It is always now - Sam Harris

[beautifulthailand99]

The well known US philopsopher and Buddhist produced an essay ' it is always now' and someone has set the discourse to music and images.

Harris wishes to incorporate spirituality in the domain of human reason. When Harris considered the differences between the philosophies of the East and the West, he wrote:

“ ..the difference is unmistakable: Buddha, Shankara, Padmasambhava, Nagarjuna, Longchenpa, and countless others down to the present have no equivalents in the West. In spiritual terms, we appear to have been standing on the shoulders of dwarfs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Harris_%28author%29

Edited October 7, 2014 by beautifulthailand99

[VincentRJ]

There's no denying that the past is a memory and the future uncertain. We have no option but to live in the present because time-travel has not yet been invented.

However, it is clear that we do have a capacity to make the future less uncertain through our activities in the present, such as studying hard to get qualifications that enable us to get an interesting and rewarding job, saving part of our earnings for a rainy day, contributing to a superannuation fund so that we will not have to endure poverty in our old age, and so on.

To live completely in the present without regard for the future would be to go back to an animal state. As I understand, animals have no concept of the future. They are unable to plan for the future. When certain animals appear to be planning for the future, as in a squirrel's habit of hoarding food, they are merely acting from instinct without any awareness of changing conditions that might make such hoarding irrelevant.

I imagine when a Bhikku or Bhikkhuni spend 10 years meditating in a cave, they are doing their best to live in the present, but presumably with a future goal of attaining a state of Nirvana.

Likewise, when a student studies seriously at university, he needs to live in the present in order to apply his mind to the subject under consideration and in order to successfully learn, but presumably with a future goal of gaining a PhD or similar qualification, and a future lifestyle that will probably flow on from such qualification attainments.

[rockyysdt]

There's no denying that the past is a memory and the future uncertain. We have no option but to live in the present because time-travel has not yet been invented.

However, it is clear that we do have a capacity to make the future less uncertain through our activities in the present, such as studying hard to get qualifications that enable us to get an interesting and rewarding job, saving part of our earnings for a rainy day, contributing to a superannuation fund so that we will not have to endure poverty in our old age, and so on.

To live completely in the present without regard for the future would be to go back to an animal state. As I understand, animals have no concept of the future. They are unable to plan for the future. When certain animals appear to be planning for the future, as in a squirrel's habit of hoarding food, they are merely acting from instinct without any awareness of changing conditions that might make such hoarding irrelevant.

I imagine when a Bhikku or Bhikkhuni spend 10 years meditating in a cave, they are doing their best to live in the present, but presumably with a future goal of attaining a state of Nirvana.

Likewise, when a student studies seriously at university, he needs to live in the present in order to apply his mind to the subject under consideration and in order to successfully learn, but presumably with a future goal of gaining a PhD or similar qualification, and a future lifestyle that will probably flow on from such qualification attainments.

Some have commented that practice is akin to dropping out, and that living life in a cave will impact heavily on your lifes outcome (study, qualifications, career, earning a living, responsibilities, saving for a rainy day and success).

I say, do those things (study, qualifications, career, earning a living, responsibilities, saving for a rainy day and success), but include daily practice in your life to provide awareness in the present, balance and personal experience.

If through personal experience one takes new paths then this will be based on a learned imperative rather than on belief.

Kharma (actions).

Vipaka (fruit of ones actions).

Interestingly the Blind Boys of Alabama, singing from a different perspective reflect on this very Buddhist teaching.

You may throw your rock and hide your hand

Working in the dark against your fellow man

What you do in the dark will be brought to the light

You may run and hide, slip and slide

Trying to take the mote from your neighbour's eyes

You gonna reap just what you sow

Edited October 11, 2014 by rockyysdt

[rockyysdt]

Excellent reference BT.

The clipo very quickly brings one back in the moment.

I also like:

While Harris doesn't consider himself a Buddhist, he considers Buddhism to be almost unique among the world’s religions.

Despite his anti-religious sentiments, Sam Harris also claims that there is "nothing irrational about seeking the states of mind that lie at the core of many religions. Compassion, awe, devotion and feelings of oneness are surely among the most valuable experiences a person can have."

