It is a mistake to treat phenomena as if it were a singular form. This is our greatest challenge in interaction with the world we have preconceived for ourselves.
There is something unique about forgetting what day it is. That a singular reference of the day is subject to our experience. The experience of a long or short day comes to mind. A day having a name is our sense of control over existence. A day being good, bad, cold, hot, Tuesday, Sunday, or any other variation of labels. Our countless days dedicated to hope and fear of a future event or circumstance. This is the subtle thief of the experience of time as it occurs. Countless human beings working the longest part of life for aspirations of the shortest. Those presumed moments of happiness. All of which could end like a flash of lighting in the shy.
The turning of the wheel for our global satiation of instant gratification is the driver. If not for our own, then for the masses that need us to satisfy theirs. The golden years are not guaranteed and yet everyone has the conditioned goal to achieve it. We have been programming our generations to accomplish this for decades if not more. It is not that that happiness couldn’t, wouldn’t or shouldn’t exist. The issue is that we have replaced experiencing now for the dreams of tomorrow. If we are aware it is a dream, then we can just enjoy the experience of where we are. We can live not blinded by what might be.
This brings me to the current perception of time. How it keeps moving faster in the world, but doesn’t have too. It wasn’t too long ago that time was measured by dusk and dawn, and the changing of seasons. It is possible to step out of this relative speed, and allow time to slows down. Time can become fuller and richer each moment spent outside our boxes. It doesn’t mean abandoning where we actually are, but it does mean not forgetting its frailty.
We race towards the many comforts like fancy cars, comfortable homes, eat whatever off the menu, etc., that seem to satisfy our desire for happiness. If that is the meaning of happiness, then why are we never content? We always seem to find dissatisfaction with them in the end of it. Ice cream is only good until you’ve eaten too much. Then it’s just bad gas or a brain freeze.
A more challenging and controversial topic is money. We all work so hard to accumulate and protect it. We will share how we feel about life and family. Rarely will we share the details of our money. Some say that why money is the root of all evil, the pain of our existence. The pain of prosperity isn’t felt because it exists. It can and does serve many benefits. The pain comes from acting as if it were permanent or can bring us permanence. The adversity and attachment that is born from grasping for its shelter is our illusion. It’s the birth of our suffering and we ignorantly (not meant it terms of insult, but in a lack of understanding) strive for more to relieve that suffering. This perpetuation only further entangles us in the illusion of impermanent gains. Real prosperity is knowing that a moment of joy is simply the best there is. Be it, know it, live it.
To say, “this is the only life I’ve got, and I might as well enjoy it”, is a nihilist point of view. To have moral bondage in hopes of a pearly gate, is an externalists fantasy. Would any one be content with playing the same record or TV series for eternity? If there is no change than new experiences can’t exist. What in the cycles of life of this universe tells us we have one shot at either? Does a cloud die when it becomes rain? How is an acorn different from the tree it falls from? They are all just a transformation of energy from one form of life to another. Why are other forms of being not subject to this same cycle of life as it is. Do particles of space really die when the become compounded existence?
None of this should bring sadness to think about. There is so much beauty and joy knowing that things exist beyond my perception. A river is no less a river and no more because it just is.
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