Breaking up the Monotony of the morn

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An Old Eskimo Proverb:

"Yesterday is ashes; tomorrow wood. Only today does the fire burn brightly."

I loved this one, even though it expresses a common spiritual axiom. There is something about this proverb that does more justice than phrases such as "Yesterday is history, and tomorrow is a mystery. All we have is today".

It is the simplest concept that I need to have repeated the most. With life as complicated as it is, with emotions as complicated as they are, and is so easy to forget the simple things. Hope this serves as a good reminder for anyone who has left "today" already today and is somewhere else rather than right here, right now.

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), September 25, 2000

Answers

Thanks for sharing that one, FS. I've never seen it before. Here's a thought from George Sand, though it doesn't exactly tie in here - I'm gonna toss it out anyway:

"One knows what one has lost, but not what one may find".

As an aside, I just received a 'wrong number' call. A sweet sounding youthful voice asked "Is Heaven there?"

I paused, & paused... & said "excuse me?"

She sincerely asked again, expecting to find someone familiar "Is Heaven there?"

I realized she was looking for a girlfriend, and told her that I thought she had the wrong number - but as I was in midconversation with someone in the room at the time, I must say it did stop me in my tracks.

{We still have many kids here on the left coast named Summer, Cinnamon, Storm, even twins named Peaches & Cream }

-- flora (***@__._), September 25, 2000.


And the answer is: Heaven IS here

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), September 25, 2000.

Yeah,

Most of the time I remeber that, but never fielded a phone call before. The phone number of my chidhood home was one digit off the 'Prayer Tower' number in LA. We often had desperate people calling in the middle of the night, asking for prayers. If they sounded really bad off, I would tell them 'OK', instead of trying to explain that they had the wrong number.

{The cynical me never did tell them where to send donations.}

-- flora (***@__._), September 25, 2000.


Not to deny the value of this insight FS, but we should keep it in perspective. The only beings that live totally in the NOW are folks with Altzheimers and (maybe) non-human animals. Anyone who is conscious is, at the current NOW, a summation of all that they they have been in previous NOWS and they are aware of continually moving into future NOWS.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 25, 2000.

FS---thanks for the break from the NOW of CPR threads.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 25, 2000.


Lars,

I've had similar thoughts of Alzheimer's patients spring up after reading a thread or two about this kind of thing. Today it seems like a very fine line, and for some of us it is a subtle internal struggle. A constant companion, sometimes visible, many times obscured.

-- flora (***@__._), September 25, 2000.


Lars-

That was kind of the point. LOL.

As far as your contention, it is most true but for the very devoted- it CAN be acheived, it is a goal which I try to acheive nonetheless- but most folk will never be released from the prison of past "failures" or future anxieties. I, for one, have experienced this NOW moment, complete immersion, just twice in my life-it is indescribable.

Have a good day.

-- FutureSHock (gray@matter.think), September 25, 2000.


I have to wonder if a good part of life and emotions are complicated only because we (needlessly) make them that way. At least for me, I'm pretty sure I'm responsible for complicating things that are really inherently simple. I think it all comes down to what we "sweat" about; the more you "sweat" something, the more complicated it becomes.

(And no, I've never read any of those "don't sweat the small stuff" books either.)

-- Patricia (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), September 25, 2000.


"I have to wonder if a good part of life and emotions are complicated only because we (needlessly) make them that way."

On the other hand {I have five fingers!}-

an experience {perception} might be a test, a trick, or even a cosmic joke.

-- flora (***@__._), September 25, 2000.


FS--

If it's not too personal, I think many of us would be interested in your two NOW immersions. What were the circumstances; how long did they last (a contradiction in terms?); what exactly was your experience?

I'd say that an orgasm or even non-orgasmic sex is a NOW event. Betcha you've had more than 2 of those, :).

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 25, 2000.



"Yesterday is ashes; tomorrow wood. Only today does the fire burn brightly."

Shouldn't that be the other way around? "Yesterday is wood; tomorrow is ashes....."

-- The Engineer (spcengineer@yahoo.com), September 25, 2000.


Engineer -- yesterday you burned some wood but left some for tomorrow.

( o Y o )

-- helen (b@r.q), September 25, 2000.


Lars-

As said previously, this cannot be put into words-but I can tell you the circumstances in which they occured.

The interesting thing, is that they occured at a "non-scheduled" time- i was not praying or meditating. Once I was on the escalator of the port authority building in jersey city-the other was down by the hackensack river in Secaucus.

The moments were sudden, spontaneous, and I found myself conscious, but in a new consciousness, beyond thought, beyond analysis, just "there", not labeling things, not thinking about things, and the closest I could come to describing it is that, at those moments, I felt as though I were pure light-my idea of self disappeared, and I simply was.

After a very short while my "self" got scared, and I was returned to my regularly scheduled programming.

I will say at the time of these events I was very involved in my spiritual disciplines, which I cannot say I always do today. Oh well. Awareness. Awareness. Awareness.

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), September 26, 2000.


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