• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Not living in the here and now?

Giggly

No moss growing on me
Joined
Jun 12, 2008
Messages
9,661
MBTI Type
iSFj
Enneagram
2
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Would being traditional be considered not living in the here and now?
 

Mole

Permabanned
Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
20,284
Tolle is Now

"Now", is undergoing a revival.

The apostle of, "now", is Tolle.

He has even appeared on Oprah, a number of times.

Tolle is the guru of now.

"Now", is being mass marketed in the book, "The Power of Now".

And, "now", is being mass marketed on TV on the mass program called, "Oprah".

To see and hear him, just click on -

YouTube - Eckhart Tolle, not reacting to content, www.soundstrue.com

Do you believe in, "now"?
 

Domino

ENFJ In Chains
Joined
Nov 5, 2007
Messages
11,429
MBTI Type
eNFJ
Enneagram
4w3
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Gray- as far as living in the now as pertains to N, it's not about control or principle at all.

We don't believe we can control the outcome of the next minute, or the one following it. We simply don't *live* in the moment we're presently (read: space/time fixed spot occupied by our physical bodies) in, nor are we instinctively aware of it. We slip back and forth without conscious thought between what was and what will be, paying little natural heed to what *is*.

Consider a man who has a tongue but can't taste the food in his mouth, yet he can taste what food had formerly been there and what food *will* be there in moment arriving. If I metaphorically moved from rose bush to rose bush using intuition, I would be smelling the lingering scent of the roses just passed mixed with the ones coming up, but never one alone.

A better metaphor may be a goldfish sitting in a bowl of water. The water is space/time. The goldfish sits in the water being sloshed back and forth, or swimming around heedlessly. The present is a mixture of past/future, not "now".

Granted none of this may apply to ENTJs as we all know they're poised to take over the world. *laughs* They'd eat the roses and sniff the pineapples and do it on the board room table.
 

Nonsensical

New member
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,006
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7
It's so hard for me to live in the here and now..and I wish I could, but my heart and mind are always either dwelling on past events, or feelings of nostalgia, or focused on the future..imagining what I could do, where I'd go..college, family, kids, life. It's how my mind works, and I'm seldom happy with the present..always thinking the past was better and the future will be, too. I hate that I am this way..I just am..but at least I have plenty of great things to day dream about.
 

Jeffster

veteran attention whore
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
6,743
MBTI Type
ESFP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
sx
Funny, I thought your blog is the greatest thread around... You want this thread to replace your blog? *chuckles* ;)

Oh, you know us SPs, this thread is the greatest HERE AND NOW, the next time I read my blog, that will go back to being the greatest. It's just how it is, babe. Ain't it great to not live in the past or the future? ;)

But yeah, I'm not sure how I managed to missed this thread the first time around. Lack of Se probably...

:D

linear conceptuality of time is an illusion

Can you explain the part of the that where you tell what in the world that means? Thank you.

Would being traditional be considered not living in the here and now?

Not necessarily. But if you are always thinking about what has come before as a guide to what you do now, then you are living more in the past, I'd say.

"Now", is undergoing a revival.

Do you believe in, "now"?

My thread has truly arrived now that Victor has posted in it. :cheese:

However, please don't bring that twit Oprah up into it or I might have to slap you upside your head with a book club. ;)
 

Bamboo

New member
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
2,689
MBTI Type
XXFP
I'll await with interest. :)

Oh boy this could be sort of long/complicated. I'll get to it, promise.

Is that where I imagine I'm Tallulah's back-up singer and wailing on my axe like Pete Townshend? :D

I actually had that exact image in mind. Crazy.

The Aborigines call their creation story/Genesis "dream time of the world", when everything was magic and chaos and coalescing matter. Gods and spirits roamed the land. I feel as if I'm permanently locked into the dream time. Physical experience is always filtered through the fairy dust, even when I don't want it to be. I think not being able to pin myself down to one point in space/time is what causes this transience.

Hmm, I think you have cause and effect swapped. Maybe your transience is causing you to not be able to pin yourself down to "now"? Maybe?

I remember an ISTP I was seeing. He told me to dream about him so he could finally get at me. I was more real and present (and accessible?) in my unconscious self. He was welcome to invade.

Say more?

LOL! You'll have to explain that one! :D

Oh I was just really tired. Typing going downhill in the sense of . . . tiredness. Speaking of which...:zzz:
 

The Outsider

New member
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
2,418
MBTI Type
intp
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx
Haha, Bamboo is a genius for bringing up the pineapple. :D
On that note, a really annoying thing for me is when I make myself a sweet cup of coffee and intend to enjoy it with all my mind and senses focused on it, eventually the coffee is either gone without me even noticing it, or I had forgotten about it and it has cooled down rendering it rather unenjoyable.
 