While the philosophy of Advaita, and Ramana’s own words, may tend to support a metaphysical reading of teachings of this kind, their validity is not metaphysical. Rather, it is experiential. The whole of Advaita reduces to a series of very simple and testable assertions: Consciousness is the prior condition of every experience; the self or ego is an illusory appearance within it; look closely for what you are calling “I,” and the feeling of being a separate self will disappear; what remains, as a matter of experience, is a field of consciousness—free, undivided, and intrinsically uncontaminated by its ever-changing contents.

Edited October 11, 2014 by rockyysdt

[VincentRJ]

Consciousness is the prior condition of every experience; the self or ego is an illusory appearance within it; look closely for what you are calling “I,” and the feeling of being a separate self will disappear; what remains, as a matter of experience, is a field of consciousness—free, undivided, and intrinsically uncontaminated by its ever-changing contents.

Good points, Rocky. The problem with the concept of an "I" or an Ego, or a 'self', is in the definition of an entity which can observe and feel, yet is separate from what is observed and felt.

Perhaps there is no separation between the thought and the experience or observation of the thought. They are one and the same.

[rockyysdt]

Consciousness is the prior condition of every experience; the self or ego is an illusory appearance within it; look closely for what you are calling “I,” and the feeling of being a separate self will disappear; what remains, as a matter of experience, is a field of consciousness—free, undivided, and intrinsically uncontaminated by its ever-changing contents.

Good points, Rocky. The problem with the concept of an "I" or an Ego, or a 'self', is in the definition of an entity which can observe and feel, yet is separate from what is observed and felt.

Perhaps there is no separation between the thought and the experience or observation of the thought. They are one and the same.

Questions which can only be answered through experience yielded by practice.

I reflect daily on all those around me (myself included) who have free choice but don't have free choice.

All locked in their habitual conditioning.

Some try but eventually slide back in their old ways.

Yet others, content with their lot, don't even try.

If we can change well be well on our way along the path the Buddha illuminated for us.

Edited October 12, 2014 by rockyysdt

[trd]

There's no denying that the past is a memory and the future uncertain. We have no option but to live in the present because time-travel has not yet been invented.

To live is to be conscious. Consciousness is always in the now. If time travel existed, you would be in the present moment as you pressed the switch in your time machine to travel to the future. As you were travelling, you would be experiencing the present moment, and when you arrived in the future you would also be experiencing the present moment because that's all there is.

However, it is clear that we do have a capacity to make the future less uncertain through our activities in the present, such as studying hard to get qualifications that enable us to get an interesting and rewarding job, saving part of our earnings for a rainy day, contributing to a superannuation fund so that we will not have to endure poverty in our old age, and so on.

There is no certaintity about the future at all, one second or one year from now. The control you have in pulling back the arrow in the bow and releasing it is entirely lost once it begins its travel. The idea of mitigating the effects of the future by what you do in the present is an action or idea in the present which may or may not have its intended consequence in the future and will be assessed in the present moment (because that is all there is) in the future. To be truly present is to have an intention or desire to accomplish something in the future without regard for its outcome or without clinging to the idea of its success or failure. This is at the core of Vedic and Buddhist practices. Regard for the fruits of action is suffering.

To live completely in the present without regard for the future would be to go back to an animal state. As I understand, animals have no concept of the future. They are unable to plan for the future. When certain animals appear to be planning for the future, as in a squirrel's habit of hoarding food, they are merely acting from instinct without any awareness of changing conditions that might make such hoarding irrelevant.

Agreed. It is what defines human beings. There is nothing wrong in planning for the future. It is essential for survival. But the clinging, grasping and identification with its outcome is not.

I imagine when a Bhikku or Bhikkhuni spend 10 years meditating in a cave, they are doing their best to live in the present, but presumably with a future goal of attaining a state of Nirvana.

There is no choice but to be in the present, but we are constantly distracted away from it as a living reality because we identify with the mind, body and world. Turning the attention back to root awareness effaces that false identification. Then the present becomes what you are. It cannot be achieved intellectually because the intellect is part of the false identification.

[VincentRJ]

There is no certaintity about the future at all, one second or one year from now.

