Daily Quote, Tuesday February 24, 2009
Good morning,
Today's quote might help to sort out some possible confusion about what is. It seems obvious after our discussions of this but also it remains the case for many people that we live in the world of what we might be. It's interesting to observe people's use of the future tense in conversations and how often they speak in terms of what they will be doing in the future rather than what they are doing now. Psychologically, many people feel, I think, that both they and through this the present has no worth. They believe that the present has to be something, something other than awareness. As Krishnamurti says, what is actual is moment to moment and requires a very swift mind. If we think of the future all the time or too much, we can observe our mind slowing down. It's because the future is an image with all the complexity removed. We don't really have to pay attention because its sole purpose is escape.
You might like to try observing today how much you talk about the future and how much you notice other people doing the same.
The what is is what you are, not what you would like to be.
The 'what is' is what you are, not what you would like to be; it is not the ideal because the ideal is fictitious, but it is actually what you are doing, thinking, and feeling from moment to moment. What is is the actual, and to understand the actual requires awareness, a very alert, swift mind.
Collected Works, Vol. V - 50
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I was working on a project last year where I was asked to capture the "what is" of work for a group of 20 people. It was a very challenging project as when asked specific questions about the present, the individuals would respond one of two ways - "in the past we would do ..." or "in the future you should". From this experience I began to pay attention to how I framed opening questions in any conversation. I noticed that if I asked "How are you?" I would get a very different conversation than if I asked how is your week going or what is going on this week. I know this sounds very all very obvious but I noticed that I would have a more engaged conversation when I asked a more "present " question and I would usually get an earful of misery and woe about how busy they are if I ask about their week (past or future). So through awareness I stopped the suffering by focusing on a simple "how are you?".
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see if the next time someone asks me how I am, if I think about how I am at that exact moment and not how I am in general. Do I respond after quickly thinking about how I have been in the last few hours/days or how I actually am at that time?
ReplyDeleteI think we all have a bit of a tendency to "summarise" how we have been feeling over a certain time period, maybe a day or a week, whenever we are asked how we are. In my case, I think it's a conditioning from my academic background to offer "perspective" or to take an overall view. It would be the scholarly thing to do. It's almost as if to say how I am right now is a reaction, for figure! As if I'm not reacting when I do things from my conditioning! It's as if by saying how I actually am now, I haven't given proper consideration and reviewed how things have been and arrived at a balanced point of view. Again, it's just a form of avoidance or an escape.
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