In response to Ellens post concerning Meditation I delved back into 'living in the Now' with words...something I've really been working at in silence and have not spoke or written about much. Figured I'd post over here and keep the ramblings out of her thread
Our swaddled and weary senses restrain us in a
mysterious land of suspension and removal which has
the qualities of distance and separation. We let nothing
really touch us and become slaves to automatic living,
paying very little notice to what goes on around us.
Thus, we deny ourselves the fullness of living in the
now, which requires that we must be able to open fully
our senses and to direct our awareness.
Herbert A. Otto
"Sensory Awakening through Smell, Touch, and Taste"
in
Ways of Growth 1968 p. 50.
What is the use of planning to be able to eat next week
unless I can really enjoy the meals when they come? If
I am so busy planning how to eat next week that I
cannot fully enjoy what I am eating now, I will be in
the same predicament when next week's meals
become "now."
If my happiness at this moment consists largely in
reviewing happy memories and expectations, I am but
dimly aware of this present. I shall still be dimly aware
of the present when the good things that I have been
expecting come to pass. For I shall have formed a
habit of looking behind and ahead, making it difficult
for me to attend to the here and now. If, then, my
awareness of the past and future makes me less aware
of the present, I must begin to wonder whether I am
actually living in the real world.
Alan W. Watts,
The Wisdom of Insecurity 1951 p. 35.
Here's another re-post:
We can see that experience gives rise to knowledge, which becomes our memory, from which arises thought. So thought is always about the past; history. We cannot think about the present moment. It is impossible. Once we have a thought about something, reflect on it, it is past, even if it was just a split second ago. It is not the present. If we are thinking, it is always about a moment, a movement or action, that has already occurred.
Of course, we cannot stop thinking by trying to not think about it. That sort of circular effort is endless, and never leads to any realization. Instead, we must simply be Aware. When we look at something like a sunset, is it possible to just look at it, without immediately putting ourselves in the past by commenting "Oh, how beautiful"? Because when we do this we are inserting a space, a separation, between ourselves and what we are observing. Can you simply be, without bringing any history, without adding anything extra to it?
Once we can understand and accept this, then and only then can we truly begin to learn. Then and only then can we have ‘no-mind,’ no internal dialogue.’
So to be constantly in a state of not knowing, this no-mind, is to be able to actually learn. This is to be in a state of constant learning. Then life itself is as exciting and curious as watching a movie or reading a book. When we are reading a good story, or watching one unfold, our attention is always focused and in harmony with the story. We are drawn into it, and we follow it with all of our senses. And even though we know it is only a story, it can move us to laughter and to tears.
Life, as such, is the ultimate story; much more compelling than any movie ever was. Because the story of our life is never over. It never stops. You can never put the book down for dinner, or walk out of the theatre of this life. This story only ends when we die; and yet even this we cannot know for sure. As long as we are conscious, we must continue to be open and learn in every moment.
Only when we are able to lead a life of this kind of thought-less, open inquiry, having available to us and using but not depending on past knowledge, only then can we come into contact with that which cannot be accumulated or measured. It cannot be measured because there is no "amount" to it. It doesn't gather, but continues to unfold, infinitely. It is ever-new and constantly opening right before our very senses.
Then, when we are in this very practical and real, yet indescribable state, this is what we can truly call being-in-the-Now.
This, this what I describe above, is what I've been working on.
It seems over the past few years I've gotten quite far away from this living in the Now, and am on a path to recapture it. Many a fool have led me astray, although none as foolish as myself.
Thank you for your patience here folks...
z