Trd,

For the sake of clarity I have to take issue with such a statement as it applies to everyday activities and planning for the future. I agree there is no 'absolute' certainty at all on any issue. By absolute certainty I mean a full 100% certainty. What we think of, and describe as being certain, as in the example of a book falling to the floor if you drop it as you walk across the living room, is no more than very, very highly probable, but so highly probable that maybe no-one in the history of mankind has ever experienced the dropping of a book which fails to fall, even momentarily (excepting strong gusts of wind or experiences by astronauts encircling the earth).

In ordinary langue, certainty tends to mean highly probable. It's an imprecise word and many different degrees of mathematically calculated probability can be described in ordinary language using the word 'certain'. There is no absolute certainty that the sun will rise tomorrow. It might already have exploded, in which case all life as we know it will come to an end in approximately 8 minutes of my writing this.

PS. Phew! The sun hasn't exploded. We're safe.

[trd]

You have taken the easy option of using examples concerning the simple mechanical cause and effect of physical objects. That hardly constitutes what is human life!

[VincentRJ]

You have taken the easy option of using examples concerning the simple mechanical cause and effect of physical objects. That hardly constitutes what is human life!

Yes I have, for the sake of clarity. Human life is vastly more complicated than all the experts in Biology and Medicine can fathom. We thought we'd cracked the human genome a few years ago, and identified about 20-30,000 protein-encoding genes. A great achievement. However, the protein-encoding genes represent only a small fraction of the total human genome, about 1.5%. The rest are non-coding RNA molecules and regulatory DNA sequences which we thought were 'junk' DNA, stuff which once served a purpose in our early evolution but now no longer serve a purpose, but still hang around.

How wrong we were. It's now thought that these noncoding gene sequences, about 98% of the human genome, control gene expression and influence disease processes. It seems we have a lot more work to do in unravelling the complexity of the human genome.

But what about the 'Microbiome'? Your body is made up of around ten trillion cells, but you harbour a hundred trillion bacteria. For every gene in your genome, there are 100 bacterial ones. This is your 'microbiome' and it has a huge impact on your health, your ability to digest food and more.

Researchers have reported that this plethora of microbes contributes more genes responsible for human survival than humans contribute. Where the human genome carries some 22,000 protein-coding genes, researchers estimate that the human microbiome contributes some 8 million unique protein-coding genes or 360 times more bacterial genes than human genes.

Wow! Maybe that's our true purpose in life, as a host for bacteria.

And I haven't even got around to discussing the neurons and synapses in the human brain.

I was surprised to come across the following, fairly recent Stanford University article stating that a typical healthy human brain contains about 200 billion nerve cells, or neurons, linked to one another via hundreds of trillions of tiny contacts called synapses.

I'd previously thought the number of neurons was around 86-100 billion. This is another example of our underestimating the complexity.

http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2010/11/new-imaging-method-developed-at-stanford-reveals-stunning-details-of-brain-connections.html

Perhaps even more amazing is the following statement in that article.

"Observed in this manner, the brain’s overall complexity is almost beyond belief, said Smith. "One synapse, by itself, is more like a microprocessor —with both memory-storage and information-processing elements — than a mere on/off switch. In fact, one synapse may contain on the order of 1,000 molecular-scale switches. A single human brain has more switches than all the computers and routers and Internet connections on Earth," he said."

So yes, Trd, I took the easy option of describing the simple mechanical effect of physical objects.

[trd]

No no no. That is not what I mean by human life. The hopes, fears, dreams. Good God, do I have to spell it out? LOL.

Edited October 13, 2014 by trd

[VincentRJ]

No no no. That is not what I mean by human life. The hopes, fears, dreams. Good God, do I have to spell it out? LOL.

Of course you have to spell it out, or how do we know what you are talking about? If a person buys a lottery ticket and hopes to win a million dollars, I would say the chance of his realising those hopes is extremely uncertain. On the other hand, if that person hopes the sun will not explode during the night, with the consequence that all life will cease to exist, then I would say his hopes will be realised with almost 100% certainty.

[beautifulthailand99]

There's no denying that the past is a memory and the future uncertain. We have no option but to live in the present because time-travel has not yet been invented.

