I think Hoffman"s character represents the pessimist in all of us. The awareness immersing in the moment is difficult if you are the thinking type.
I think many of today's problems are caused by this. Those who can't lose themselves in the moment so they fret about the future and they ruminate on their past. I definitely struggle with this myself.
Living in the moment is difficult. For some it may have to be an acquired skill.
I struggle with it as well. It’s one of many things I’m trying to consciously steer in the right direction. Being more present is definitely a lot harder than it sounds, but worth making the effort.
I'm going to be the voice of dissent here. This fascination with "being present" seems to date from the mainstreaming of yoga culture in the West (mid 2000s). I can't recall any great thinker from Western tradition praising it.
What is inherently good about "being present"? One of the things that make humans unique is our ability to conceptualize the past and future. "Being present" seems like a deliberate ploy to make us live on the level of animals. This Eastern philosophy of passive acceptance and thinking only about what is right in front of our noses is a very useful tool for tyrants.
Then I must be the voice of dissent to the voice of dissent! I think the emphasis is on avoiding flights of fancy. Time spent ruminating about the past or excessively imagining the future, especially if it results in anxiety.
Many of our problems today are caused by dreamers living inside their heads then imposing their schemes on the rest of us.
A capacity to imagine past and future is useful, and it was noted in less politically correct times this was not a universal trait shared by all peoples. But today I think we see more immerse in their own minds and withdraw from life. I think that is why so many now wear headphones out and about.
But flights of fancy are great! Wonderful ideas can come from daydreaming. That's why people walking around buried in their phones and headphones piss me off. They're not giving themselves the mental space they need to ruminate.
So I don't think there's anything wrong with dreaming per se. Demanding that everyone else act a certain way is the real problem.
I think the caution is here is NOT don't ever engage in abstraction or imagination, it is rather to sometimes fully experience the moment, especially intense and once in a lifetime moments like say getting married, skydiving, the moments described in the above essay, etc. Thinking is important and needed, but so is pure direct experience.
One great thinker from the Western tradition who praises what could be called presence, is Simone Weil. She calls it attention but the parallels with eastern meditative practice are pretty glaring (to me anyway).
A useful thought might be that presence and conceptualisation can coexist, but don't usually. Being lost in thought is more of an opposite to being present. I meditate a lot and try to practice being present as much as I can, and still plan my future and wonder about my past. I just try to avoid that kind of weird, train-of-thought, autopilot, endless association dream that I can easily become lost in.
I'd also comment that mindfulness often gets presented as a kind of watered down and corporatised version without any spiritual or cognitive tools attached. There might be virtue in listening to Sam Harris talk about it. He was the one who got me hooked after having been a total sceptic for many years
Lol. I wouldn't recommend listening to Sam Harris, only listening to Sam Harris talk about meditation. Any particularly bad takes I should be aware of?
Well he has TDS so bad, that he said even if Biden had dead children in his basement, that you should still vote for Biden. And he is a hard core bomb Muslims back to the stone age neo-con.
There are, it seems to me, several different layers of this. There is the total immersion of a physical activity that requires developed skill, heightened by consequence; whitewater rafting, for instance. A big, challenging rapid would stupefy a novice, but a seasoned boater might find himself utterly engrossed in the action, his senses extended so as to make the boat and oars a true extension of his body. Time, in those moments, disappears.
The calculated focusing of attention, perhaps an interaction with others, really listening, can bring one into the moment. A really good conversation can be timeless.
Playing music, a splendid meal, sex. All these can bring one to a state of ‘living in the moment’ to one degree or another.
The longer-term appreciation of a sequence of moments is harder. Everything is revealed in contrast, so the downs are required to compare with the ups. We notice that we HAD a great year, once the next one is less so. The difference is where the meaning lies.
Spaceman Spiff! Lovely comment. I've struggled with this kind of rumination also. Sam Harris' Waking Up app really helped me(it's free on request). In fact, it could be (I hate to risk sounding like a kook here) the single most positively influential tool of my life so far. Have a listen to a podcast appearance from Harris where he talks about meditation, that was my introduction and I was sold. I also write about this kind of stuff a lot, so have a read of Kind Regards and you might find some useful thoughts about it also.
I think that presence, or living in the moment, is definitely an acquired skill or perhaps a muscle that you either use regularly (via meditation) and get stronger or don't practice and become weaker at. Whenever I take a break from my regular meditation practice, I feel less present and more off with the fairies and therefore less appreciative of my life as it is.
