Thursday Thoughts...

“We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between an all-powerfully causative past and an absorbingly important future. We have no present. Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation. We do not realize that there never was, is, nor will be any other experience than present experience. We confuse the world as talked about, described, and measured with the world which actually is.” 

Alan Watts

Well this is an unexpectedly complex deviation in my path! Pondering Life, I came across this and it made me think; which is akin to pondering; so here we are.

I wondered where he was headed after the introductory words "We are living in a culture entirely hypnotised by ..." there were so many things I could end that sentence with! But he really focussed on our almost cultural unwillingness to acknowledge that the here and the now is all that we have.

The past is feted as having set us on this path, that everything that has happened to us has meant we are here with all these worries and issues; and the future is so important and holds all the answers; or is also the place to be most feared and concerned about.

It's a really interesting balance for us to get right - and in the end it's all about balance. It seems he is suggesting that the past is important; and definitely sets the course a bit. We must surely also pay attention to the future. But perhaps he believes we shouldn't give overwhelming weight to these. Memory and expectation should not be all that we have.

I love his description of us living on, or in, this infinitesimal hairline - that is so small! And also that last sentence that differentiates between how the world is described v how we experience the world - one present moment at a time. His word images really sparkled in my mind.

Daily Word bowl, Barry Smith.