Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry —– all forms of fear –— are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.
Tolle
Sam Harris and The Present Moment
The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness'
6 comments:
I'm going to be brutally honest. Sam repeats himself in his presentation much the same as a WCG minister. I had already gotten his point within the first minute, and was waiting for him to build upon that with something deeper and more profound, but it never came.
If someone lives a lifespan consistent with current actuarial tables, it is by no means short. I agree with the words from the Grateful Dead song "Truckin". "What a long, strange trip it's been." It's not that life is short, it's that the exceptionally pleasant parts of life that we all idealize tend to be short. Having the memories of those segments, and the ability to look forward towards more of them is what keeps us sane, motivated, and moving forward. Most of life is spent simply dealing with whatever is thrown at us. In fact we work through those things in order to fast-forward to a sweeter spot of the tape of life. Other people and their vibes and influences are indeed often an important part of the various eras of our lives. Sometimes the people whom we would wish the most to be constants in our lives tend to only walk with us for a short time. Would-be nemeses, adversaries, seem to hang in there forever, unless we deliberately cut them out.
I do agree that attempting to make each era, each present, as much of a sweet spot as possible, is a worthy goal. I just don't know that that is always within our human abilities.. When it's not, the memories that form our sense of reality can help us maintain balance and sanity. As for the present, we often need to be able to say to ourselves, "This too will pass!"
BB
Without an eternal life, everything ends, and as Solomon lamented, "it is all foolishness".
I will argue that if there is such a thing as "free will", then this is a spiritual thing, and a consciousness coming from another dimension.
Dennis, since you believe in a closed ended universe, with no new information being added to the universe, then your post is meaningless. In your world view, things are deterministic and there is no such thing as "fate". Everything is just "cause and effect" being a chain going back to the big bang.
The video you posted declares that "you can do something about it". Without Free Will , then it is all fate, and destiny. If there is Free Will, then you must confess to a "spiritual dimension" to our existence.
It's just a commercial break as I see nothing yet in the eye on COG issues.There will be some appealing topic shortly
Arguments against free will, are themselves examples of free will.
Thanks Byker, I was going to pretty much say the same thing.
We had a discussion at Sabbath services in the past concerning the subject of becoming perfect. The conclusion was there is nothing in our physical lives or possessions that are perfect.
Which leads into a strange (or so I thought) discussion I had when I was younger with an older business man. He told me if it rusts, rots or depreciates you don't want to own it. I thought to myself, does that include me?
The the time it takes daily to overcome or control or add new rust, rot and depreciation consumes a major portion of our lives. Some are content to live this way their whole lives and enjoy the little snapshots that become available from time to time. Others go to the opposite extreme to fulfill pleasures here in the present. The result: alcoholism, drug abuse, broken marriages, abandoned children, theft, bankruptcy, manslaughter and ........
In a free society, contentment is must easier to obtain by structuring ones life so that they are doing what they enjoy every day. I put my oldest daughter through 6 years of college and after 3 months of work in her degreed field she came to me and said I don't "really" like doing this. She wanted to work full time in the part time job she had while attending college. I told her if you get up every morning and hate what you are doing, you are going to have a miserable life - do what you enjoy!
I think Mr. Diehl is setting us up with one. My thinking is that the inordinate push in ones mind to make the present the most important aspect of ones life, will lead to the exact problems detailed in this post. After this commercial, are we going to get HWA's we have no more than? and Ron wienland's the great tribulaion will be? and Dave Dave Pack's occurring and recurring Son of Man? and all the misery this has and is causing in the COG spectrum?
BB said: "What a long, strange trip it's been." It's not that life is short, it's that the exceptionally pleasant parts of life that we all idealize tend to be short. Having the memories of those segments, and the ability to look forward towards more of them is what keeps us sane, motivated, and moving forward. Most of life is spent simply dealing with whatever is thrown at us. In fact we work through those things in order to fast-forward to a sweeter spot of the tape of life. Other people and their vibes and influences are indeed often an important part of the various eras of our lives. Sometimes the people whom we would wish the most to be constants in our lives tend to only walk with us for a short time. Would-be nemeses, adversaries, seem to hang in there forever, unless we deliberately cut them out. I do agree that attempting to make each era, each present, as much of a sweet spot as possible, is a worthy goal. I just don't know that that is always within our human abilities.. When it's not, the memories that form our sense of reality can help us maintain balance and sanity. As for the present, we often need to be able to say to ourselves, "This too will pass!"
So true and so beautifully put Bob! Blessings!
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