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In doing the exercise today and the one from page 99, I found that butting 2 quotes of Rinpoche’s together actually described my experience very well.\u00c2\u00a0 The first half is from the middle of page 83 and the last half is what we were discussing at the end of our phone meeting today from page 85 —<\/p>\n
“the ‘presentness’ of the present depends on my present presence ‘in’ it… although what appears now or will appear in the future has not yet happened, it has already ‘happeneded.'”<\/p>\n
Unlike what was brought up today about holding on to the present as away of being anchored so as not to be swept away into the past, I feel, both while doing the exercises and while going about my regular life, like I’m standing in the present while the inevitable future whips toward me, much like a stiff wind. \u00c2\u00a0 If I can stay present, I feel somewhat grounded in presentness but I am always conscious of the inevitable onslaught of the future.<\/p>\n
My father, amongst other things, is a Cellist and has played in Symphony Orchestras from way before I was born.\u00c2\u00a0 Every Sunday, during my childhood, we would go to see him play.\u00c2\u00a0 As a child, I was very aware of the fact that each note being played was passing and gone AND in the moment of listening – I was anticipating the note that was to come.\u00c2\u00a0 This carried through my life.\u00c2\u00a0 When, in my 20s, I went to see David Bowie on his, “I’m never gonna play any of my old songs again” tour, I was constantly caught up in the fact that each note was passing and anticipating each note of the song that was to come. The act of seeing him play live was so temporal and bound to the constraints of the flowing time.\u00c2\u00a0 I was reminded of the refrain from the Dylan Thomas poem Fern Hill, “Time held me green and dying, though I sang in my chains like the sea.”<\/p>\n
Last week I went to see the band Tinariwen<\/a> play here in San Francisco [Bedouin Blues Band.\u00c2\u00a0 Excellent.\u00c2\u00a0 A “must see” if you haven’t].\u00c2\u00a0 During the first song that played I was once again caught up in the stream of Future to present to past.\u00c2\u00a0 But this time I stopped myself.\u00c2\u00a0 I dropped my attachment to that storyline and simply relaxed into enjoying the present moment of the notes being played.\u00c2\u00a0 The most amazing thing happened.\u00c2\u00a0 An hour and a half of music flew by like it was only 5 min.\u00c2\u00a0 At the time they were taking their bows, I thought, “how can this be over already?”\u00c2\u00a0 My friend next to me noted that they had played for 1.5 hours straight [not including their encore].\u00c2\u00a0 I had to laugh.\u00c2\u00a0 Ordinarily I would have been very conscious of the passing of each min.\u00c2\u00a0 But when I relaxed into the present moment, without being a slave to the ‘time continuum’ narrative, time passed very differently for me.<\/p>\n More experinmentation with this is definitely needed.\u00c2\u00a0 All thoughts\/comments on this are most welcome. In doing the exercise today and the one from page 99, I found that butting 2 quotes of Rinpoche’s together actually described my experience very well.\u00c2\u00a0 The first half is from the middle of page 83 and the last half … Continue reading
\n-Diana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"