United with The Present Moment

Spirituality
#41

[QUOTE=lotusgirl;55443]Mindfulness, in Buddhism, is seeing things in their natural state. No judgement or biases. It is mirror thought. The mind observes without criticism. No rejection…only acceptance.

In his book, “Mindfulness in plain English”, Gunaratana gives a wonderful analogy. He says when you are remembering your second grade teacher, that is a memory. When you then become aware that you are remembering your second grade teacher, that is mindfulness.
Mindfulness stops you from adding anything to perception or subtracting anything from it. Just observe without distortion.[/QUOTE]

Very nice Lotusgirl xx

#42

“When we become witness to a moment, what we are witnessing is a memory of that moment because the moment has happened and past long before we are aware of it.”

Flex,

It is not really the case, you have misunderstood the whole phenomenon. The quality of being a witness is not something that you can do as an effort of the mind, it is something which is already there, one just has to create a space for it to spontaneously arise into your experience by itself. This witness is none other than awareness itself. And awareness is something which is absolutely beyond your control, it is as choiceless as the rhythm of the whole existence. One’s awareness is always rooted in the present, it has to be. It is in fact none other than the will of existence itself which is seeing through your eyes and hearing through your ears. And it is important for one to know that being a witness is not self-reflection. When, for example, a thought arises in the mind and you reflect that a thought has arisen in your mind, that is not being the witness. Self-reflection happens as a reaction of not being a witness, in fact the moment you reflect that a thought has arisen - if you were in a deep meditation, the current has already been broken, you will shift out of meditation.

If one wants to use a model - there can be said to be three distinct processes in one’s perception. The first is awareness itself. The second is the arising of a thought or impression through input from the senses. The third is reflecting upon a thought or impression. To remain a witness in the present involved eliminating the third and remaining at the first or second. But even if you happen to be reflecting on what arises in your experience, even then it is possible to remain a witness, because that witnessing quality is not an effort of the mind - it is the very nature of awareness itself. But, in the beginning, it will be almost impossible to remain an effortless witness. So what is needed is attention. Attention is an effort of the mind, channeling your energy as an effort to remain alert. This is needed just because we have created so many obstacles which prevent us from being aware in the moment. The mind wants to function according to it’s programming, it is not interested in anything else. Left to it’s programming - it will just do whatever has been written on it. That is why attention is like a knife - to cut away through hindrances and barriers just to pave the way and prepare an inner space, all of the work of attention is just preparation. That is why in the yogic sciences, before entering into dhyana, meditation, you first have to deal with dharana - concentration. Although what I mean by “attention” need not necessarily be fixing the mind on a single point.

#43

Nice thought Amir, but I am not sold. We are always in the present, it is true. But awareness is a step removed, and therefore in the past. The present will not hang around long enough for you to catch up and be aware, regardless of the level of meditative adeptness.

#44

“We are always in the present, it is true. But awareness is a step removed, and therefore in the past.”

“The present will not hang around long enough for you to catch up and be aware, regardless of the level of meditative adeptness.”

Then you do not know what awareness is. It has nothing whatsoever to do with ego-consciousness.

“The present will not hang around long enough for you to catch up and be aware, regardless of the level of meditative adeptness.”

Neither meditation, nor awareness is something that can be done as an effort of the mind, so there is no question of catching up with anything. The moment you have seen this message is the same moment that you are aware of it. Awareness itself is presence, there is no difference. It is just a question of whether you are aware of your own awareness. Seeing that you are not - you should sit for meditation.

#45

Then we need to define awareness.

#46

That would be tremendously difficult. It would be far more useful for us to understand what it is not. One thing which it is not, is an effort of the mind. The second thing is that awareness is not memory. If you insist that it is impossible for anything else to exist in your experience except memory, then you will have to encounter a certain problem. Because if you are to remember anything, there must have been something else which was there at the time which has made you capable of remembering. One remembers something, not because one has remembered something, but because one has experienced something. Then you will have to ask the question of what it is which is experiencing.

#47

I do believe in existence beyond memory. I have trouble with ‘awareness’ without memory. Not memory as it is traditionally understood, but in the ‘lag’ that occurs between experience of existence and awareness. I get that some beings can ‘turbo charge’ that lag so that awareness appears to coincide precisely with existence - that is the end game of meditation. But the lag exists nonetheless, ever so slightly. That is the mystery - the draw. That is why you and I and so many others strive so hard. It is so we can shorten that ‘lag’. If awareness and existence could be attained simultaneously, do you think that we would still seek out meditation?

