Reply With Quote“If somebody asks me "Are you happy? I stop and look inside. "Yes, Im happy."
“Are you sad?” “Yes, Im sad.”
Answering those questions, I realize that all of those feelings are present. Imagine the richness of a moment in which everything is present: the pain of a broken heart, the joy of a new mother holding her baby, the exquistieness of a rose in bloom, the grief of losing a loved one. This moment has all of that. It is just living truth.
The saving grace is being able to witness suffering from the perspective of the soul. Another way to say it is that the saving grace is having faith. Living in the fullnes of the moment with joy and suffering, witnessing it in all its perfection, our hearts still go out to those who are suffering.
If we live in the moment, we are not in time. If you think “Im a retired person. Ive retired from my role”, you are looking back at your life. Its retrospective; its life in the rearview mirror. If you are young, you might be thinking “I have my whole life ahaed of me. This is what I'll do later.” That kind od thinking is called time binding. It causes us to focus on the past or the future and to worry about what comes next.
Getting caught in memories of the past or worrying about the future is a form of self-imposed suffering. Either retirement or youth can be seen as moving on, a time for something differernt, something new. Start fresh. Its a new moment. Ageing is not a culmination. Youth isnt preperation for later. This isnt the end of the line or the beginning. Now isnt a time to look back or plan ahaed. Its time to just be present. The present is timeless. Being in the moment, just being here with what is, is ageless, eternal.”
Ram Dass, Polishing the mirror
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