A crash course in changing the world.
(IMAGINE8) Hey everybody, an old man is talking!
It's 2084. I am 100, and the Simpsons are in their 94th season (would be 95th if it wasn't for the animated character strike of 2063...how they held out on being drawn, I will never know). I do know one thing, though, and that is I hope my life has spoken volumes more than anything I can possibly say. In particular, how to live life in meditation.
As Alan Watts said over a century ago: "When we make music we don't do it in order to reach a certain point, such as the end of the composition. If that were the purpose of music then obviously the fastest players would be the best. Also, when we are dancing we are not aiming to arrive at a particular place on the floor as in a journey. When we dance, the journey itself is the point, as when we play music the playing itself is the point. And exactly the same thing is true in meditation. Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment."
That is the "secret" I wish to pass on. That purpose in life is not found in the end. If it were, then we would never feel fulfilled. We would always be searching; searching for what's next. Even at 100, I wouldn't be satisfied. Happiness to me would be to live to 101, etc. etc.
But this truth is not just paramount for our own lives, but for the lives of all that we share this planet with. I think of the degradation that has taken place for too long--harm and hate against our fellow man, mistreatment of other species as merely resources, and exploitation of land and sea as if it is "ours." I can't help but feel it's all rooted in our inability to see the present. We don't see today, we look for tomorrow (and that's if we aren't caught up in the past). An emptiness forms that can never be quenched. A longing grows, whether for the past because things have changed or for the future because it is not here yet. Nothing is enjoyed for what it is. And no one is known for who they are. Whatever or whomever we have in our lives, we need more.
STOP
DANCE
FEEL
This is not about negating a vision for a brighter future (because that vision is about how to live RIGHT NOW). Nor is this about instant gratification for the moment (because that is rooted in a desire to merely reach a certain point, like the end of a composition; that gratification never sustains; that purpose never fulfills).
Rather, this is about ceasing our habit to race for the end of the song. As soon as we elect one president, we wonder who will be next. As soon as we erect one skyscraper, we strive to build one taller. What will make us happy? Stepping on the gas? Going faster? Or stepping out of the car, experiencing what is right in front of us...filling the emptiness that drives us and then going from there with a solid foundation, no longer driven by habits of old, leading with a vision not destined for destruction.
Views: 42
Tags: IMAGINE8
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Comment by Paul Holze on April 28, 2010 at 4:28pm -
And in the event I am dead by 100, may my tombstone read: "Continue to make your life like music. And dance."
But hopefully this speech is not needed...hopefully actual change has occurred by 2084 with the course of our economy and culture, and we have stopped trying to fill what is empty with that which does not exist.
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Comment by Buffy B on April 29, 2010 at 10:45pm -
Another winning post, I love the way you think!
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