"It is always now" by Sam Harris

The below transcript is from an interesting and inspiring talk given by Sam Harris back in April, 2012 at the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre.

"Sam Harris is a Co-Founder and CEO of Project Reason, a non-profit foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. He received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA."

I actually want to talk today about death. Now most of us do our best to not to think about death but there's always part of our minds that knows this can't go on forever. Part of us always knows that we're just a doctor's visit away or a phone call away from being starkly reminded with the fact of our own mortality or of those closest to us.

Now I'm sure many of you in this room have experienced this in some form. You must know how uncanny it is to suddenly be thrown out of the normal course of your life and just be given the full time job of not dying or caring for someone who is. 

But the one thing people tend to realize at moments like this is that they wasted a lot of time when life was normal. And it's not just what they did with their time. It's not just that they spent too much time working or or compulsively checking email. It's that they cared about the wrong things. They regret what they cared about.  Their attention was bound up in petty concerns year after year when life was normal.

And this is a paradox of course because we all know this epiphany is coming. I mean, don't you know this is coming?  Don't you know there's going to come a day when you'll be sick or someone close to you will die and you'll look back at the kinds of things that captured your attention and you'll think, "what, what was I doing?" 

You know this, and yet if you're like most people, you'll spend most of your time in life tacitly presuming you'll live forever. I mean it's like watching a bad movie for the fourth time or bickering with your spouse. These things only makes sense in light of eternity. There better be a heaven if we're gonna waste our time like this. There are ways to really live in the present moment. What's the alternative?

It is always now. However much you feel you may need to plan for the future to anticipate it, to mitigate risks, the reality of your life is now. This may sound trite but it's the truth.

It's not quite true as a matter of physics, in fact there is no now that encompasses the entire universe. You can't talk about an event being simultaneously occurring here and one at the same moment occurring in Andromeda.

The truth is, now is not even well-defined as a matter of neurology. Because we know that inputs to the brain come at different moments and that consciousness is built upon layers of inputs whose timing to have to be different. Our conscious awareness of the present moment is in some relevant sense already a memory. 

But as a matter of conscious experience the reality of your life is always now.

And I think this is a liberating truth about the nature of the human mind. In fact I think there's probably nothing more important to understand about your mind than that if you want to be happy in this world. The past is a memory. It's a thought arising in the present. The future is merely anticipated, it is another thought arising now.

What we truly have is this moment. And this...and this...and we spend most of our lives forgetting this truth repudiating it, fleeing it, overlooking it. And the horror is that we succeed. We managed to never really connect with the present moment and find fulfillment there because we are continually hoping to become happy in the future and the future never arrives.

Now even when we think we're in the present moment we are, in very subtle ways, always looking over its shoulder anticipating what's coming next. We are always solving a problem and it's possible to simply drop your problem if only for a moment and enjoy whatever is true of your life in the present.

This is not a matter of new information or more information, it requires a change in attitude. It requires a change in the attentiveness you pay to your experience in the present moment.

VIDEO: It is Always Now by Sam Harris (created by AJ Salas)

Procrastination - I stab at thee!

Motivation to do things, one does not want to do, seems abundantly difficult to gather.

Name it...

If you aren't keen, passionate, salivating towards or even mildly interested in it - one wont do it. Or at the very least one struggles to do it.

However most of these motivational challenges are happily rejected with a lofty hand to shoo it away as the nuisance it appears to be.

Bah humbug I say to such shackles! To quote from Churchill:

"A pessimist sees the difficult in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

Drawing philosophical muster from the above World War 2 Prime Minister's self-help guidelines; I am focusing upon the seemingly difficult task to re-train my diet and exercise routines (or lack thereof) for the opportunity of improving my physical and mental health.

To get back into a shape other than a circle.

Not that there is anything wrong with circle shaped objects. After all whom am I to judge the bountiful roundness of spherical patterns? The cuddliest soft puffiness of extra circumference...no sir not I!

I stand before my reflection...empowered to transform it into a different shape. Like an artist imagining the creative possibilities of manipulating a mound of clay, refusing to stand idle with diametric resentments. Like an conservationist recycling wasteful materials in order to improve our industries into a progressive, stable, and better environmental future. 

