Ya ever wonder why things come to an end? Because they have to. Everything has to. It is a part of the cycle - the circle - the system we all live and participate in. No, it is not called "life." A life is what we all have and we live it every day. However we must remember - emphasis on remember - that our memory is the key element of us being who we are.

If you could not remember then living would be pointless. But at the same time some people only want to forget.

So, the question is...is your life "X" amount of years - say 60 maybe 70 or 80 years? Or is it just one day over and over and you just choose what happens and what to forget about the day before?

Some say the meaning of life is the pursuit of happiness.

The problem with that is everyone has different idealogies of how to get there.

For a logical person they would say the meaning of life is to produce only.

but a honest person would say, we don't know the meaning of life.


Maybe it is a combination of many things that has reason for each individual in itself.

I would say find that answer that gives you the most strength and happiness. For that answer you find is the meaning of life.

running outside where there is sun and fresh air and flowers... seeing a child laugh.... a stranger smiling at you.... someone praying for you .... we are under the same sun we are in it all together... somewhere someone does not see the sun.... somewhere someone needs someone to get them out of their head .... not to judge to look down on someone...

we all need each other...

it is TODAY

Now

Well, this would certainly be true on small time scales. If you can't even remember what you are doing then you'd be hard-pressed to accomplish much of anything other than trying to survive in the moment.

Alzheimer's disease would be an example. And living in that state would be impossible if you were on your own. You'd need someone who can remember things just to help you survive.

However, longer term memory is not important to life. If you woke up this morning with complete amnesia of your entire history, but you could still remember things like language, and how to do basic things, and you're ability for short-term memory was still in tack, then you could continue on with a meaningful life from that point forward. You'd still feel like you were YOU.

You're hisotry does NOT define who you are. That is the illusion that many people have fallen for. That is the illusion that Buddhists try to get people to realize is a false notion.

You are NOT your history. You are the NOW. You are what you are at this moment. Of course, your history could certainly affect your now. If you did things in your past to lose a limb, or get yourself incarcerated in a jail, then you're kind of stuck with your current situation no matter what the history was that created it. Even so, it's not the hisotry that is important, but the current situation.


So, the question is...is your life "X" amount of years - say 60 maybe 70 or 80 years? Or is it just one day over and over and you just choose what happens and what to forget about the day before?


You are now. Period.

Your future does not need to be dicated by your past, other than in the things that you may have created in your past that currently exist in your now.

And of course, an older body is one of those things. So your body will depend on your history, but it doesn't require your memory to do this. If you get amnesia today you're body isn't going to revert back to being a child again.

But you aren't what you think you are.

Consider my life. I started out interested in science, I became a research physicist. Is that who I am?

Well, later I decided to get out of the rat race and moved into a cottage in the country and started living a very simple back-to-basics life style. I didn't work at a job at all. I became a mountain man. Is that who I am?

After that, I decided to get into teaching and taught physics, mathematics, and computer science for several years. Is that who I am?

Lately I've been writing poetry and song. Is that who I am?

I've also never married. Is that who I am?

As ironic as this may sound I don't think I've ever wanted to be a single person. I've always wanted to be part of a couple.

So now the question becomes, "What who I wanted to be the REAL me? And what I actualy became the FALSE me? Or is it the other way around?"

Or is there no me at all? Maybe me is nothing more than what I experience. Maybe I am that I am.

And therein lies the mindset of eternal failure.

Life should never be thought of as the pursuit of happiness, because that suggests that happiness is something that needs to be pursued.

Life is happiness. Period.

What about some of the creatures/creations that do not have much memory, or even any at all, but still have life? Bacteria, Plants, Bugs, etc. they all have lives.

What about the people with alzheimer's, amnesia, and other illness that can create memory loss, false memories, etc.?

Sure memories can influence they way you feel or act in certain situations or about certain things, but I don't think it really makes us who we are.

that is why we only got this moment NOW

Very true what you say.

I wish I could say that for all the people of the world though.

So many have such hard lives that no matter how hard they try to be happy they can't for they are truly suffering each and every day.

Life is each new day upon another, and so on.

One is the total sum of all personal experience.

This is true. But does that state of suffering define who they are?

I doubt it.

So not only are we not what we were, but often times we're not even what we are.

that is beautiful

i get it

with you 100 %

Yes it does actually and you proved my point further.

What kind of life does some one lead who has alzheimer's amnesia or other illnesses which create memory loss false memories and etc?

Probably not the same life that someone who sleeps from 10 pm to 7 am every night and gets 9 hours of sleep 7 days a week which allows their memory sufficient time to process memories.

Example: If I wake up at 9 am on a Saturday and stay awake until 10pm on Sunday. I go to sleep waking up at 10am Monday morning then, I have lost a day. According to the theories, I am not one day younger than you. Because I, in my memory, never experienced Saturday. My mind went from Friday to Sunday. My memory doesn't know when to click restart or refresh for the "new day."

