Awareness

 The phrase"Be Here Now" was a book I read in 1971 by Ram Dass who left Harvard(friend of Tim Leary) to study and live in India.I took from it some elements that has shaped my thinking but until yesterday didn't fully understand the significance of that simple statement."Be Here Now" simple means to be aware of the present without letting your mind wander to thoughts that are created by you.Stay with what you experience ...or as much as you can without reverting to old habits.Our thoughts are created by our mind that tells(fabricates) stories about who we are and what we want.We often want a lot of things and the ego part of the mind wants it all without any pain.It discriminates all the time.It takes us down avenues that is secure and pleasurable,avoiding anything that is designated by the mind as unpleasant.We avoid half our present experiences because they have a negative designation.Ram Dass and Ajahn Sumedho(The Sound of Silence) and every book I've read on Buddhism wants us to accept our experiences without movement to the pleasant or unpleasant.In their psychology,we are letting our egos dictate and limit our joy by having duality in our thinking.Accepting the present "as it is",without designating and identifying,embraces all of life with both extremes represented and honored.

Awareness of the present is a difficult task to follow for someone who has let the mind wander and seek pleasure at every turn.One has to practice it as if they are practicing foul shots.You get better at it if you put the time in.By being aware,one can be present for others and listen to them more closely.Listening to another and putting them first before yourself reinforces awareness because your focus(mindfulness) is off your own thoughts and desires which deflates the ego and brings an openness to all experience without aversion.From practicing awareness, one fully accepts,dispassionately, all experience as joyful because it is part of nature and admired as it appears to us. Discernment of experiences provides the foundation for wisdom that comes from being aware in each moment and reacting with metta(loving-kindness) whenever it calls.The first noble truth in Buddhism is all life is suffering(stress,anxiety,dissatisfaction).Awareness interferes in that process because you are no longer creating suffering by listening to your thoughts that has become dualistic and lives in the extremes of pleasure and aversion.