However, it is clear that we do have a capacity to make the future less uncertain through our activities in the present, such as studying hard to get qualifications that enable us to get an interesting and rewarding job, saving part of our earnings for a rainy day, contributing to a superannuation fund so that we will not have to endure poverty in our old age, and so on.

To live completely in the present without regard for the future would be to go back to an animal state. As I understand, animals have no concept of the future. They are unable to plan for the future. When certain animals appear to be planning for the future, as in a squirrel's habit of hoarding food, they are merely acting from instinct without any awareness of changing conditions that might make such hoarding irrelevant.

I imagine when a Bhikku or Bhikkhuni spend 10 years meditating in a cave, they are doing their best to live in the present, but presumably with a future goal of attaining a state of Nirvana.

Likewise, when a student studies seriously at university, he needs to live in the present in order to apply his mind to the subject under consideration and in order to successfully learn, but presumably with a future goal of gaining a PhD or similar qualification, and a future lifestyle that will probably flow on from such qualification attainments.

Some have commented that practice is akin to dropping out, and that living life in a cave will impact heavily on your lifes outcome (study, qualifications, career, earning a living, responsibilities, saving for a rainy day and success).

I say, do those things (study, qualifications, career, earning a living, responsibilities, saving for a rainy day and success), but include daily practice in your life to provide awareness in the present, balance and personal experience.

If through personal experience one takes new paths then this will be based on a learned imperative rather than on belief.

Kharma (actions).

Vipaka (fruit of ones actions).

Interestingly the Blind Boys of Alabama, singing from a different perspective reflect on this very Buddhist teaching.

You may throw your rock and hide your hand

Working in the dark against your fellow man

What you do in the dark will be brought to the light

You may run and hide, slip and slide

Trying to take the mote from your neighbour's eyes

You gonna reap just what you sow

As an aside I was very fortunate to see the Blind Boys of Alabama in a small venue just a couple of months ago in London. It was one of the finest heartfelt joyous expressions of faith and sheer ecstacy even for these guys who need to sit down most of the time as they are so old - that I have ever seen. As we drove back in the car listening to them on the CD player I couldn't help contrasting these guys and the trail they blazed to what must surely be an imaginary Jesus and the austere solemity of Buddhist faith and in particular many of its serious western adherents.

[trd]

Vincent, you sound like an automaton, not a human being. You don't actually respond to anything on a human level. It's as if the scientific explanations and examples are there to keep you from the pain of living, and your deeply misunderstood view of Buddhism is there to somehow bridge the gap between the safe mechanistic world you inhabit and a need to find truth without quite committing to that which is experiential and is uncomfortably at odds with the logic that seems to anchor you to a place of facts and figures. The most you can hope to achieve with these dialogues is to take satisfaction from continuing to reinforce your world view when confronted with ideas which fall outside this paradigm. It's a strange paradox because you actually want something called spirituality or why would you be here? But you need to be picky. Buddhism is a good choice because it has elements which sound very sensible and down to earth and can be made to fit with your scientific idealism. Of course you will have to discard those elements dealing with anything to do with (heaven forbid) an actual experience which cannot be explained in mechanisitic terms. If you maintain the right balance you can convince yourself that you are immersing yourself in real spirituality without the downside of having to really get down and dirty and actually explore something deep within you. Have I got it about right?

Edited October 13, 2014 by trd

[VincentRJ]

Vincent, you sound like an automaton, not a human being. You don't actually respond to anything on a human level. It's as if the scientific explanations and examples are there to keep you from the pain of living, and your deeply misunderstood view of Buddhism is there to somehow bridge the gap between the safe mechanistic world you inhabit and a need to find truth without quite committing to that which is experiential and is uncomfortably at odds with the logic that seems to anchor you to a place of facts and figures. The most you can hope to achieve with these dialogues is to take satisfaction from continuing to reinforce your world view when confronted with ideas which fall outside this paradigm. It's a strange paradox because you actually want something called spirituality or why would you be here? But you need to be picky. Buddhism is a good choice because it has elements which sound very sensible and down to earth and can be made to fit with your scientific idealism. Of course you will have to discard those elements dealing with anything to do with (heaven forbid) an actual experience which cannot be explained in mechanisitic terms. If you maintain the right balance you can convince yourself that you are immersing yourself in real spirituality without the downside of having to really get down and dirty and actually explore something deep within you. Have I got it about right?