Kasper

Diabolical
Joined
May 30, 2008
Messages
11,590
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
9w8
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
Today I drove home from work and cruised on straight past my house, took me a few moments to realise this too and burn around the block, only lived there for over a year. I just couldn't stay focused in the moment, my thoughts were a thousand miles away. Stupid eNness :rolleyes:
 

CrystalViolet

lab rat extraordinaire
Joined
Oct 24, 2008
Messages
2,152
MBTI Type
XNFP
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
I always wondered if I had some sort of low grade Multiple Personality Disorder. I'm sure some of you N's write, so hopefully you will understand what I'm trying to put across. Riding home on the train, I can live whole life times of characters I created in my head. I'm so immersed in their little stories, and their environments, I can forget about my here and now. Some times it's like I don't exist,and that world can become more real than the one I'm living in now. I can create worlds, kingdoms, new languages, but I forget to get milk from the supermarket.
But to a certain extent (not entirely) I understand sensor's points of view, I have to be in the here and now for parts of my job, or I F@$# up completely. It's not natural for me, and when I first started out, I'd retreat into my mind's and completely screw up. It's worse when I'm bored, and I hate screwing up a day's work. But man, does it drain me to be constantly there and with it....even then I will humming a tune, thinking about contingency plans if the analysers break. Wondering if my junior staff remembered to set out the right equipment because I'm trying out a new technique, and maybe I should talk to my manager about getting a few days, oh and I really should get onto e-mailing that guy about the conference next month.
That's me, and I should get to bed now....
 

speculative

Feelin' FiNe
Joined
Jul 15, 2008
Messages
927
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w5
I've been fascinated since I started reading this personality stuff and the part about how SPs live in the here and now, but the other temperaments don't. And I'm like "what How can you not live in the here and now?"

Ninety-percent of the time, what I am doing/thinking/feeling is intended to affect the future, not the present. For example, I don't think about work funding today, but instead funding my future down the road for example a family when I get married. I'm not saving for the present, but saving for when I might have a family and kids that would go to college, even though I presently don't have a girlfriend even. That's just how I think/feel about the future.

I am also stuck in the past, about the stories I have told myself about the world and myself. For example, if put into a situation in the present in which I must act, I will create a story about the present situation based on my past experience. The more stressful the situation is, the less likely I am to think about the future when considering which actions to take, and the more likely I am to consult my past feelings to guide me. For example, say my boss calls me into his office and I don't know what it's for. Well, if I have had a good day I won't think much of it, but will think back to past times that has happened where he has told me about a new project we'll be working on. If I am stressed, I will instead think back to a time I was reprimanded and worry that I will be in trouble for something. But in either case, I use my past feelings to try to prepare for an eventuality to I can protect the future.
 

Domino

ENFJ In Chains
Joined
Nov 5, 2007
Messages
11,429
MBTI Type
eNFJ
Enneagram
4w3
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
I told Jaye last night about this thread and she looked at me, blurted, "You mean this doesn't get any better?! I'm going to always be like this?!" lol

I see we're in good company, at least. *wry smile* I've been laughing at the examples you guys are citing. It's embarrassingly familiar.

Hmm - traditional minded question: VERY interesting perspective. It suppose it's very much like living in the past?

Boo - elaborating: that ISTP was tangling with a lot of demons. We couldn't be together for various reasons (on his end), but we also couldn't manage to stay away from each other either. Didn't help we worked together. Me being a big dreamer, he told me to dream of him so he could dream about me. What can I say. *deep sigh*
 

phoenity

New member
Joined
Feb 27, 2008
Messages
472
You Ns are bizarre.

Actually, I can relate to an extent. Things seem kinda daydreamish the longer I stay inactive, or when I'm high. I think it mostly has to do with being introverted though and being in my head rather than reality.

But I never feel as alive as I do when my heart is beating 180 bpm, every muscle in my body is on fire, my lungs are searing, and I feel like I'm going to puke. Hooray for physical sensation bringing me back to reality.
 

nightning

ish red no longer *sad*
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
3,741
MBTI Type
INfj
Oh, you know us SPs, this thread is the greatest HERE AND NOW, the next time I read my blog, that will go back to being the greatest. It's just how it is, babe. Ain't it great to not live in the past or the future? ;)

Here and now... Sorry but here and now doesn't quite "exists" for me... neither does "past" and "future" really.

Exactly how Pink describe it in her goldfish in a bowl example. You have "past" and you have "present" and you have "future". If you stick them all together... you'll obviously get a lot more past and future than the present here and now. Then you factor in how N dominant have lousy memory, A big chuck of the past gets forgotten. So you have future >> past >> present. Now stick all that in a blender and mix.

Anytime you mention something to me, I take a spoonful of stuff from the blender. There'll be some stuff about here and now, some more stuff about the past, but the greater bit comes from the future. I can't see just the present here and now without seeing other stuff as well. So "this is the greatest here and now" doesn't exists for me. Being able to get forgot about the other junk might be nice... wish I could try it out for a day or something.

