Anticipation

[NonDualistic]

Anticipation: Where the real energy is at Think about all the desires you have. or have had in life and living... or even all the aversions you have or have had.... Do you recall what it is like leading up to attaing that which you have feelings of desrie or aversion for? The building up of excitement or anxiety? And once the moment arrives, immediately all that begins to fade, and whence the moment passes you find yourself drifting in a sea of indifference towards what it was you had been feeling excitement or anxiety over? If you look, if you sit and be with those feelings, this process, and watch it, one sees that there seems to be something hidden behind all the descriptive words. Something hidden behind the labels pasted on the outside of the existant experience and all the material things that are in tow of that experience. We say we want this or that, and do not want this or that. But, it would seem that the energy of the moment has little to do with the "this or that". The real energy is within oneself and the feelings one is generating. The material aspects seem to be only a means to generate this energy. That energy is where our focus should be, yet our focus is tied up in the material objects and occurences. And, when that energy subsides, we simply shift our focus onto other objects and occurences. We seem to be stuck in a blindness of sorts, chasing our own tails so to speak, as Solskye suggests here and there. One must consider that if this be all true, then of what great importance are the objects? What is the true nature of their reality? Remember, our physical bodies are also "objects", so what is their true nature? It would seem that reality has more to do with the energy we generate inside than it does with the objects we fixate on to bring the rise of energy about. There is something to be seen here......

[ChaybaChayba]

What is to be seen? I see so much lol. Not sure what you are getting at exactly, but you do make alot of interesting points.

[Serkat]

I think this was quite beautifully put, especially in the mid-section to the end. I, too, have made the discovery that the "want" is often times the manifestation of something quite different, more of an illusion and distraction from something more profound that it is hard to put the finger on. I experienced that in times of prolonged sadness, this phenomenon is much easier to identify as what it is. Often, when we are mildly content with the way our life seemingly have to be, we don't think about the foundation of all of it. But in depressed times, one could tend to take it to the extreme, rapidly chasing one bag of hope after the next, only to find them all empty, making one question the validity of this tactic as a whole. This can be very helpful in realizing the human condition, because this is the very same tactic that we are prebuilt to follow and also instructed by society to follow. I know this has been posted before, but I always thought this little cartoon was both entertaining and concise in bringing the point across: http://freshminds.com/animation/alan_watts_life.html

[Wrathful]

Very interesting clip which I never really gave a thought about. One thing I learnt from my experience, if you expect too much or anticipate, you end up disappointed. You shouldn't even think about it, that way the results are good.