Ha! Ha! Now you make me laugh, Trd.

However your comment does provoke some interesting introspection on my part, as to why I'm so reluctant to try the life of a Bhikkhu. You would have noticed in the other active thread, 'The Problem with All Religions', that I'm rather concerned about the 'apparent' clockwork regularity of life as a monk and the requirement to shave one's face and head regularly for no good reason that I can see, and conform to a thousand rules.

Your summary of me as an automaton, now that I think about it, fits my impression of the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk very accurately, and of course, life as an automaton tends not to appeal to me, although I can't help wondering what the experience would be like, to lead the life of an automaton for at least a while.

The closest I would have come to such a life, I imagine, is my experience for a few years as a Public Servant sitting in an office and contending with a pile of rules. I didn't enjoy that much, although the conditions and job security were very comforting.

I consider myself to be very practical, very experimental, and a lot like a free spirit, tending to act only when the spirit moves me. I also consider myself an autodidact. I tend to submit myself to a teacher only as a last resort when I am unable to work things out for myself through reading, thinking, experiment and discussion, which is why I would be reluctant to become a disciple of any so-called Guru.

Buddhism is a good choice because it has elements which sound very sensible and down to earth and can be made to fit with your scientific idealism.

Yes. I would agree with that. However, I reserve my right to be discerning and to question things that do not seem sensible.

Of course you will have to discard those elements dealing with anything to do with (heaven forbid) an actual experience which cannot be explained in mechanisitic terms.

You do surprise me, Trd, especially after I've written so much expressing my understanding of the unbelievable complexity of life and the extraordinary difficulty of finding satisfactory explanations for so much observed phenomena, which include human emotions, hopes, fears and motivations. I understand that much of Sigmund Freud's explanations are no longer accepted as scientifically sound.

As time progresses we're continually modifying or even scrapping our theories which try to explain our experiential world in rational or mechanistic terms. Surely you can appreciate that I don't need to turn to Buddhism in order to have an experience which cannot be explained in mechanistic terms.

(Actually, I am really from a planet in a distant galaxy, 10 billion light years from the Solar System. 3.5 billion years ago my ancestors visited planet Earth and sowed the seeds of life. I've been sent here to observe how this experiment has evolved, taking the form of the most advanced form of life that's currently developed here, Homo Sapiens, so that I will not appear like an alien.) Just kidding of course.

[trd]

I'm always happy to make someone laugh Vincent.

You don't need to become a Bhikku if you don't feel comfortable with the lifestyle. You can follow the householder path and integrate practice into your normal routines. Unconditional peace of mind is just the same in the middle of a city as it is in a cave or forest. However, a short retreat would provide proper instruction and discipline to get you started when you return home.

[VincentRJ]

Trd,
I'm glad you are happy to make me laugh, and take no offense. However, to be truthful, you haven't made me laugh as much as Ikkyu Sojun has, a Zen Buddhist character whom I'm sure you've heard of, sometimes known as Crazy Cloud.

He was apparently the embodiment of iconoclastic Buddhism. I can't help identifying with him to some extent.
Here are a few of his poems.

“Every day, priests minutely examine the Law
And endlessly chant complicated sutras.
Before doing that, though, they should learn
How to read the love letters sent by the wind and rain,
the snow and moon.”

“Like vanishing dew,
a passing apparition
or the sudden flash
of lightning—already gone—
thus should one regard one’s self.”

“Look at the cherry blossoms!
Their color and scent fall with them,
Are gone forever,
Yet mindless
The spring comes again.”

“Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon.”

“don’t wait for the man standing in the
snow
to cut off his arm, help him now”

“<deleted> flattery, success, money.
I just sit back and suck my thumb.”

“Studying texts and stiff meditation can make you lose your Original Mind.
A solitary tune by a fisherman, though, can be an invaluable treasure.
Dusk rain on the river, the moon peeking in and out of the clouds;
Elegant beyond words, he chants his songs night after night.”

“don’t hesitate get laid, that’s wisdom,
sitting around chanting, what crap”

“Watching my four year old daughter dance
I cannot break free of her.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikky%C5%AB