#48

[QUOTE=The Scales;55410]would you please elaborate?[/QUOTE]

In Yoga and religions we belive theres material and spiritual side in our existance. Brains and what goes on in them, are part of material.
For spiritual to appear brains has to be quiet. Present moment is a gate to spiritual, because thats all we got. If you spent your persent moment thinking of God or financial times you stay in material side. Being totally present means being totally awere what goes on outside and within. That can still your brain.

Im not enlighted and this is only theory to me gathered from those who been there

#49

[QUOTE=lascar;56080]In Yoga and religions we belive theres material and spiritual side in our existance. Brains and what goes on in them, are part of material.
For spiritual to appear brains has to be quiet. Present moment is a gate to spiritual, because thats all we got. If you spent your persent moment thinking of God or financial times you stay in material side. Being totally present means being totally awere what goes on outside and within. That can still your brain.

Im not enlighted and this is only theory to me gathered from those who been there[/QUOTE]

close

Spiritual is always there. You be quiet to find the gate.

#50

“Im not enlighted and this is only theory to me gathered from those who been there”

Then look deeper into the matter and see whether it can be verified. What another may have said on the matter is relevant only as far as one’s own experience is concerned, they are just a finger pointing to the moon.

#51

[QUOTE=AmirMourad;56315]“Im not enlighted and this is only theory to me gathered from those who been there”

Then look deeper into the matter and see whether it can be verified. What another may have said on the matter is relevant only as far as one’s own experience is concerned, they are just a finger pointing to the moon.[/QUOTE]

Theres a lot off gurus on all levels, so we pick up those we like best, who sound sincere, message is logigal and makes sence, not after publicity or money. So when I read what g says e.g. about present moment I understand it intellectually but I dot live it, witch is far more significant and really changes your life. Two different things.

#52

The Present Moment

Living in the present moment is, as the yogis say, to live in kaivalya. It must happen now, before the death of the human body. This is the hidden message behind what Jesus had to say in the parable 94 Rich Farmer: “that very night he died” (Thomas 63). It is also an essential message of the Bhagavad Gita, when Krishna warns Arjuna that he must fight for his indwelling spirit now because the body that houses it will die—“fight therefore, O descendant of Bharata!” (Gita 2:18)

I have become increasingly fascinated by the parallels between the teachings of the historical Jesus and yogic mysticism on the importance of cultivating the skill—meditation—of living in the present moment. That is where meditation and union with God takes place. Consider these passages from Jesus’ teachings:

If your leaders say to you, “Look God’s kingdom is in heaven,” then the birds will precede you. If they say to you, “It is in the sea,” then the fish will precede you. Rather, God’s kingdom is inside you and it is outside you. (Thomas 3:1-3)

Rather, God’s kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it. (Thomas 113:4)
You examine the face of heaven and earth… …and you do not know how to examine the present moment. (Thomas 91:2a/c)

Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. (Thomas 5:1)

Consider these more recent passages from BKS Iyengar:

All spiritual paths talk of the primordial importance of living in the present. So what is the present moment? Is it a second? Or something smaller? Logically, the present can only be an infinitesimally small unit of time, that is to say a second divided by infinity. There is no such thing. As a length of time, the present simply does not exist. How then can we live in the present? It is a paradoxical impossibility. We have to find the present by other means. The only way to do this is to divorce it from past and future. In that way, time cannot flow. Literally it stops…

The ultimate yogic triumph is to live in kaivalya, outside time, you might say, but really inside it, inside its heart, disconnected from past and from future. That is to live always in the kernel of the present. It is the integration of the true nature of time in consciousness… (B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Life, Rodale, 2005, pp. 234-235).

That these mystical traditions, separated by thousands of miles and thousands of years could be so similar tells me that when people plug into the universe—in the present moment—they receive the same answers.

I was pleased to see your question about whether anyone has heard of any philosophies, practices, or spiritual paths that focus exclusively on being in the present moment. For more information you might consider checking out questforthekingdom.com.
[edited for formattting]