Keith: Living in the moment is what keeps us grounded, is what-humans, that's what from which we came is living in the moment. We have no choice. We're probably genetically coded toward living in the moment, and if we throw that away, then we as a society, I think, are in big trouble. Steve: I think that's a very good point. Is that what you would like to have your students focus on here, is perhaps some common messages in the three pieces that you have asked them to read? I certainly agree, I think it's one thing to sacrifice immediate gratification of one's desires, but it's another thing to be excessive in the pursuit of yet a bigger house, yet a bigger car, plastic surgery, all of the excesses of modern society. Are those some of the things that you want your sixteen-, seventeen-year-olds to look at here, and are you going to be challenging them to give their views on their reaction to this in writing? How are you going to have them interact with these documents?
Keith: I'd like them to look at each piece of text, and first of all, find out how that individual advocates, or how each author advocates, living in the moment. What is the connection? What is what they're saying, or how is what they' re saying, associated with living in the moment? Next, after that, I would like the student to look at their lives, and do they, first of all, live in the moment? Second of all, if they do, in what ways do they live in the moment? And if they do not live in the moment, I want them to look at why is it? What influences in their lives cause them or force them not to live in the moment. So whether it be peer pressure to be someone or do things that are not grounded, whether it be partying all the time, whether it be teenage excesses, basically, is what I'm looking at, and what is causing them to be that way. And then second of all, is living in the moment something which everybody should strive for, at least at some part, during some points in their daily life, their weekly life, their existence. So it's an internal look at who they are, where they are, and how living in the moment applies to themselves. Steve: David, as someone, again, of a different generation than I am, how do you react to living in the moment, where-in which ways do you live in the moment, in which ways do you not live in the moment?
David: Of course, when I was younger, living in the moment was-took precedence over everything else, schoolwork and working. But as I get older, it's just not a practical thing to concentrate on. Work is what you need to do, and living in the moment is something that is sometimes unavailable at the end of the day. And, I really don't know how this particular philosophy has any utility in today's world. Can this be applied to the way people live today, and how can they do it when they have to work so hard, so often, and have so little time?
Steve: I think there's two issues here. When we say "live in the moment," you could argue-you made reference to teenagers partying. You could say that when they're partying all the time, all day and all night, they're living in the moment. But I think what I hear you saying is that it's-you want people to enjoy the simpler benefits that are life-with friends, with family, in nature, all the things that we can appreciate without doing things to excess. Appreciating-I mean, I made reference to plastic surgery, which is all the rage now in California or whatever-it's just appreciating ourselves for what we are, the way we are. I think there's an element there of simplicity that's the message, not necessarily the idea that, you know, "Hang the consequences, I'm going to get drunk tonight." I don't think it's that kind of "live in the moment," so maybe you could qualify that a little better. Maybe it comes out in the text that you have given the students.
Keith: Well, yeah. As you say, getting out, drinking, partying as a teenager is not the living in the moment I advocate or see when I'm talking about living in the moment. Keith: Myself, I see living in the moment, which hangs on family, for me. I look at my five-year-old and my twenty-month-old, and that's living in the moment. Enjoying their laughter, enjoying the time I spend with them, that's living in the moment. That's so precious, money can't buy that. That is the ultimate living in the moment, with your children.
