Saturday, April 16, 2011

Charles goes Zen

Now done with the presentation of his dissertaton-- another step in "the beginning of the end" of the long process of getting a Ph.D. at the prestigious Seoul National University-- my buddy Charles describes how he chose to embrace the present moment:

I’ve spent so much of my life looking forward to things. That’s not to say that anticipation is wrong—but I think living in the future is. The only time I have is now, this moment. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow exists only in the abstract. And so, as I sat on that train, I decided I was going to embrace the now, for better or for worse. That moment is still fresh enough that I can remember what it felt like, and I’m glad I can still feel it as I write this.

Go read the rest.


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2 comments:

Charles said...

I realize that the idea is nothing new--and I've even written about it before--but it's one thing to understand it and a completely different thing to experience it.

Kevin Kim said...

I haven't been through what you're going through, but I believe you. Insights cease to be hollow aphorisms when confirmed-- reified-- by experience.