Descriptions and explanations of "The Now"

[Harmonious Emptiness]

What is the real meaning of The Now?

 

I'm sure we all have our answers. Please, share!

[skydog]

cannot be explained on the level of mind

[Harmonious Emptiness]

cannot be explained on the level of mind

 

Thennnn.... What is it not?

[thelerner]

Thennnn.... What is it not?

Later , thinking of the past or future, getting wrapped up in fantasy or imagining.

[forestofclarity]

The smell of the lemon, the tick of the clock.

[C T]

The smell of the lemon, the tick of the clock.

Only that. Even the observer of the 'nowness' of smelling and hearing disappears.

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

the "now" is raw, pure, unaltered, unceasing, stateless change [of creation].

[oildrops]

Isn't it obvious?

[thelerner]

Isn't it boring? Which is why I/we leave it.

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

no...

[oildrops]

maybe...

[RyuuKyuzo]

In the old days, you'd get a smack to the back of the head. Since this is the internet, I guess you'll have to smack yourself.

 

That reminds me of a popular question my friends and I pondered on as kids;

 

"How many smacks does it take to get to the center of one's being?"

 

... I may be remembering that wrong.

[thelerner]

Isn't it boring? Which is why I/we leave it.

 

no...

I propose if it wasn't <at times> boring would we really be on the web, posting and searching??

Reading an author like Eckhardt Tolle you get the feeling he'd be as happy in a closet as in a party, probably happier.

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

boredom is only one of four phases of a cycle.

Boredom leads into inquisitiveness. Inquisition leads into discovery. Discovery leads into familiarity. Familiarity leads into boredom.

[gatito]

I propose if it wasn't <at times> boring would we really be on the web, posting and searching??

Reading an author like Eckhardt Tolle you get the feeling he'd be as happy in a closet as in a party, probably happier.

 

So why wouldn't he be happy playing on the internet?

 

(or anywhere else, for that matter - LOL)

[Vmarco]

What is the real meaning of The Now?

 

I'm sure we all have our answers. Please, share!

 

There is no Now, Present, or Instant in time. Sentient consciousness, that is, hearing, seeing, tasting, touching, smelling and thinking cannot perceive the Now, Present, or Instant, because sentient consciousness, which itself arise through time, can only perceive the motion of time.

 

May all sentient beings be liberated from their sentience, and perceive the Tao.

 

"the ego is a monkey catapulting through the jungle; totally fascinated by the realm of the senses....if anyone threaten it, it actually fears for its life. Let this monkey go. Let the senses go.....the only way to understand [the Tao] is to directly experience it." Lao Tzu

[Vmarco]

Later , thinking of the past or future, getting wrapped up in fantasy or imagining.

 

It is impossible the "think" in the Now. Those who believe that they can think in the Absolute Now, are just as deluded as those who think getting wrapped up in fantasy or imaging is neurotic.

[Vmarco]

I propose if it wasn't <at times> boring would we really be on the web, posting and searching??

Reading an author like Eckhardt Tolle you get the feeling he'd be as happy in a closet as in a party, probably happier.

 

Tolle speaks of the Now as if he has been there,...yet I saw no indication of this in his Power of the Now in 2000. Actually, Tolle could be one of the most harmful individuals of the past decade,...misleading tens of thousands into his theistic based Now in time. Just goes to show,...if Oprah says its cool, the groupthink is that its cool.

[Vmarco]

What is the Now? Try Avalokitesvara's Dharma Gate in the Shurangama sutra,..."As soon as one sense-organ returns to the source, All the six are liberated." Avalokitesvara

[thelerner]

It is impossible the "think" in the Now. Those who believe that they can think in the Absolute Now, are just as deluded as those who think getting wrapped up in fantasy or imaging is neurotic.

Perhaps true, presented a bit harshly, but I'm not an absolutist of anything.

I get within a second of Now, I"m happy as a clam.

 

I'd add that Tolle is very anti-think. He constantly repeats the theme 'Thinking' is the enemy. I feel he over stresses the point. A quiet mind is the best mind, but imo thinking is a tool to valuable to throw out.

Edited February 10, 2013 by thelerner

[Jetsun]

I was reading a few Dzogchen texts that say that the now is just another thing which needs to be let go to abide in the nature of the mind.

[Marblehead]

I was reading a few Dzogchen texts that say that the now is just another thing which needs to be let go to abide in the nature of the mind.

That's all well and good as long as one doesn't need to catch a train to go somewhere.

[GrandmasterP]

"There is no such thing as time..

Just this minute,

and I'm in it".

 

(Joyce Grenfell).

[Marblehead]

"There is no such thing as time.. Just this minute, and I'm in it". (Joyce Grenfell).

Poor Joyce. Never made a single meeting on time in their entire life.

[RongzomFan]

You got unfabricated NOW on one hand.

 

And you got the conceptualizing mind on the other.