The Power of Now

[xoxoxoBruce]

You can call the present, now, but you're severely limiting your ability to communicate accurately in English. In the three examples I gave the word now represents three different spans of the future to any normal(or slightly warped) person. I believe I understand the concept, but trying to communicate it using now is like George Washington coming in a time machine and telling everyone he's gay.

[lumberjim]

How could the word now represent a span of time in the future? In all 3 examples, the now was the beginning of the task. It's just 3 different lengths of time from that point forward.

Maybe re read what I posted from the book where he talks about nothing ever happening in the future.

Now is now. The eternal present.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Only considering now is like being glued to your phone. Then you get run over by a bus, or walk off a pier. It's abdicating any and all responsibility for what happens to you. Replacing "I should have seen that coming" with "Shit happens".

[sexobon]

Him living in the Now could be advantagious for us, like:

What? You say today's your birthday! If you had been thinking ahead, I would've known sooner to get you a birthday present. But it's too late NOW!

[lumberjim]

Of course you don't live ONLY in the moment. Just that your brain is a tool. It's not WHO you are.

You don't hold a hammer in your hand all day just in case you encounter a nail. So why is your brain always yapping away? Put it the fuck down when you don't need it.

You need to visualize the future in order to plan. You need to remember the past in order to learn. But you absolutely cannot live in either place. You're alive NOW. So when you've made your plan, set it gently aside and give your full attention to the task at hand. Repeat until the plan has come to fruition.


The point is to silence the narrative of thoughts that constantly run through your mind, taking your attention away from what you are doing.

That's what I'm trying to do. That helps me.

It's not easy. You have to catch yourself all day long. Even folding laundry, or mowing the lawn... Your mind races. Notice. Pay attention to what you're doing.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I always figured those mind numbing jobs like mowing the lawn were an opportunity to think about other things... like the babe in the house.

[lumberjim]

They are just that. And I'm suggesting that when your attention is off (in the future) with the babe in the house, you're missing the moment you're in. Which one is real?

[Gravdigr]

I'm mowing the yard when there's a babe in the house?!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

They are just that. And I'm suggesting that when your attention is off (in the future) with the babe in the house, you're missing the moment you're in. Which one is real?

After 40 years of spending a half dozen hours every week mowing the lawn, I'd rather be anywhere else. Why suffer through it when I can make it more pleasurable in my head? If I'm enjoying what I'm doing, or at least getting some satisfaction from it, I have no trouble staying in the moment. I doubt you had any trouble paying attention building your bike.

Perhaps lawn mowing was not the best choice for illustration because I hate it with an irrational pasion. I can see where multi-tasking can make things more work than pleasure by having to concentrate on not putting the cookie sheet in the washer, laundry in the crib, or the baby in the oven.

[Undertoad]

Making music forces you into the now

I enjoy doing pit bands for musicals. For two hours, every note is planned out, and so from the first note you play, your mind is sharply focused on that. The only thought permitted is, what note do I play next, and when exactly do I play it. (After 1/32nd of a beat, or do I get to wait longer?)

Is this part of the point of meditation? To put yourself into that state, without depending on giving your brain another task to accomplish

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Making music forces you into the now

I enjoy doing pit bands for musicals. For two hours, every note is planned out, and so from the first note you play, your mind is sharply focused on that. The only thought permitted is, what note do I play next, and when exactly do I play it. (After 1/32nd of a beat, or do I get to wait longer?)

Is this part of the point of meditation? To put yourself into that state, without depending on giving your brain another task to accomplish

This is insight. Thank you.

[limey]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Making music forces you into the now

I enjoy doing pit bands for musicals. For two hours, every note is planned out, and so from the first note you play, your mind is sharply focused on that. The only thought permitted is, what note do I play next, and when exactly do I play it. (After 1/32nd of a beat, or do I get to wait longer?)

Is this part of the point of meditation? To put yourself into that state, without depending on giving your brain another task to accomplish

This is why going to any music practice is a restorative action for me. All other thoughts and feelings are put away for the duration of the practice.
I disagree with LJ that it is another form of busyness because UT here is having to put the immersion into the now that is a music practice (or performance) into words, just like LJ is trying to describe meditation.

Sent by magick

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by limey

This is why going to any music practice is a restorative action for me. All other thoughts and feelings are put away for the duration of the practice.
I disagree with LJ that it is another form of busyness because UT here is having to put the immersion into the now that is a music practice (or performance) into words, just like LJ is trying to describe meditation.

Sent by magick

Sounds right. I was thinking he said that his mind was so active concentrating in each note, it was simply occupied. His second explanation clarified a bit more.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Trying to force you mind to idle, if not stop, is an unnatural experience, that only happens normally when you die. Even sleeping, or in a coma, your brain is cooking, often full tilt boogie.

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Trying to force you mind to idle, if not stop, is an unnatural experience, that only happens normally when you die. Even sleeping, or in a coma, your brain is cooking, often full tilt boogie.

It's not unnatural, just unfamiliar. The vast majority of people never stop thinking and imagining. That's normal. It's also insane.

To be constantly talked to from inside your own head. If you were to vocalize all of your thoughts... Or if everyone could hear the voice in your head, you'd get locked up for your own protection. To have the ability to put the voice on pause and give yourself a moment's peace is a skill that you have to practice. But first you have to want to. Your ego... The person you present to the world and yourself resists it. Comes up with a lot of reasons why it's a bad idea to not think. Once you get a real taste, I promise you'll want another. And it gets easier to do the more you try.

You are challenging these things I say in this thread. I expect that it's because it doesn't ring true for you. Or you're doing me the favor of playing the straight man because you're a really really good guy and your thoughts run deep. I prefer to believe the latter. And thank you, keep arguing.

I'm not identified with this idea to the point where if I'm proven wrong, I will feel defeated or diminished. This is about personal experience, so all we can really do is share our own biased perceptions with each other and try to convey the feeling using limiting words and mental imagery.