Practice Fugue

We want to have it both ways: there is only the present moment, but. There is only the present moment, but I should understand that better than I do. There is only the present moment, but I need to drop the baggage that I bring to it. There is only the present moment, but I need to be responsible for what happens next.

You cannot win. You absolutely cannot win. You will die before your time, or you will get old and suffer and lose your friends and loved ones and then die; you will waste time, you will misunderstand, you will be misunderstood. And that's ok. You don't need to win. You've already won. If you can read this, you've won. Why? Because the one who is reading this is not separate from the entire world. What else did you want to win?

Well, a quiet place to live would be nice. And a trip to someplace beautiful. And a nice girlfriend or boyfriend. And a cure for the illness of someone close to me. And meaningful work.

We want to have it both ways: there is only the present moment, but. There is only the present moment, but I should understand that better than I do. There is only the present moment, but I need to drop the baggage that I bring to it. There is only the present moment, but I need to be responsible for what happens next.

There are people who say, ok, well, come sit with me if you want to. We don't have to talk about this, necessarily. We don't have to do anything about it. There's not really anything we can do about it. And we're in good company. What was the problem again?

Well, a quiet place to live would be nice. And a trip to someplace beautiful. And a nice girlfriend or boyfriend. And a cure for the illness of someone close to me. And meaningful work.

You cannot win. You absolutely cannot win. You will die before your time, or you will get old and suffer and lose your friends and loved ones and then die; you will waste time, you will misunderstand, you will be misunderstood. And that's ok. You don't need to win. You've already won. If you can read this, you've won. Why? Because the one who is reading this is not separate from the entire world. What else did you want to win?

There is only the present moment, but I should understand that better than I do. There is only the present moment, but I need to drop the baggage that I bring to it. There is only the present moment, but I need to be responsible for what happens next.

There are people who say, ok, well, come sit with me if you want to. We don't have to talk about this, necessarily. We don't have to do anything about it. There's not really anything we can do about it. And we're in good company. What was the problem again?

Quiet, beautiful, boyfriend, girlfriend, cure, meaningful, die, suffer, lose, waste, misunderstand

That's ok. We're in good company. Pay attention, now, because I don't want to repeat myself.