We have a finite amount of "Attention bandwidth," and perhaps ability to focus it, for a sustained period of time. It's very possible to train ourselves to improve that, but it takes determination and will-power, which when it comes to that sort of thing is not a high priority, as most people are instant gratification types and don't concretely notice the rewards, and give up. We can be overly needy and greedy for flashy things. Money, power, property, and prestige divert and get in the way of our primary purpose... To live fully whole, and wholly free, in goodwill and creative freedom.
We're also powerless... helpless and without authority over the reality of time.... However we're not powerless in how we respond to those facts. It's an act of adulting to accept responsibility for how and where we direct our attention, as we swim... live... and breathe time... not just within ourselves... but each other. Choice is better than no choice.
There's a very old expression associated with the striking of the "Han," at Zen temples and monasteries. It goes:
"Life and death
are a "Thing!"
Time moves swiftly
as an arrow,
and so many opportunities are lost.
Each of us could strive to awaken.
AWAKEN!
Take heed,
do not squander your life.
Someday causes and conditions,
that lifted the wave that's Your life,
will come to an end,
and the wave of Your life will collapse
absorbed into undifferentiated
Ocean-nature.
WAKE UP!"
Please use your attention bandwidth wisely, as you traverse the ocean of Being-Time.
一Dignity and Grace
Video credit: Excerpt from Obon ceremony; Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongoji… remembrance ceremony for the deceased.
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