What is ‘The Present Moment’? – Livestream Talk

I’ve been back and forth on whether or not to publicize this afternoons talk I gave via Zoom. But having viewed it I’m reasonably OK with what I see and what I said. Unlike a previous short talk on Zoom where my brain blanked which, I have to confess left-footed me for some time afterwards. Such things happen to the best of us and the only way is to ‘move on’!

Question and Answer

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7 thoughts on “What is ‘The Present Moment’? – Livestream Talk”

  1. Thank you for sharing. It was good to see every one and very useful to have this recording to reflect with. So glad you stuck with it. :) Heather

    1. Oh thank you Heather, so good that you came to the talk. Just such a good experience for me after the less than good one I’d had a few weeks ago. Always good to not give up. You know, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again!

  2. On this hot day I decided it would be good to sit in the cool and watch and listen to your talk and the questions afterwards. Indeed it was a good thing to do giving me food for thought and pleasure in seeing you and other members of the Sangha.
    I must say though that I am puzzled what is meant by subjectivity and objectivity, as I’m getting older I sometimes have difficulty understanding what the questions are, what is this person trying to convey and get an answer about? So have to decide to leave that on one side.
    For me the times in my life when there have been situations, life and death quite often, and I have no control over what will happen, that’s the time when my meditation practice, (which has to be said has been sporadic at best) comes to the fore and I just have to sit amongst all the turmoil going on , letting go, letting go and being right there. One sentence that you said, I think from your young days book of wisdom, which really resonated with me and that was “ we live in the presence of constant choice”
    This always so much a part of my life , now because of a pre-teenage granddaughter who challenges my constant choices, do I allow this, do I get angry , do I insist on certain behaviour ……
    Sorry to have gone on at length but it a sign that your talk has opened up quite few trains of thought. Take care, stay safe. Adrienne 🙏

    1. Dear Adrienne,
      Yes, I do understand what you say about the subjective/objective reference. I think it is to do with ‘viewpoint’ in relation to something. So what do I do? Consult Google! Here one definition I found.

      Subjective information or writing is based on personal opinions, interpretations, points of view, emotions and judgment. It is often considered ill-suited for scenarios like news reporting or decision making in business or politics. Objective information or analysis is fact-based, measurable and observable.

      But I will have to go back to the Q and A section to see if I am now able to answer the question having thought about it. Not always easy to connect with a question right away.

      Yes it is usual for people to ramp up their time doing formal meditation when in an extremity of some kind. You have had deaths in the family and no mistake so you have had lots of practice at sitting and letting go, letting go. You have done good and now, you are still doing good. Grandma. Would you not say that a lot of ‘parenting’ is a reflexive action. Meaning that in the moment one can’t choose but basically have to respond right there and then. With meditation (in daily life) and the precepts embedded inside of you, along with native wisdom you have made it through with granddaughter so far. Yes, of course, there can be pondering on boundaries in terms of behaviours which need to be inforced. So yes, there are some choices to be made of course. As always I take my hat off to you.

      Glad the talk got you thinking. I was just glad to have the chance to talk about this business of ‘being in the moment’, something that bugged me for years.
      Ah yes, my book of wisdom. There was a short poem about a bee expressing my feeling that bee and me are one! Basically doing the same thing, labouring on and up. I was probably in my late teens when I wrote that.

      in terms of being in the moment, being both ‘here’ and ‘gone’ simultaneously says it for me. No way can you catch hold of that, can you? Better stop and go and sit. It is warm here today and I find that quite hard. Hard to think basically.

    1. Jane! If I caused you to smile I consider that a great success. Thank you for the pause and leaving a comment. Oh! and since the talk I have been plagued by flys, real ones!

  3. Loved the metaphors Reverend Mugo!
    Found talk rich, direct and refreshing.
    Raised a few smiles …
    Thank you and to Reverend Daigon’s valuable input.

    with smiles,

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