Or like a fat bastard who needs to shed some kilos.

Onwards!

When Zombies Attack!

I have noticed an amazing amount of survival horror games appearing over the years within the gaming market. It's alarming to note that a clear majority of them focus on the promotion of killing Zombies with impunity.

Apparently, or so we are told...the undead, the non-living, these "Zombies" are a menace. They are a direct threat and the very reason why our virtual worlds are turbulent and full of suffering.

But who are we to judge their existence with negative word play; labeling them to be devoid of life...when clearly they live! Is it any wonder that when faced with such discrimination and prosecution that Zombies fight back?

"Wont somebody think of the Zombies!!!??"

Surely in this progressive world of encouraging democracies with a banner equality and freedom for all; the video gaming community should ask, nay demand these software companies, for games that promote understanding between the living and the alternative lifers.

That's right, you heard me...alternative lifers.

Little care is given in our societies about encouragement of violence being inflicted upon our alternative lifer associates, colleagues, family, friends and comrades. These horrible programmers are corrupting our generations with "games" focusing on alienating alternative lifers as just being smelly, vile, brain devouring and generally unpleasant.

But it is these differences that make them unique and that should be embraced...not discriminated against with an axe, bat, gun or blade.

If we continue to allow bigots to dictate to us that all "zombies" are the same; we will soon forget about how the majority of them are, like us, just trying to survive difficult times. Namely an Apocalypse.

Remember folks, we are all in this fight together. Alternative Lifers Forever! Peace out.

Beads - My Beading Kit Project

There is little doubt that when a forty year old cat owner who lives on his parents property while looking for work, begins a blog entry entitled "My Beading Kit Project"...is livin' the dream.

However, one is more likely to declare that I've descended into madness,  perhaps "lost my marbles" or that I'm now officially "one can short of a six-pack".

And fair enough too. It may well be an accurate reflection upon the summary of circumstance. But sanity aside; I'm eager to deny such comments.

One could say I am a free-agent; a man standing at a world of oysters with no restriction nor burden of any real responsibilities. Funded by an empathetic society, supported by loving family, and encouraged through my cat to devour the luxuries of such dependencies.

Because of such, one is free to explore any and all creative pursuits; no heights to imagination nor choice. Nothing to lose, everything to gain; a potential entrepreneur ready to enrich and empower it's life without restriction! Oh how my half full cup runneth over comrades!

Yes, the freedom to pursue...the freedom to participate....the freedom to explore. Free to choose! Free to be! So free in fact...I can invest a portion of my time...to bead.

Hmm. Dress up a turd has much as you like - it's still a turd.

Seriously though, doing something so out of the box like this has to be rewarding in itself. I note that my girlfriend gets immense joy from this hobby; maybe I will too. Or maybe I wont. Either way one can quite sincerely say, I'm actively investigating different states of mental stimuli; having new experiences.

And surely, that's what being alive is all about.

In the Beginning...

G'day. My name is David. David Innes in fact. I live on the western side of Australia, near the wonderful city of Perth. I have a cat. His name is Benton.

Fascinating stuff really.

In an attempt to build up a digital profile on the internet, my journey into Blogging thus begins.

The hope is that this adventure back into the digital realm will expand my horizons by exploring different online communities, improve my social networking circles avoiding isolationist lifestyles, and more importantly make myself appear completely interesting to random strangers for no other apparent reason than to appeal to my own vanity.

Well perhaps not the latter.

Although one does wonder about such online pursuits...such as blogging. Does the world really need any more online publications from unknown individuals claiming their opinion or experience is a worthwhile attention grabber of your precious time in which to contemplate or review? Probably not.

However, I shall thrust forward into the wilderness pretending that there is a continuing requirement and demand for such; regulate a sense of self importance and demand attention from you albeit for a few more minutes.

Yes. That's it. Continue reading. Validate the blogger's vanity. Perhaps leave a comment and then share this page with your friends...declaring to the digital world that information is worth devouring even when it is absent of any substance.

Okay...now...how does one send this via Twitter....