Childhood Enjoyment of Luxuries
Meditationtime Forum Post
Date: Posted 8 years before Jul 06, 2018
MiBeloved 8 years ago
It is all about going forward and being in the “now” new agers say, as if the now is not connected to the past and future, as if ignoring the past and not anticipating the future prepares one for what lies ahead. Of course one cannot open the entire vault of providence, even though one might take a sneak peek into a small corner of it.
I am in a house now which is like a palace. Some grand children are with their grant parents here. The children are totally oblivious to what the grandfather had to do to acquire residence in the building. Their (children’s) safe assumption is that the grandfather owns the building and that since they are his offspring they are entitled to enjoy its luxuries. They are all in smiles, sitting on the lush soft couches, eating top-of-the-line food, looking at the most up-to-date TV screen, playing computer games, enjoying the manicured lawns, riding here and there in the nearly new cars.
Looking back at my body’s childhood, I hardly had opportunities to enjoy such luxuries. Did I miss anything?
It must be something though to pass away from an old decrepit form, which is diseased ridden, and then to take birth in the same family line and enjoy the hard earn accoutrements of your grand son or great grandson.
Perhaps the nicest thing about such a life of luxury in childhood is that one has no idea about the past life, and by the grace of nature, one’s ignorance of what one did in the past life, to get that new birth, frees one from having to ponder as to why nature decided to pay one off during childhood instead of waiting to reward one during adult years.
Nature’s line of reasoning is strange indeed!
Dean 8 years ago
Maybe strange to us but Nature is making it absolutely certain that we know she's got us by the balls every step of every life.
Marcia Beloved 8 years ago
I have come to define the terms past, present and future as: memory, in the moment, and imagination. The view touted by some new agers, is that being in the moment or in the "now", helps one to experience life in all of its glory and intensity and helps one to achieve his or her full potential. I do not believe this to be the ultimate goal of serious yogis and meditators. However, by leaving aside memory (past) and imagination (future), and maintaining steady focus in the present moment, I feel one has the best chance of slipping into the higher states of mind (like dharana and samadhi). B.K.S. Iyengar mentioned in his book "Light on Life" that one should only tap memories which are conducive to spiritual advancement. Otherwise, the memories should not be stirred up.
The most interesting view of living in the now, which I recently heard from a Buddhist monk, is that one needs to pay attention to the mind, which is reincarnating every moment. Each passing mood and fluctuation of the mind, is a reincarnation, and thus one can influence the future, by influencing the present from moment to moment.
By having a fruitive mentality, and looking for the results and pay-off for prior actions, one is focused on the future with expectations, or looking to the past, to justify the expectations. This can only lead to disappointment.
Best to just accept what comes, when it comes, keeping in mind that present actions are shaping the future.
