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Talk: 2013-08_13 Q&A for 8_13_13 Dharma Talk.json Start_time: 00:08:58 Display_question: Why is it so hard for us/me to be present? Keyword_search: present moment, mind, conditioning, time travel, history, Buddha, craving, attachment, attainment, cascading mind, calm, stillness, India, thinking, wisdom, delusion Question_content: Questioner: It seems like it would serve us really well to be able to be present. Larry: What? Questioner: It seems like it would serve us very well to be able to be present. Larry: Exactly. Questioner: Why is it as hard as it is? Larry: Why is it so hard for you? Questioner: Well, I guess I'm wondering. We practice, we come together, we sit, and our minds do what they do, and we come back over and over. But why, why does it do that? Larry: Why is a crooked letter but okay, forget it. First of all, have you been brought up, dear just stay in the present moment, that's all. In other words, there is this powerful conditioning, that the mind is either lost in some… it's like time travel, you know, it's sort of the mind relives. It's not really… the past is over, cannot be…but the mind reconstructs it, often inaccurately, to some degree. It adjusts it to what's going on, right now. Countries do it, too. They rewrite their history. I've seen it. I rewrite my history. It's embarrassing sometimes, because it serves, in the present moment, for who I'm talking to. Maybe I'm doing it right now. I didn't have any silence. The garden. That was all just teaching story. Break_line: Okay, so there's powerful conditioning, over, and over again, and the future is very important, because the Buddha talked about three... craving, and attachment, is the source of suffering, let's say. And he talked about three sources of craving. One would be craving for nice sounds, nice sights, nice tastes. We all know that one nice touch, et cetera. The second one is harder to grasp, and it's profound. It's the craving to become. It means; however you are now, there's something better. Now, some of that can be just descriptive. Just get a promotion, your job. But it's internal. In other words, it's not the function of the job, it's that we build statuses out of everything, which we then build an identity out of the status, and then we get it, and that's not enough. We got to get oh, you're an assistant professor. I was in that world for a while. That's cute, but you got to be an associate professor. How much money do you get in grants? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I said, really? Do you know the guy next door? He's got just ten times more than that. I said, he does? I better start making up some good research. Do you see what I'm getting at? Break_line: So now, you're not helpless. Now, everyone I've met, I've listened to a fair number of minds, I've not met anyone who has not reported what you're saying. And whether you know it, or not, you have the first attainment. There's one scheme which shows the development of this. The first attainment, a level of you've attained something. What is it? You've attained the cascading mind. What? In other words, it's like a waterfall. You've seen what your mind is like. So that's step number one. Most people are living their life they don't even know this. Do you see what I'm getting at? Break_line: Okay, but now that's dangerous, because you can get discouraged, and feel like, my God, how can I ever... he talks about calm, and stillness, and if we have more time, and talk about engaged stillness, how to bring it into action. I can't even follow one breath. I can't even find my nostrils, let alone the breath. Okay, but everyone that I know, has started that way, to varying degrees, and these are people often, who are very concentrated, in their area of work, let's say. And when it comes to themselves, it's very different. So, you could get discouraged, and just not want to come back, because you'll feel humiliated. Then again, you could understand that there's help. It's thousands of countless, I don't know how many, but thousands of years have drawn upon the help. Even before the Buddha, there are techniques, and methods, that go back thousands of years, to help the mind. The ancient India was very concerned with how to train the mind. They were interested in how to care for the mind. We're not. We're interested in using it. And how to cultivate conceptual, and do you see what I'm getting at? Break_line: So, if you get discouraged, see that as just more thinking, about the thinking. But if you believe in it, I'm no good, I can never do this any good. Everyone else will do it, but I can't do it. Then see that, if you can see that, that's wisdom. If you get sucked into it, that's delusion, because you're believing what your mind is telling you about. Do you see what I'm getting at? End_time: 00:13:36
