"What at this moment is lacking"? The answer is almost always nothing. I mean, unless you are being mauled by a bear :-) Really, life (in the moment) is always beautiful. It's just very difficult to maintain presence. Glimpses of it are more easily attained but sustained living in the "now" as Eckhart Tolle likes to refer to it, is very difficult for me. In my opinion this is the next great evolution for mankind. It's an evolution of consciousness.
I believe in a new kind of me
One that never looks ahead
And I believe that this new kind of me
Will be happy where he is at
Oh where he is at
Thanks for listening! You hit the nail on the head. I wrote that Lyric after reading Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now. Also, I should mention that I've had a wonderful, wonderful day today largely because of this post. I have been much more aware of being fully present and not encumbered by the past or the future. Thanks!
I'm glad to've given you a moment of happiness!
Sry. :) In my opinion this is the next great evolution for mankind. It's an evolution of consciousness. In all seriousness, I doubt we have it in us. IMHO we evolved for challenge and uncertainty and even worry. If we don't have it, we seek it. It's like food.
To date, mankind has tried to face these things through religion which essentially has used fiction as a pacifier. I think that intuitively, people recognize that presence (or being in the moment) is what many of the founders of religion were truly talking about. For example, when Jesus says, "nobody get's to the father except through me", couldn't it be that he is saying that in order to obtain enlightenment, you must first experience the presence that he was living? Couldn't the father be a metaphor for enlightenment? -Far fetched? I don't think so. Essential to this discussion? -No. Have you ever been outdoors at the base of a river or atop a mountain pass, alone and totally in sync with your surroundings? If so, your internal dialogue may have turned off for a moment and you perhaps you were completely present? Or perhaps you experience this often without the need for external stimuli. Have you ever had a car accident or another type of serious crisis that forces you out of your internal dialogue and square in the moment? There's a Jeff Bridges movie called Fearless that explores this phenomenon. If you've never seen it. SEE IT!!!! -Such a great movie (He claims it's his best). It explores the clarity that accompanies such events as a plane crash. There are actually some people that claim to have this clarity 24/7. These people are what the Buddhists refer to as enlightened. It's possible. Being fully present is difficult though, I agree with the video that most of humanity (myself included) is living a life of insanity. This is why people jump out of planes, climb steep mountain cliffs or surf tsunami's... they seek the clarity of mind that comes when challenged in that way. Oneness with existence, needs not come from base jumping alone though. There's a way to have it all the time. -so i hear -This is the next evolution. I'm not anywhere near attaining it.... but I know it's attainable. I also know that the few times I've been able to intentionally experience it, my challenges, uncertainty and worry were absolved. "Dude, if you will it, there is no dream..."
In short, I think that all 'in the moment' existence requires acceptance of the local situation, and possibly of the global situation. It might feel right, but it may also be a very bad way to run a society. IMHO Buddhists might seem pleasant people, and they might have a good life, but I think they are often willfully unaware of a lot. These might be considered distractions, or harmful pursuits, but who is the Buddhist to judge, and why would their perspective be enlightened? I get Zen. There are many times in my life when I am in the moment. When action or non-action is reason, and everything else is not. But IMHO enlightenment is not to subvert or evolve out of our full nature. I have a naturalist view of humanity, and as a result, I believe that all we are is a result of our history. Denying part will not lead to a sustainable place. IMHO, enlightenment is understanding the whole package, and understanding how you can use the whole package to build a better world. Fear, happiness, greed, worry, anger, empathy, guilt, sadness, bordom, passion, etc., these are us. Something that didn't have these possibilities wouldn't be attaining to me. It would be subverting.
Fear, happiness, greed, worry, anger, empathy, guilt, sadness, bordom, passion, etc., these are us. Something that didn't have these possibilities wouldn't be attaining to me. -So you think your collection of emotions defines your existence or somehow makes it more fulfilling? You can have your sadness and anger, I'd willingly give them up if I could. Though I'm not sure that's entirely possible. What I do think is possible is to not wallow in them. -That is unless you're being attacked by a bear ;) You can't change the feeling but you can change the feeling about the feeling in a second or two, oh uh-huh -The Silver Jews