Good luck on the journey. I hope this finds you well. Thanks for the comment
I like the title of this, Handcuffed Lightning, like trying to hold on to that moment of glory and greatness, to never come down from it. It’s funny because I read Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” recently, and it’s in some ways about that and how the protagonist, Willie tried to hold on to that point in his life when he felt everything was great and he tried to make it last by lying to himself and those around him. Thank you for this really great, thought provoking article.
I wish I could take credit for the phrase, but it’s part of a quote from Ali ahead of the fight:
"I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick."
He would often recite these sort of boastful poems, part of the showmanship aspect of his legacy. He used ‘handcuffed lightning’ here to describe his speed and conditioning. Like you, I feel like it works just as well as a version of “Lightning in a bottle”
Using a Kierkegaardian heuristic would suggest our lives are only understood in reverse. Hence, why we see these grand moments from a storied perspective as ones of great significance when looking “back.” But to realize you are living in a peak experience is the loss of significance drawing you into the future.
I don’t think this is about being present and becoming aware now instead of sometime down the road. I think it is about creating coherence from your past to present and where hope (the future) lies.
Considering Armstrong was a private person who tried to lead a normal life outside of the limelight after Apollo 11 suggests he understood life as exactly what you posit. Something in which you put one foot in front of the other. It isn’t a high to chase, but a coherent story. Even if part of that story is the descent down from Everest.
Considering what he had accomplished, Armstrong definitely showed immense humility and grace. That amount of level-headedness and insight is probably a sign that they picked the right man for the job.
Check on YouTube - Richard Clapton 'The Best Years of Our Lives' - cheesy video, but that's what they had 42 years ago (although gotta love the swimming and the big hair). Recorded in 1982, still a brilliant song. The harmonirs at the end are perfect. You might enjoy.
Wonderful essay, thank you, I really enjoyed reading this for many reasons. I’m interested in watching the documentary about the Foreman/Ali fight. 🤼I’m not boxing fan, but through my work as an entertainer I knew Ali pretty well through magic. He used to hang out every day at Hollywood Magic, a magic/novelty store on Hollywood Blvd. He was a nice man and loved magic. I met George and have a photo with him somewhere taken in Reno when he visited as a guest to our show. He stayed a few weeks holding a boxing camp on our stage during the daytime. Your discussion about their famous fight ignited that memory. Perhaps it will be my top for my next week’s post. I’ll definitely watch the documentary and reference your information to enhance my story.
Thank you again, I enjoyed this so much and also love what you wrote about The Beatles! Music🎵
I definitely recommend watching the documentary. No need to be a boxing fan to enjoy it, the story is much bigger than just the fight and will draw you in. Very cool to have met both men, I would love to hear more about that if you do write something on the subject. Thanks for reading!
I saw When We Were Kings in a small theatre in Austin the week it came out. I walked out on cloud nine. still one of the best documentaries I have ever seen.
to your other point, I often wonder about professional athletes who, by the nature of sports, have to face living long after the glory days of their careers. most athletes do not fare so well, but Ali is an amazing example of someone who seemed to resist the pessimistic cynicism of others who reached such heights. he seemed to reinvent himself as a statesman and role model for humanity and even in his eventual sickness, walked through life with grace.
Behind me. There was a period of a couple of years when everything in life felt as though it was aligned perfectly. I was in a new relationship with the woman I would eventually marry. We were surrounded by friends that we became very close with. I was beginning a new career that felt promising. My life felt as though every piece had come together perfectly.
Life is still very good. In fact, most things have actually improved. But that specific period will always stand out for me as the most fully alive and connected I’ve ever been. Life was firing on all cylinders in a way that is difficult to describe.
Wow, what a bold answer. Your life in that period almost sounds like... One of those setups you see on TV shows with the happy couple, the friends, city life, dinner parties, the whole thing.
Thanks for the honest answer and this great article.
Thank you for reading!
I think Hoffman"s character represents the pessimist in all of us. The awareness immersing in the moment is difficult if you are the thinking type.
I think many of today's problems are caused by this. Those who can't lose themselves in the moment so they fret about the future and they ruminate on their past. I definitely struggle with this myself.
Living in the moment is difficult. For some it may have to be an acquired skill.
