Thich Nhat Hanh on the Present Moment
Your Appointment with Life is in the Present Moment
Where Process Theology meets Thich Nhat Hanh: Ten Points of Connection
We are different at every moment.The ancient doctrine that 'no one crosses the same river twice' is extended. No thinker thinks twice; and, to put the matter more generally, no subject experiences twice. Every moment is present in every other moment.The principle of universal relativity directly traverses Aristotle’s dictum, “A substance is not present in a subject.” On the contrary, according to this principle, an actual entity is present in other actual entities. In fact, if we allow for degrees of relevance, and for negligible relevance, we must say that every actual entity is present in every other actual entity. The philosophy of organism is mainly devoted to the task of making clear the notion of being present in another entity. Love is gentle, kind, and non-violent.It dwells upon the tender elements in the world, which slowly and in quietness operate by love; and it finds its purpose in the present immediacy of a kingdom not of this world. Love is contagious.In a process world, the quantum world, the connections between us are deep and mysterious and invisible, like sub-atomic particles that we cannot see but are nevertheless vibrating with a song that could be entitled "Be Kind to One Another." Sadly, not enough people pick up on these vibrations that are the most real part of the universe. People look at matter alone, the surface, the way we seem so disconnected and alone and in competition. We fight and throw bombs and disfigure children for a cause....We often speak of hate as a contagion. Hate is like that, a disease that spreads quickly and disfigures and kills....But in that same universe where disease and hate can spread like a virus, so can kindness. Kindness itself is a form of beauty, a beautiful contagion, one that the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead would say is the essence of the Soul of the World. So, if you happen to be diagnosed with the contagion of kindness, be very careful: you might just be multiplying happiness in the world. God is made of non-god elements.Thich Nhat Hanh says that, when we really understand a flower, we know that the flower is composed on non-flower elements: the soil, the sunshine, the water, and nutrients that nourish it. And when we really understand God, we know that God is composed of non-God elements, too, namely our own lives and feelings: indeed, the lives and feelings of all sentient beings on Earth and everywhere else in the universe. As God feels them, they become part of God's ongoing life, which means that we ourselves are part of God's ongoing life. God helps create us by giving us fresh possibilities and our own innermost desire to realize them, and we help create God by giving God our feelings. |
The world helps create God.It is as true to say that God creates the World, as that the World creates God...Thus the actuality of God must also be understood as a multiplicity of actual components in process of creation. We live in a thoroughly miraculous world.But I am a believer who is also convinced that more and more can be learned about the amazing capacities of the mind, the soul, and the spirit. If their influence on the course of events is all considered “miraculous,” then the world we inhabit is thoroughly miraculous. The events we are likely to call miracles are just the tip of the iceberg. Love begins with deep listening.In a process world, our own experience is an act of feeling the presence of others and being causally affected by them. As we feel their presence, their feelings become part of us, which means that we are partly composed of their feelings. Sometimes we do this by imagination: we imagine what it is like to be inside their skin. Sometimes we do this directly; in the immediacy of the presence we sense their moods. We can feel the suffering of others, the joys of others, the loves of others, the hatreds of others. This is deep listening. God is Deep Listening.Deep Listening can be another name for the receptive and empathic side of God, the Soul of the world. Whitehead speaks of this as the consequent nature of God, because it comes after, and is shaped by, the joys and sufferings of the world. The idea is that there is in the very nature of the universe as deep and fathomless listening who, if given the chance, might well speak the four mantras recommended by Thich Nhat Hanh: Darling, I am here for you and Darling I know you are happy and I am happy with you and Darling I know you are sad and I am sad with you and Darling I suffer, please help me. These expressions express the spirit of Emmanuel, which literally means God with us. The self is made of non-self elements.Since I am a philosopher, let me tell you a great secret of life—a soul is not a thing, it is not something which stands untouched by the events of your life. Your soul is the river of your life; it is the cumulative flow of your experience. But what do we experience? The world. Each other. So your soul is the cumulative flow of all of your relationships with everything and everyone around you. In a different image, we weave ourselves out of the threads of our relationships with everyone around us. |
Oprah Winfrey Interviews Thich Nhat Hanh
"a copy of his Living Buddha/Living Christ never leaves my bedside."
-- Oprah Winfrey
Deep Listening:
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Four Mantras:
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