As the great Carl Spackler once said, "It's in the hole!"
Okay, okay, that quote doesn't have much to do with this entry, but it does highlight three important things you should know.
1. Golf is a great sport.
2. Caddyshack is a great golf movie.
3. Historically, in great literature, the fool (our friend Carl Spackler in this case) can always be counted on to say some very intelligent things.
Carl also says the following in Caddyshack:
"So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, how about a little something, you know, for the effort." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."
See it on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkLH56VlKT0
I guess I could say I was on my deathbed and received total consciouness last Sunday morning while watching Eckhart Tolle's DVD - Finding Your Life's Purpose.
Let me try to explain.
I used to be such a worrier, always deferring happiness into the future using Now as a means to an end. 'The end' being some point in the future where happiness would exist for me. Except, when would that point be? How long would that happiness last? Would I be happy forever after having gotten to that point? Or, would I only be happy temporarily and thus start looking for the next thing to make me happy again? Why not just be happy now?
I learned something watching and listening to Mr. Tolle. The future only exists in the mind, just as the past exists only in the mind as your memories of Now. When we experience the future it will be experienced as Now.
I will leave it at that for Now?
If you are intrigued check out Eckhart Tolle's book The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment.
2 comments:
Now is all anyone has - no one is guaranteed any future at all. It may seem harmless to put off happiness, since even if we die young it is only we who are affected, but that is not true. We have an effect (sometimes profound) on those who surround us. Withholding our own happiness is also withholding theirs, especially if their goals differ from our own. To simplify, look at it from the perspective of a pet. All he wants is some attention. He does not understand that you have to work 18 hours a day to reach some goal that will allow you to spend more time with him - just that he is feeling unloved NOW. All that is happening is that you reduce the time that you will be able to spend together. Goals are wonderful things to have - we should all have some, but they should never be confused with emotional well being. If you are unable to be happy until you reach your goals, you will still be unhappy once they are met. Look at all the wonderful things that surround you - if everything seems mundane, then you aren't looking close enough.
Your comments are wise, profound and always well appreciated my dear Mr. Fields. Thank you for your diligence in reading and commenting.
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