Re: Without Hope

Here’s one thing (among many) that’s given me pause: meditation masters tell us not to dwell on the past or future and concentrate only on the now. And yet hope, by definition, is a future construct. How do they reconcile the two, or do they? Can any Buddhist scholars/meditation teachers out there enlighten me?

Re: Without Hope

I cannot imagine my life without hope.  It is as necessary as the air I breathe.
and yet…. I had the same thoughts, Burt.  And how do you create a vision of what you want to achieve if you are practising non-attachment.
This is what I finally decided.

Life is a dichotomy.  It just is.  And it is possible to hold non-attachments and still reach for something.  It is possible to live fully in the moment and also hold hope for the future.  I think it is what makes our decisions more mature and more fully loving.

Really good parents do this.  It isn't possible with a toddler to live outside the moment and attend to the child.  And yet…. hope lives in the vision for their future.  That hope creates direction.  The present lives fully the life.  I think it is possible to hold both.

Re: Without Hope

You may very well be on to something there, Jill. Also, to the best of my knowledge, there is no record of Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tse or Socrates putting a kid through college.

Re: Without Hope

And you know what, Burt?  The interpretation of Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tse and Socrates have been filtered through time and impacted by the current political and societal nuances.  The bible, itself, is re-interpreted from a langugage that is long unused and has no vowels, so the meanings of the words could be radically misunderstood. 

And yet….. every single person you listed spoke to hope and enlivened being.  Holding this moment in time as precious!