NOT another Monday | View on Buddhism

jeff
Senior Member

Posts: 128

NOT another Monday Mar 19, 2013 13:00:06 GMT 1

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Post by jeff on Mar 19, 2013 13:00:06 GMT 1

I was thinking about why it is so difficult for us to maintain an awareness of impermanence...

I starting thinking about the myriad ways in which societal conventions and organizations undermine our ability to see life in the sequential manner it exists rather than the slowly advancing way it appears.

Today is Tuesday and I think about the things I do on Tuesday, such as taking out the garbage, doing certain chores, appointments, etc. This gives me the illusion that today is similar in nature to last Tuesday when that is totally untrue. Today is 168 hours after last Tuesday but I don't really think of it that way.

This occurs on a daily, weekly, monthly, annual basis and it blinds us to the reality that we are rapidly moving forward in a strict manner towards our death.

Sayings like "Thank God it's Friday" (TGIF) are so popular that it gives everyone the idea that we are reliving last Friday to some degree.

This is really harmful to our practice and our experience of reality and so I have been trying to see each new day as 168 hours since the same named day from the previous week.

Know what I mean?

gary
Senior Member

Posts: 38

NOT another Monday Mar 19, 2013 13:27:31 GMT 1

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Post by gary on Mar 19, 2013 13:27:31 GMT 1

I think so.

I work a 4 on/4 off shift pattern alternating between days and nights and its great because there is absolutely no routine to it, so I dont get that whole "I hate Mondays/can't wait for Friday" thing.

I rarely know (or care) what day it is, its quite liberating actually!

Rudy
Administrator

Posts: 193

NOT another Monday Mar 21, 2013 21:43:50 GMT 1

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Post by Rudy on Mar 21, 2013 21:43:50 GMT 1

Perhaps this is a bit related to the other thread on expectations?
For our mind to deal with every-day life, we need to store reality in a simplified way in our brain. If we compare it to a computer, it becomes obvious: we cannot store even one image of reality with infinite resolution; that would require an infinite amount of storage space.
Similarly, in order to be able to deal with things in our life, we need to rely on our simplified understanding of the world, our own virtual image of the world. But a simplified understanding/image of the world is never perfect, and thus flawed.

I think that impermanence and change is of course well-known to us when we focus on it, but when we do not specifically focus on it, we often filter it out of our experience, to keep our world simple and understandable. But by doing that, we actually live in a kind of black and white comic strip rather then in reality with its infinite detail and interrelatedness.

tamara
Senior Member

Posts: 178

NOT another Monday Mar 22, 2013 0:57:30 GMT 1

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Post by tamara on Mar 22, 2013 0:57:30 GMT 1

```we actually live in a kind of black and white comic strip rather then in reality with its infinite detail and interrelatedness.```

This is why everything that makes us `stop in our tracks` and takes us out of our well established samsaric patterns is so helpful.

Buddhist masters have tried to describe it in various ways like:
Climb a steep mountain and automatically you get rid of the striving (means the whole concept of climbing a mountain and wanting to reach somewhere) at least for a few moments after reaching the top.

I recently attended a retreat and quite obviously the teacher tried to test our reaction and to `get us somewhere or get us out of somewhere` by unexpectedly letting his handkerchief fall down from his `throne`.

Our group was kind of frozen and struck for a few moments, certainly the mind stood still,.... and then we laughed our heads off.

Tamara

Last Edit: Mar 22, 2013 1:12:57 GMT 1 by tamara