The presence after the presents, on the present moment in our lives.

The present moment, I've learned, is not just a fleeting tick of the clock but a space where life unfolds in its fullest expression.  

-an uncredited LinkedIn staff writer.....

 

 

Life. Participating in, as of. The daemon and the muse: the symmetry of life energies.

Participating in life.....

if the daemon does not match the muse's energy, as if to low on his side, then its like watching a television show

as opposed to participating in life.

But what, the daemon superceeding the energy of the muse?  Is it possible?  Then, likely you wind up, like a Roomba, self-propelled, without proper impetus.

The proper impetus keeps us in line, as is said, "right reason".

Symmetry between the daemon and the muse, as is said, “right reason”, synchronization with the world around you and the world within.

Otherwise, what do we find, but addictions, or the absence of health, or our freedom haphazardly discarded?

Such, to wit, all things work together for the greater good, just as all around the Christian believer points to God’s grace in glory ahead.  Raison de’tre.  Locomotive force, impetus, drive, determination.

“Right reason” is not a pre-written plan, necessarily, though we recommend scheduling yourself, setting times and places on things, but “right reason” is kind of an intermesh with the world around one.

If “right reason” referred to us being deliberate and circumspect, well-thought-out in our actions, then we ignore the possibility that we may be wrong.

Look at the ideals of the Western World, and how these few basic items spawn so many courses of life even within the same land.  It spawns differences.

The daimon/daemon is one’s spirit.

The muse is the art in which we set our sights.

So the daimon, the bow and arrow.

The muse the target.

Synchronicity/living in nature: “right reason”.

Guiding Principle: how we protect each our own decision making process, our minds and our mindset.

You would walk unprotected through a pile of refuse, would you?  Do you expect or not care if a nail punctures your foot?

By that same token, at some point we become circumspect of touching pots and pans on the stove, lest they be hot, and cause a burn injury to our hands.

Even the child learns the lesson of the hot cook pan early on its life.

Yet as important as our hands, is the “guiding principle”, or our set of values and beliefs, part of our decision making process that guides our hands.

Why, our hands are just tools, but our minds house so much more.  A tool can be good, bad and can be used well, or used badly.  But our minds?

Epictetus in the Enchiridion suggests we guard our decision-making principles as well as we watch out for either a nail in the foot, or a burn to the hand.

Think of today’s opportunities to make bad decisions.  Health.  Love.  Diet.  Finances.  Careers.  So much and so easy to go wrong in today’s world, without a solid base of decision making: the mind, the “governing principle”.

Just today I was enticed into the possibility of a bad decision, to be used badly by another person, and supposedly for our own “mutual” amusement.

So often, we make compromises and give away different sorts of pieces of our countenance, we ingratiate ourselves, or almost beg for attention, where none is actually warranted, be it done for a moment of amusement, or because of a stray feeling.

And then that feeling is gone.

Afterward, are your internal governing principles, your code of conduct for your own life–is it intact?

Or have you been robbed of something yet more valuable than a stray glance or a secret moment?  Have you given too much for too little, and in a moment of enticement, such as the old saying, “a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips”.

We bear the consequences of those moments, as per Karma, the eternal balance of life acts for a given person, that each thing we do has a set of reactions, like a purchase having a cost.  We inevitably pay for all those things that we bring home, and only the most dear really seem to be worth it, and yet, in the karmic balance:

The things we love best always seem to cost so little.
 

Making a list or using a planner in daily life. Your focus is your reality. So whatcha focusing on?

There is a charming saying in politics, that “perception dictates reality”.

This little saying reinforces somewhat the thought that one can control the perceptions of another, and thusly, control or manipulate voter opinions on a particular issue.

The people present themselves to an innocent public, carefully crafting their actions, their dress; they choose their words, even do research on different phrases, how small groups in research studies perceive those things.

All for the sake of making a group of people think something, or at least, hoping to think something.

In life everyday, we have the things we enjoy, the things that help us relax or feel happy, things that pull us near, having a kind of gravity.

It might be a video game, a phone app, exercise, a television show, a book or a website, or a particular food.

We might also have a routine of things we enjoy at various points of the day or night.

In life, we are given a short period of time, so many years, and the things that we’ve given the most attention over that span add up.  We might, if we added all the times up, spend a year or two of our lives in the bathroom.  Or we might spend two decades of our lives in bed asleep.

There’s something, or someone that we give our time and mental resources to, and that is a large part of our reality, like a tv channel or show, or an app for the phone or tablet, or maybe we’re particularly fond of cleaning our car or something.

We all have something that takes a large amount of our attention.  And we might be unconscious of it, that whatever takes up a significant amount of our lives, our mental energy and attention.

What if you made a list, making an entry after doing something at each point throughout your day?

Would you be surprised by what you find?  Would you find a lot of wasted time, time spent daydreaming, time spent doing smaller tasks, or time spent in front of a device’s screen?

*In calendar apps, many support reverse listings.  One can go back to time that has already gone by, and note the things they were doing for a given hour, or half-hour, or quarter-hour.

Various apps like Google Workspace, and the free Google Calendar(with an add-on extension) can tabulate total time spent doing each task.

These can be grouped.

Color-coded.

Organized and tabulated by color.

What you do most, in the eyes of the outside observer, would seem to be that which is most important to you.

So have you intentionally decided what gets your time, energy and focus?  Is it family?  Work?  Hobbies?

You might be surprised, if you went about it scientifically, systemically, what is your chief focus in life.

*Use a calendar app, or a paper calendar, or a list app, or a simple sheet of notebook paper to make a list of things you do, making an entry after doing something.  Note how much time you spent on each thing, each activity.

The magic comes when you look back on these things, but already, along the way as you make your listings, your entries, you might see some unexpected patterns emerging.