I struggle with it as well. It’s one of many things I’m trying to consciously steer in the right direction. Being more present is definitely a lot harder than it sounds, but worth making the effort.
I'm going to be the voice of dissent here. This fascination with "being present" seems to date from the mainstreaming of yoga culture in the West (mid 2000s). I can't recall any great thinker from Western tradition praising it.
What is inherently good about "being present"? One of the things that make humans unique is our ability to conceptualize the past and future. "Being present" seems like a deliberate ploy to make us live on the level of animals. This Eastern philosophy of passive acceptance and thinking only about what is right in front of our noses is a very useful tool for tyrants.
Then I must be the voice of dissent to the voice of dissent! I think the emphasis is on avoiding flights of fancy. Time spent ruminating about the past or excessively imagining the future, especially if it results in anxiety.
Many of our problems today are caused by dreamers living inside their heads then imposing their schemes on the rest of us.
A capacity to imagine past and future is useful, and it was noted in less politically correct times this was not a universal trait shared by all peoples. But today I think we see more immerse in their own minds and withdraw from life. I think that is why so many now wear headphones out and about.
But flights of fancy are great! Wonderful ideas can come from daydreaming. That's why people walking around buried in their phones and headphones piss me off. They're not giving themselves the mental space they need to ruminate.
So I don't think there's anything wrong with dreaming per se. Demanding that everyone else act a certain way is the real problem.
I agree about daydreaming. But not as a permanent state. Importantly, not as a form of escape to cope with life.
The headphones crowd are being antisocial in my opinion. It is a social anxiety thing. Plus sending a signal, don't approach me.
I think the caution is here is NOT don't ever engage in abstraction or imagination, it is rather to sometimes fully experience the moment, especially intense and once in a lifetime moments like say getting married, skydiving, the moments described in the above essay, etc. Thinking is important and needed, but so is pure direct experience.
One great thinker from the Western tradition who praises what could be called presence, is Simone Weil. She calls it attention but the parallels with eastern meditative practice are pretty glaring (to me anyway).
A useful thought might be that presence and conceptualisation can coexist, but don't usually. Being lost in thought is more of an opposite to being present. I meditate a lot and try to practice being present as much as I can, and still plan my future and wonder about my past. I just try to avoid that kind of weird, train-of-thought, autopilot, endless association dream that I can easily become lost in.
I'd also comment that mindfulness often gets presented as a kind of watered down and corporatised version without any spiritual or cognitive tools attached. There might be virtue in listening to Sam Harris talk about it. He was the one who got me hooked after having been a total sceptic for many years
Agree with everything you said except listening to anything Sam Harris has to say. :-)
Lol. I wouldn't recommend listening to Sam Harris, only listening to Sam Harris talk about meditation. Any particularly bad takes I should be aware of?
Well he has TDS so bad, that he said even if Biden had dead children in his basement, that you should still vote for Biden. And he is a hard core bomb Muslims back to the stone age neo-con.
There are, it seems to me, several different layers of this. There is the total immersion of a physical activity that requires developed skill, heightened by consequence; whitewater rafting, for instance. A big, challenging rapid would stupefy a novice, but a seasoned boater might find himself utterly engrossed in the action, his senses extended so as to make the boat and oars a true extension of his body. Time, in those moments, disappears.
The calculated focusing of attention, perhaps an interaction with others, really listening, can bring one into the moment. A really good conversation can be timeless.
Playing music, a splendid meal, sex. All these can bring one to a state of ‘living in the moment’ to one degree or another.
The longer-term appreciation of a sequence of moments is harder. Everything is revealed in contrast, so the downs are required to compare with the ups. We notice that we HAD a great year, once the next one is less so. The difference is where the meaning lies.
Spaceman Spiff! Lovely comment. I've struggled with this kind of rumination also. Sam Harris' Waking Up app really helped me(it's free on request). In fact, it could be (I hate to risk sounding like a kook here) the single most positively influential tool of my life so far. Have a listen to a podcast appearance from Harris where he talks about meditation, that was my introduction and I was sold. I also write about this kind of stuff a lot, so have a read of Kind Regards and you might find some useful thoughts about it also.
I think that presence, or living in the moment, is definitely an acquired skill or perhaps a muscle that you either use regularly (via meditation) and get stronger or don't practice and become weaker at. Whenever I take a break from my regular meditation practice, I feel less present and more off with the fairies and therefore less appreciative of my life as it is.
