More on Oprah's video, leading to more on Now and Time

Thank you to those who participated in the further discussion of the Oprah video from my last post.

After hearing what you all had to say, I have a better theory on why the video included something that spoke to my friend Bob and sounded grounded in truth, while also including something that set me off on my rant and sounded false.

My understanding is based in an observation by a Boddhisatva of my acquaintance, who after watching the video said that it included some good stuff, but it's presented in a context of material success.

His comment formed a picture in my mind, of the talk as first half Buddhist wisdom, second half American ambition.

The part that comforted my friend was that part that said there is no such thing as failure, where you are now is where you are supposed to be, and every moment adds up to your whole life.

The part that sent me into a range was the part that said that there is a sacred purpose for your life, only one, and it's your job to find out what that is, and any time you feel unease - which, unease is the very definition of living, it's something all human beings experience all day every day about something or other, born of the fact that we can imagine the future and therefore imagine the present being something different from what it is - any time you feel unease, she says, that's evidence that you're not living your life according to your sacred calling, and you'd better change - quit your job, get a divorce - and keep changing until that uneasy feeling goes away.

If she says there's no such thing as failure, she must also embrace the other half of that, which is that there's no such thing as success either.

The second half of the video is an expression of American ambition and striving and continuous dissatisfaction, and if you buy that, then there is such a thing as failure, which is every moment up to and including now, because you're not there yet.

So, those are some further thoughts on the video, and then stay tuned for some further thoughts inspired by these ones, about the Now and about Time, time as a moment you're in and time as a journey.  I'm puzzling these topics through and finding I have thoughts and emotions that aren't consistent, so I'm working on framing a point of view that makes sense of it.

More as I get it written down!

Yin and Yang