the non-reality of free will

[Gregory Goode]

At 01:57 AM 9/23/97 -0700, Jonathan Bricklin wrote:

>I had a week in which I was in the exact center of each arising moment, and
>the past and future vanished as landscapes between which I commuted.  I
>suspect others on this list server have had this experience at well.

I have.

>with.  If you are telling me that you *are*  living in the now, and that
>you don't see a past landscape or a future landscape, and are in no way
>commuting between them, then I'd say you are having a pretty blissful time.

This is probably tantamount to enlightenment itself.

> For the rest of us, still waiting our release, still looking into a future
>that they may not ultimately *think* to be a reality, I offer the advice:
>turn around.

Not sure I understand the meaning of the following:

>that they may not ultimately *think* to be a reality.


Probably most people on this list are convinced the future is not a
reality.  It sounds like you are saying that somehow it really is a
reality, even though we think not.


>The metaphor of walking backwards into the future, was, by the way, the
>everyday way the Ancient Greeks looked at how we related to the future.

I think it's a nice illustration actually.  Nisargadatta Maharaj spoke
several times about "reversing into the future" which meant (I'd have to
recheck the text to be sure, but) treating the future as though it will
take care of itself just as the past has.  Basically, a way to look at it
so we won't worry.

--Greg