Living for the moment

Published on August 4, 2005 By Gideon MacLeish In Home & Family

There's an old parable from the east. It's daoist, or buddhist, or something, and I'm sure i'll butcher it, but it serves to illustrate my point:

A mouse is running from a lion. As he runs, he fails to see the cliff up ahead. He tumbles over the cliff, only to grasp a strawberry vine hanging from the side of the cliff. As he hangs on, he sees tigers below, waiting for a tasty morsel to drop. He looks at the vine, which is slowly being pulled from the cliff by his added weight, and at the end of the vine, on which there is a juicy, ripe strawberry. He plucks the stawberry from the vine, smiles, and comments: "How sweet it is!"

The whole moral is to appreciate the gifts and joys of the present, and not to worry for the past or the future. "Live in the now" would sum it up, and the eastern concept of "being present" explains it as well.

The past and the future are concepts over which we hold very little control. We cannot change the past, and we cannot predict the future. All we can control is the present, and how we act and interact within it.

Jilluser asked the question about the "perfect" life, based on a number of blogs offering advice as to how to achieve it. The question she asked is whether there is such a thing as "perfect". I believe that "perfect" is a state of contentment with the state of things as they are, and an inner peace that cannot be shaken by external factors.

And so, for the moment, I believe my life to be "perfect". Ask me in five minutes, and you MIGHT get a different answer. But, NOW is what matters.

Comments

Dr Guy

on Aug 04, 2005

and at the end of the vine, on which there is a juicy, ripe strawberry. He plucks the stawberry from the vine, smiles, and comments: "How sweet it is!"

Now if it had been an Aesop Fable (Western), he would have thrown the strawberry at the tigers, hit one in the eye, and cried, now I can die happy.

And the Moral is: Dont go quietly into that good night! Get in one last good punch!

SATYROBE

on Aug 04, 2005

What I try to do is eat strawberry punch lion one last time, and then drop off the cliff. Sometimes Draginol catches me up anyway in a net (was it cotton candy in english/Zuckerwatte?), admit its easier with 2 strawberrys on bush

Dr Guy

on Aug 04, 2005

was it cotton candy in english/Zuckerwatte?),

Yep, it is Cotton Candy!

dharmagrl

on Aug 04, 2005

There's an old parable from the east. It's daoist, or buddhist, or something, and I'm sure i'll butcher it, but it serves to illustrate my point:

It's Buddhist, and you did a good job with it.

I don't think that we can control the present either. I think that the most important thing to remember on our journey is that it isn't what happens to us that's important....it's how we react to it that really matters and makes a difference.

Being aware of the here and now, being present in this moment and appreciating it for what it is instead of a lead-up to something else (or a let-down FROM another event) - doing that can take some practice. But, it is a fantastic experience.

SATYROBE

on Aug 05, 2005

it is Cotton Candy!

Thanks

appreciating it for what it is instead of a lead-up to something else (or a let-down FROM another event)

this elevates our communication level quite a bit. I have already insulted some nice Christians and other religions here by mistake plus know how Dr. Guy, whom I like, asks alien nations to behave in the U.S., so without taking more sides again I still note an important tip here by dharmagrl.

What fascinates me about buddhism is, they explain and accept selfcontradiction and harmony with other religions. Most Christians have good ways of handling this well too, as well as non religious people which is also a religion, so dont get me wrong. The topic is not really religion, yet we are considering who brought the topic up so as to understand their language.

Tragically, the strawberry u enjoy can be an incarnation of some individual, too. Yet even Buddha must have been devouring some incarnation to survive in his, unless milk and cheese are dead material. One day, have to look into that again.

What she probably meant was, truly enjoy and share only, dont even spit back at the lion in defense. Christians also have this in their code of conduct for people setting good examples, at least not spitting back. Enjoyment sounds more eastern to me, but Christians do expect u to be grateful for the strawberry, then they expect u to eat it with or without enjoyment. And falling off the cliff is a different moment which might also develop better than expected. This really does happen that way many times. Guess u do need courage, in a way ur burden is less and less negative.

This u get with positive thinking even without religion, but where does that come from? Unfortunately, I must mention buddhist hypocrits or abusers have been killing each other for centuries "to survive". Buddha would probably have condemned that as much as Mohammed Koran misinterpretation.

The tiger has one advantage in his moment, even if u eat his strawberry, he might get you. Otherwise, like the lion, maybe he will still find some other prey to turn up, aggh another incarnation, or something still better might warp over the whole thing, seems less probable, most of the times, we are not them but just the mouse so we should not worry. Buddhism even has reasons for why the mouse may have a better incarnation than the lion and the tiger. Still all these paradoxa make access hard to western acceptability - so

dont think eat strawberry and enjoy is the message. Thats what Ive been trying to do. Sometimes I have misused the strawberry and made it too hard on the animals though.

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