Hey... wouldn't it be great if people can switch bodies for a day? Or make that a week because you'll be all confused with just a day... need time to adjust. Be another temperament for a week... they should so make that work.
 

Jeffster

veteran attention whore
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
6,743
MBTI Type
ESFP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
sx
I told Jaye last night about this thread and she looked at me, blurted, "You mean this doesn't get any better?! I'm going to always be like this?!" lol

Luckily I recorded this conversation so that we can re-enact it in the here and now:

Pink: Ohmigosh, like you know how all of Jeffster's posts are like the awesomest ever?

Jaye: Like yeah! Totally! When I read a post of his I have to splash lemonade on my face to cool myself down from the inferno of superifficness!

Pink: Well, the amazing thing is, that sometimes Jeffster actually starts entire threads, and they're...ohmigosh I can hardly say it...

Jaye: Yeah? Yeah?

Pink: Well, they're like totally radically fantabulicious! I want to spray whip cream all over them and eat them with cherries and a vanilla coke.

Jaye: That sounds coolieriffic!

Pink: Oh, it totally is. And this one I was reading today is all about how when Jeffster speaks, mountains shake and all the wild animals line up in a row to be enlightened by his sheer incrediblocrity.

Jaye: *SWOON*


Well, it was something like that, the recording is kinda low quality. :blush:
 

Biaxident

Charting a course
Joined
Jan 10, 2009
Messages
3,617
MBTI Type
INFP
Luckily I recorded this conversation so that we can re-enact it in the here and now:

Pink: Ohmigosh, like you know how all of Jeffster's posts are like the awesomest ever?

Jaye: Like yeah! Totally! When I read a post of his I have to splash lemonade on my face to cool myself down from the inferno of superifficness!

Pink: Well, the amazing thing is, that sometimes Jeffster actually starts entire threads, and they're...ohmigosh I can hardly say it...

Jaye: Yeah? Yeah?

Pink: Well, they're like totally radically fantabulicious! I want to spray whip cream all over them and eat them with cherries and a vanilla coke.

Jaye: That sounds coolieriffic!

Pink: Oh, it totally is. And this one I was reading today is all about how when Jeffster speaks, mountains shake and all the wild animals line up in a row to be enlightened by his sheer incrediblocrity.

Jaye: *SWOON*


Well, it was something like that, the recording is kinda low quality. :blush:

:sick::wacko:
 
G

garbage

Guest
Things seem kinda daydreamish ... or when I'm high..

Huh. It's exactly the opposite for me.

When.. erm.. in that state, I feel everything and can't help but stick to the present moment in my thoughts. I feel textures and see colors more vividly. If that's what sensors feel like all the time, then.. wow.
 

Bamboo

New member
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
2,689
MBTI Type
XXFP
Now that you've lost interest, machine:run, explanation. I wrote a really long one. Way too complicated. Maybe I'll post that somewhere else.

So basically, I'm not my body. I don't think I am, at least. I think I'm consciousness - part(s) of my brain. We're all attached though. Consciousness, brain, body; good friends.

Anyway, there's things my body can do pretty well. Like keep blood pumping (brain stem). I can't do much to control that. I'm programmed to coordinate my hands with the eyes, too. I can control that. However, I there's a limitation to being conscious. If I focus on the wrong stuff, I screw up.

So I want to catch a ball. If I focus on my desire to catch the ball, that won't help me catch the ball. Why? Because I'm consciousness. I can't catch balls - but my good friend the body can. So I pay attention to the body. This is a little unsettling because I'm putting my trust in something that isn't me. My body isn't me.(actually, no, it isn't that unsettling, but with a different example it might be).

My body is good at catching balls though. Part learned, but natural. So I just let it. How? By focusing on the sensation without trying to make it do anything. That's good advice. Body = the machine = good at catching balls. Consciousness = I = never caught a ball.

I don't know how MBTI fits into this, but maybe it does.
 

Bamboo

New member
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
2,689
MBTI Type
XXFP
Things seem kinda daydreamish . . . when I'm high. . . But I never feel as alive as I do when my heart is beating 180 bpm, every muscle in my body is on fire, my lungs are searing, and I feel like I'm going to puke. Hooray for physical sensation bringing me back to reality.

Don't you know, combine them.

When.. erm.. in that state, I feel everything and can't help but stick to the present moment in my thoughts. I feel textures and see colors more vividly. If that's what sensors feel like all the time, then.. wow.

YOU MEAN WHEN YOU DO ILLEGAL DRUGS??? :shock:

I don't know, being high wasn't that weird to me so maybe it's true. But it isn't. It's like that for everyone*.


*except for some people.
 
Top