Valuable stuff? Or hippie shit? Discuss.

The "living in the now" stuff seems interesting to me, although the way this idea is conveyed sometimes makes it seem as though it is simply having a high time preference, which I sometimes find stupid. But I'm open to other meanings of the idea.

Desire without attachment sounds intuitively appealing, but I don't fully understand what exactly is meant by each word; what is the desire and what is the attachment? Where would this fall within, for instance, praxeology?

When people conversationally talk about "living in the now," it's exactly as you say: High time preference, hedonism, etc. And maybe some people prefer that, but it's a banal subject.

But if you talk to a Zen Buddhist, for instance, about what it means to be "living in the now," or to have a focused presence of mind, not on the past or future, but on the current moment, that's something else entirely.

(addendum: looking at this I see that I may be over reacting and that I'm probably not addressing the main question. that in mind, it may be more about me than anything else. so if it offends you, ignore it and go on to the next post. but I'm leaving it here cuz it's worth saying... i think.)

Stewart wrote:

When people conversationally talk about "living in the now," it's exactly as you say: High time preference, hedonism, etc. And maybe some people prefer that, but it's a banal subject. But if you talk to a Zen Buddhist, for instance, about what it means to be "living in the now," or to have a focused presence of mind, not on the past or future, but on the current moment, that's something else entirely.

I think you think too highly of yourself. Or too lowly of hippies. Or something. What you say is of course true in some instances, but I'd bet that a lot of Zen Buddhists don't get it any better than a lot of hippies.

Hippie. Another box to put a wide variety of people in. They're probably all scum, just like all blacks, all jews, all honkeys and so on... (don't forget the rag heads)

- NonE

I have found, personally, that Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" is an excellent book for helping understand the concepts of living in the now and letting go of attachments. Near the end of the book he tends to wander somewhat into some politicalesque kinds of ideas which are more personal statements (it seems to me), but if you don't let your opinions on those things taint the value of the rest of the book, it is a superb piece of writing on the subject.

But then, it is also true that "when the student is ready the teacher will appear," and so it may be that Tolle's message may not make any sense to you. I know that I understand things differently at different times in my being. You might wanna give it a try however.

- NonE

It's kinda like when you're having an orgasm. You are totally in the now - all else is excluded, and if you were thinking of something else you would not be able to be having the orgasm. Which would you prefer, to have the orgasm or to think about having an orgasm?

- NonE