In comment to the "alzheimer" amnesia and etc question: Those are just our words for those diseases. The memory still goes on working - just to degree our brains allows it to at that given moment. Sort of like...when you are a baby. How much do you remember from the age of 6 months?

None I bet.

How much more proof you need than that it didn't happen?

But you will tell me it did, right?

That is thanks to your MEMORY.

Awesome -- one endless topic/question leading to several more endless topic/questions. Lovin it as always Abra! I'll definitely get back to this...

Life is Now.....


that's all there is...right Now.

Although that's true (at the very basic level) but, at the same time, that's almost as simplistic and nonsensical as the exclamation "*Life is happiness. Period.*" -- because
****************EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE:
certainly, from the perspective of a terminally ill person, NOW is all there is, and every day such person is taking another breath only re-affirms that "Life is happiness"!
(the same sentiments are shared by either most of HAPPY or Rich people -- who want to preserve the current state of affairs for as long as possible -- or mindless poor people, OR ailing old people who have nothing to look forward to...)***

But, unless one is born to nobility, or has a huge inheritance comming, one must prepare one's own means of subsistance that will carry him/her through Life...(beginning from school years up to the late middle age)

THEREFORE, "Yesterday" is of the paramount importance because that is what the NOW consists of. And, by transitivity -- since "TOMORROW" stems from NOW -- it follows that "Yesterday" also determines "TOMORROW" to a great extend!

Otherwise, in simple terms, "Now is all there is", HE-HE...

As some lai-man/woman said:
Yesteday's a hystory.
Tomorrow's a mystery.
NOW's a gift -- that's why its called Present!

Hey, Jess and Abra, your right -- to hell with Yesterday * * * * *
As long as you r breathing YOU ARE ALIVE -- lIFE IS NOW! (he-he)

Although that's true (at the very basic level) but, at the same time, that's almost as simplistic and nonsensical as the exclamation "*Life is happiness. Period.*" -- because
****************EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE:
certainly, from the perspective of a terminally ill person, NOW is all there is, and every day such person is taking another breath only re-affirms that "Life is happiness"!
(the same sentiments are shared by either most of HAPPY or Rich people -- who want to preserve the current state of affairs for as long as possible -- or mindless poor people, OR ailing old people who have nothing to look forward to...)***

But, unless one is born to nobility, or has a huge inheritance comming, one must prepare one's own means of subsistance that will carry him/her through Life...(beginning from school years up to the late middle age)

THEREFORE, "Yesterday" is of the paramount importance because that is what the NOW consists of. And, by transitivity -- since "TOMORROW" stems from NOW -- it follows that "Yesterday" also determines "TOMORROW" to a great extend!

Otherwise, in simple terms, "Now is all there is", HE-HE...

As some lai-man/woman said:
Yesteday's a hystory.
Tomorrow's a mystery.
NOW's a gift -- that's why its called Present!

Hey, Jess and Abra, your right -- to hell with Yesterday * * * * *
As long as you r breathing YOU ARE ALIVE -- lIFE IS NOW! (he-he)

Hello Handle...

I enjoyed your feelings on my simplistic views..


They are the pared down, cut to the bone truth for me.... I have only Now.... I have no idea what five minutes time may look like, and I did yesterday, yesterday.

By being fully present in every moment, there is an appreciation, and a wonderment that arises in me.... I feel truly blessed to be able to experience it, consciously, and with all of my awareness open.

Worrying about what 65 might look like is missing out on this moment.... the mind can be such a busy thing.... always either past present future, past present future, never really settling into here, and Now.

Simplicity has calmed the busy head for me, it has brought me back to a place of acceptance, and openess to new experiences, that I may have missed, if not here, Now.

Okay so I am confused -- to all recent posters and everyone who may look at this -- please respond:

Are you saying you think life is just time in the given moment? More or less you say life is what you make of it at that time? Say you're offered a hundred dollars to punch me in the face? You say the choice you make is made right then and there? No preconcieved notions made with memories?

You are no different than I - and I say that to anyone reading this statement.

You know what is different about you? What you concieve to be different. Not what you look down and see. What is different about you is what you remember to be different.

Whether you are the type of person who would punch a stranger for one hundred dollars is something you establish a long your way. And what you look like has nothing to do with it.

However...if you didn't remember who you were...and didn't have the ability to remember the days prior. You may stop and ask yourself.
"Hmmm, is that worth it? Should I do it." And with no recollection of any thought worse than the one you are about to have you would then do it. Because that would then be the new level in your memory...which you would not go below. That thought process may take 10 seconds or 10 milliseconds - depending on the person and their memory.

In the moment I am offered $100 to punch you in the face, is IN THAT MOMENT.

What I choose to decide, IN THAT MOMENT, is that moment's NOW.


the rest is irrelevant.

I just dont get it! How can you say the "rest" is irrelevant?? The moment consists of nothing but elements and ideals around you. It is made up of the room around you --- the colors the sounds the shading the smells and the warmth. YOUR decision is based on what you are thinking...which is based on your memories. You cannot think without using your memory. <----Just right there. I had to REMEMBER how to spell memory!