Concern Trolls

(by Garuda)

All living things are very concerned about each moment they are currently in. They view these moments through their individualized perceptions. When a tiger chases down her prey, she is focused on the moment — concerned — not somewhere in the past or future. In Buddhism, we seek the ability to view life outside of biological time, by moving our focus away from our individualized perception of each moment. This is accomplished through the practices of mindfulness and meditation.

Rama demonstrated to his students that deeper truths (dharmas) can be realized by looking beyond the current movie of our lives. He recommended humility, which is the prime ingredient necessary to diffuse the importance of our moment-to-moment drama so we can still our thoughts and meditate. Meditation allows us to step outside the constant perception that we are moving through time. Once we can do this, we see past, present, and future as one beautiful tapestry, what the Buddha referred to as the “sameness” of the three periods of time.

By stopping or ignoring thought in meditation, we dial down our habitual focus of this continuous pageantry that is life. We stop being a “concern troll” all the time. Our individual drama doesn’t always have to be our focus — it isn’t the most important thing in the universe. When you meditate and still your perceptual movie, the drama of your personality, you rise above time and experience the ecstasy of higher consciousness.