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The teaching is to live and be in the present moment, but how?

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The Buddhist teaching is to live in the present moment.

Emphasis on Mindfulness is the core of the practice allowing us to recognize that we can only truly live in the present.

The past has already occurred and but a memory, while the future has not happened and therefore not real.

I've recently learned that it appears that what we perceive has already occurred.

It will take approximately 6.67 nanoseconds for light to travel 2 metres in a vacuum.

Also there is a biological delay of 50 to 100 milliseconds for our brain to perceive.

Everything we perceive is a reconstruction of the past, occurring on a delay created by both the laws of physics and our biology. 

We aren't seeing what is happening; we are seeing our brain's guess of where things will be by the time the signal reaches our consciousness.

This means we are never in the present.

How does this reconcile with Buddhist teaching?

Am I destined to be never in the present and consigned to eons of re birth?

Yes, mindfulness lags a split second behind what is happening, longer if the mind is tired or low energy. The word we translate as mindfulness (sati) literally means remembering, its remembering to notice what just happened, again, and again on an ongoing basis.

This is what we mean by living in the present and is very different from ruminating over regrets from the past, daydreaming, fantasising or planning about the future.

  • 3 months later...

Focus on tomorrow. Forget the present.

On 3/5/2026 at 8:49 AM, rockyysdt said:

The Buddhist teaching is to live in the present moment.

Emphasis on Mindfulness is the core of the practice allowing us to recognize that we can only truly live in the present.

The past has already occurred and but a memory, while the future has not happened and therefore not real.

I've recently learned that it appears that what we perceive has already occurred.

It will take approximately 6.67 nanoseconds for light to travel 2 metres in a vacuum.

Also there is a biological delay of 50 to 100 milliseconds for our brain to perceive.

Everything we perceive is a reconstruction of the past, occurring on a delay created by both the laws of physics and our biology. 

We aren't seeing what is happening; we are seeing our brain's guess of where things will be by the time the signal reaches our consciousness.

This means we are never in the present.

How does this reconcile with Buddhist teaching?

Am I destined to be never in the present and consigned to eons of re birth?

It is a good point. I don't take it literally I guess and go for close enough. Most the day I'm not present, but It just takes a little time to reap the benefits. More clarity and less judging others. Also, I assume most have that uncontrollable spinning mind at times. Some seem to be in constant state of unconsciousness. I no longer have those days where my mind is in control if that makes any sense.

no longer read much about being present and just do it. The books are somewhat of a waste once a person figures out what it means to be present. I'm no smarter and I might irritate as many people as I did before but I rarely get angry. This forum is my outlet to be non present and angry :)

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