#250 Presents & Presence

     Most of us are conditioned to automatically make external conditions as comfortable as possible, as soon as possible, for ourselves. This includes taking a pill as soon as we feel an ache, adjusting the thermostat as soon as the temp feels uncomfortable, complaining to ourselves & others when things or people don't perfectly conform to our wants, etc, etc, etc.
     This self-centered obsession is thoroughly ingrained in our consumer society. Advertizers, like drug-pushers, brainwash us to "demand" the highest level of sustained personal comfort, otherwise life's not worth living. Big business openly admits that its mission is to create "consumer dissatisfaction".
     Interestingly, Eastern psychology has held for 3,000 years that self-concern is the very root of suffering, not happiness. The more we obsess over pampering ourselves, the more we suffer.
     The "war on drugs" will be won, when each of us stops craving & buying "stuff" that artificially transport us "a happy place" ever so briefly. How well does that work for the average addict? Consumer society is founded squarely on addictive dependence to stuff that can't possibly satisfy.
     Presence is being open, aware, and available to be helpful to whatever and whoever is before us in the present moment. Clearly presence is the exact opposite of addictive self-centeredness. Rare intervals of giving presents - "stuff" - is no substitute for continuous presence. Each one of us must eventually recover from our addictions, and thus give something of true value - ourselves.

Photo: afj2   www.dpreview.com