The Middle Classes are out of Lockdown

wanderlust wrote:
You have to look at it from the Hindu perspective whence it came. Basically Hindus believe in perpetual reincarnation and Buddhists seek release from the cycle of reincarnation (Nirvana) 
Eternal now is is about how you perceive time and moving awareness away from the present to include the past and potential futures which is why Buddhists are frequently banged up for not paying the rent on time.

Hhmmm. I'll have to go away and think about this.

boltonbonce wrote:Humans define their own meaning in life, and try to make rational decisions despite existing in an irrational universe.
And yet I'm still buying the Beano by the copy, instead of taking out a subscription. I've never really coped since the addition of another Bash Street Kid. Change confuses me.

I think science has proved beyond doubt that the universe is not irrational, in fact it is from the little we know it seems to be extremely predictable.

The enjoyment and excitement comes when we learn something new that doesn't fit into what we expected and have to delve deeper to understand why that is.

I like avocados, still see myself as being working class though.

Schopenhauer described the universe as 'non rational'. Science proves nothing 'beyond doubt'.

boltonbonce wrote:Schopenhauer described the universe as 'non rational'. Science proves nothing 'beyond doubt'.

Who?

I had to look him up.

Seems he died in 1860.

Two years before James Clerk Maxwell brilliant work on electromagnetism/light and nearly 50 years before Einstein showed his genius.

Science proves more about certainty than doubt.

There's loads of things we don't know and haven't worked out, sure, but everything we have so far we can say for certain conforms to scientific discoveries and all are universal in their behaviour.

I'm fascinated this type of stuff and am actually rereading Brian Cox's BBC science documentary books, which if anyone is interested you can find two of them currently on video at BBC iplayer

The Planets
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p06qj2l5/the-planets-series-1-1-a-moment-in-the-sun-the-terrestrial-planets

Forces of Nature
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07k7m4z/forces-of-nature-with-brian-cox-1-the-universe-in-a-snowflake

This doesn't help my Beano dilemma.

I preferred the Dandy, and when I grew up, The Tiger, My brother had the Beano and The Lion.  Neither of us liked The Eagle.

gloswhite wrote:I preferred the Dandy, and when I grew up, The Tiger, My brother had the Beano and The Lion.  Neither of us liked The Eagle.

But it had Dan Dare!!!! And it was shiny.

True 

I really miss Captain Hurricane from The Valiant. The man used to swing tanks around his head. Not sure calling German's 'sausage eaters' would be allowed now though.

gloswhite wrote:I preferred the Dandy, and when I grew up, The Tiger, My brother had the Beano and The Lion.  Neither of us liked The Eagle.

Count yourselves lucky - my nana bought the Beano for my brother, Bunty for my sister and I got....Look and Learn. TBH I read them all.

wanderlust wrote:
Count yourselves lucky - my nana bought the Beano for my brother, Bunty for my sister and I got....Look and Learn. TBH I read them all.

I remember Look and Learn. Our school library had piles of them. Had to be desperate to read one though.

boltonbonce wrote:
I remember Look and Learn. Our school library had piles of them. Had to be desperate to read one though.

Didn't you like the Trigan Empire?

Not my cup of tea. Pop,Dick, and Harry, was more my style.

boltonbonce wrote:Not my cup of tea. Pop,Dick, and Harry, was more my style.

Mine too TBH
Trigan Empire was the only cartoon in L&L and there weren't many laughs in it.

We live in an `eternal now`. During the day, when you look at your watch, ask yourself " is this now? ", you will find it is. At any point in the day or night ask yourself " is this now? " you will find it is. We can think about the past or the future, but it doesnt exist. Only memories of the past and predictions of the future.
If you have a clock on your wall, that instead of the numbers one to twelve on it, if it instead said " now " instead of the number, whenever you looked at it, it would say " now ", and it would be correct.

sunlight wrote:We live in an `eternal now`. During the day, when you look at your watch, ask yourself " is this now? ", you will find it is. At any point in the day or night ask yourself " is this now? " you will find it is. We can think about the past or the future, but it doesnt exist. Only memories of the past and predictions of the future.
If you have a clock on your wall, that instead of the numbers one to twelve on it, if it instead said " now " instead of the number, whenever you looked at it, it would say " now ", and it would be correct.

Time for this then...

sunlight wrote:We live in an `eternal now`. During the day, when you look at your watch, ask yourself " is this now? ", you will find it is. At any point in the day or night ask yourself " is this now? " you will find it is. We can think about the past or the future, but it doesnt exist. Only memories of the past and predictions of the future.
If you have a clock on your wall, that instead of the numbers one to twelve on it, if it instead said " now " instead of the number, whenever you looked at it, it would say " now ", and it would be correct.

I can see where you're coming from, and can relate to it, however, to my mind, I would be limiting my horizons to the here and now, when I know I have to look to the future in order to prepare for it.
Very interesting though.

I only use Buddhism to cope with the modern world. The part about `eternal now` is just a basics and mechanics to being able to control ones faculties in such a way that ones equanimity doesnt get blown down like a pack of cards in the slightest breeze. Meditation, and observance of the 4 noble truths and the noble eightfold path are part of the groundwork also.
In a time where mental health problems are increasing, Buddhism does work. I dont need to go further into explaining it. I use the mechanics of it to stay happy in an increasingly adverse world.
Anyone who has had burnouts through working too hard would find it invaluable.

It is important to me, that as well as being mindful, that I also have moments where I can be silly for a while too. It is a good balance.

wanderlust wrote:
Time for this then...

Meditation is very powerful. It takes practise to be able to keep doing it. I have never known anything so powerful in terms of seeing reality.
Its not everyones cup of tea. I find it is extremely valid in todays world, where everything is too fast.
Conversely it is equally important to be silly. ( not at the same time though ).

I've never tried meditation as such. I've tried to relax, etc, but to think about nothing (I surmise), is very difficult for me. I'm assuming from what you said, that you really need training or advice to get into it properly.
I hope you don't mind me asking these questions.