. All those pithy AA sayings that shouldn’t (as I sometimes do) be taken for granted.
Peace to you
……..
Many decades ago I was introduced to the idea of now by reading ‘Be Here Now’ by Ram Dass yet it’s taken a long time to figure out the deeper meanings of it. I think One Day at a Time kind of points to it. And also ‘let go, let god’. All those pithy AA sayings that shouldn’t (as I sometimes do) be taken for granted.
Peace to you
All is Change
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,284
It seems paradoxical that all the things, the pains, the miseries one spends a life escaping from are felt in the present while there is the claim that it is that being in the present one finds true serenity.
The reconciliation comes with the understanding that to actually, fully, be in the present one has to change ones relationship to the feelings. Instead of running away from them or wanting them to be different they are understood to not be ‘me’, ‘mine’ or ‘my self’. Instead they are ephemeral processes that come and go and the misery is dependent on how much one wants them to be otherwise.
Having come to such an understanding there is a general ‘letting go’ and there, in the now, is peace.
So, that can be an intellectual understanding which presents the mundane experiential paradox mentioned earlier. To make this understanding real, in the sense that a wisdom born of experience is necessary, in order to overcome what may be years of clinging to ‘not now’, retraining is needed. To just accept for a moment there is something to be in the present doesn’t overturn a lifetime of avoiding it. This is what mindfulness is all about.
Every moment of our lives we are breathing. This is a truth that is happening right now. So, understand the breath as a door to the present. If one is continually mindful of the breath then one is continually mindful of the present, albeit a simple little part of the totality of now. Yet that is a door to the totality. Which means it is a door to all that is to be let go of in order to be at peace.
The reconciliation comes with the understanding that to actually, fully, be in the present one has to change ones relationship to the feelings. Instead of running away from them or wanting them to be different they are understood to not be ‘me’, ‘mine’ or ‘my self’. Instead they are ephemeral processes that come and go and the misery is dependent on how much one wants them to be otherwise.
Having come to such an understanding there is a general ‘letting go’ and there, in the now, is peace.
So, that can be an intellectual understanding which presents the mundane experiential paradox mentioned earlier. To make this understanding real, in the sense that a wisdom born of experience is necessary, in order to overcome what may be years of clinging to ‘not now’, retraining is needed. To just accept for a moment there is something to be in the present doesn’t overturn a lifetime of avoiding it. This is what mindfulness is all about.
Every moment of our lives we are breathing. This is a truth that is happening right now. So, understand the breath as a door to the present. If one is continually mindful of the breath then one is continually mindful of the present, albeit a simple little part of the totality of now. Yet that is a door to the totality. Which means it is a door to all that is to be let go of in order to be at peace.
All is Change
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,284
‘At some point you just have to let go of what you thought should happen and live in what is happening.‘
Yes, and, may I add, ‘what is happening’ is a product of what did happen. Future moments are shaped by what happens now so what is done now is important.
Dwell on the past and the future will be one of dwelling on the past. Endless misery. Dwell in the present and the past is let go of and a future of letting go is shaped. Take care of now and the future is taken care of.
be happy and free
Yes, and, may I add, ‘what is happening’ is a product of what did happen. Future moments are shaped by what happens now so what is done now is important.
Dwell on the past and the future will be one of dwelling on the past. Endless misery. Dwell in the present and the past is let go of and a future of letting go is shaped. Take care of now and the future is taken care of.
be happy and free
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Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: East Coast USA
Posts: 1,068
Originally Posted by Alpine 
AAPJ, I love this one.
I am a repeat-o-matic.
All is Change
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,284
On the subject of repetition.
One trained repeatedly to ignore the present and to swing from the past to the future. It didn’t happen to be so by some magical touch of a super natural being. It took repeated effort to become proficient at being ignorant and evasive with regards to the truth of now and it takes repetitious reminding and personal effort to develop the habit of being attentive to the present.
One trained repeatedly to ignore the present and to swing from the past to the future. It didn’t happen to be so by some magical touch of a super natural being. It took repeated effort to become proficient at being ignorant and evasive with regards to the truth of now and it takes repetitious reminding and personal effort to develop the habit of being attentive to the present.
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