Are we a bunch of sour, grim killjoys?

[tiltbillings]

Depends what you mean by it depends what you mean Tilt.....

I was thinking of the fact that it takes a measurable amount of time for the physical act of putting pressure on the sensory nerves to register in the brain and for that signal to be relayed back to the source of the pressure, by which time " now " is "then"..

I know that is what you meant; however, does it really matter to one's actual ongoing perception?

[PeterB]

Not really, only if one is under the impression that "now " can be identified.

[Shonin]

Since 'now' is always changing and no part of it remains even for a moment, then in that respect it can't be grasped.

Also, when we investigate 'now' we discover that our entire sense of past (memory) and future (anticipation) is included in it - that is everything that is not-now is included in 'now'. Seeing that, we can no longer see it as being limited to 'now'.

[BubbaBuddhist]

Agree with Pete and Shonin--even Einstein struggled with the concept of identifying "now." And he was pretty clever.

J

[PeterB]

" Einstein cant be classed as witless
He said atoms were the littlist "

From a song by Ian Dury and The Blockheads which I cant mention on a family forum..

But the next verse, which i cant resist is;

" Van Gogh did some eyeball pleasers
he must have been a pencil squeezer
he didnt do the Mona Lisa
that was some Italian geezer "...

[christopher:::]

Why make this more complicated then it has to be?

A short word from Bhante Gunaratana for anyone here who still feels (or is acting) like a sour, grim killjoy today....



Courtesy of Retro :^)