Good luck on the journey. I hope this finds you well. Thanks for the comment
Another solid piece. I really appreciate your ability to draw insight from disparate sources. I quite enjoy your work!
I like the title of this, Handcuffed Lightning, like trying to hold on to that moment of glory and greatness, to never come down from it. It’s funny because I read Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” recently, and it’s in some ways about that and how the protagonist, Willie tried to hold on to that point in his life when he felt everything was great and he tried to make it last by lying to himself and those around him. Thank you for this really great, thought provoking article.
I wish I could take credit for the phrase, but it’s part of a quote from Ali ahead of the fight:
"I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick."
He would often recite these sort of boastful poems, part of the showmanship aspect of his legacy. He used ‘handcuffed lightning’ here to describe his speed and conditioning. Like you, I feel like it works just as well as a version of “Lightning in a bottle”
That’s amazing. I like your use of it. I will have to watch the movie sometime,
Using a Kierkegaardian heuristic would suggest our lives are only understood in reverse. Hence, why we see these grand moments from a storied perspective as ones of great significance when looking “back.” But to realize you are living in a peak experience is the loss of significance drawing you into the future.
I don’t think this is about being present and becoming aware now instead of sometime down the road. I think it is about creating coherence from your past to present and where hope (the future) lies.
Considering Armstrong was a private person who tried to lead a normal life outside of the limelight after Apollo 11 suggests he understood life as exactly what you posit. Something in which you put one foot in front of the other. It isn’t a high to chase, but a coherent story. Even if part of that story is the descent down from Everest.
Considering what he had accomplished, Armstrong definitely showed immense humility and grace. That amount of level-headedness and insight is probably a sign that they picked the right man for the job.
Check on YouTube - Richard Clapton 'The Best Years of Our Lives' - cheesy video, but that's what they had 42 years ago (although gotta love the swimming and the big hair). Recorded in 1982, still a brilliant song. The harmonirs at the end are perfect. You might enjoy.
It's a mesmerising documentary, regardless of any interest in boxing.
Wonderful essay, thank you, I really enjoyed reading this for many reasons. I’m interested in watching the documentary about the Foreman/Ali fight. 🤼I’m not boxing fan, but through my work as an entertainer I knew Ali pretty well through magic. He used to hang out every day at Hollywood Magic, a magic/novelty store on Hollywood Blvd. He was a nice man and loved magic. I met George and have a photo with him somewhere taken in Reno when he visited as a guest to our show. He stayed a few weeks holding a boxing camp on our stage during the daytime. Your discussion about their famous fight ignited that memory. Perhaps it will be my top for my next week’s post. I’ll definitely watch the documentary and reference your information to enhance my story.
Thank you again, I enjoyed this so much and also love what you wrote about The Beatles! Music🎵
I definitely recommend watching the documentary. No need to be a boxing fan to enjoy it, the story is much bigger than just the fight and will draw you in. Very cool to have met both men, I would love to hear more about that if you do write something on the subject. Thanks for reading!
I’m writing about it this week and I will tag you in my post on Friday night. Look for it Saturday morning if you’re not on late Friday night.
I saw When We Were Kings in a small theatre in Austin the week it came out. I walked out on cloud nine. still one of the best documentaries I have ever seen.
to your other point, I often wonder about professional athletes who, by the nature of sports, have to face living long after the glory days of their careers. most athletes do not fare so well, but Ali is an amazing example of someone who seemed to resist the pessimistic cynicism of others who reached such heights. he seemed to reinvent himself as a statesman and role model for humanity and even in his eventual sickness, walked through life with grace.
viva the Champ.
It’s definitely on the Mt. Rushmore of immersive documentaries. Thanks for reading!
Do you think your best days are ahead or behind you?
Behind me. There was a period of a couple of years when everything in life felt as though it was aligned perfectly. I was in a new relationship with the woman I would eventually marry. We were surrounded by friends that we became very close with. I was beginning a new career that felt promising. My life felt as though every piece had come together perfectly.
Life is still very good. In fact, most things have actually improved. But that specific period will always stand out for me as the most fully alive and connected I’ve ever been. Life was firing on all cylinders in a way that is difficult to describe.
Wow, what a bold answer. Your life in that period almost sounds like... One of those setups you see on TV shows with the happy couple, the friends, city life, dinner parties, the whole thing.
Thanks for the honest answer and this great article.