Where the Value Truly Is
Donde está el verdadero valor
The teacher reflects on how we come to recognize that what is most valuable is always found in the present moment, not in imagined adventures.
Where the Value Truly Is
The teacher reflects on how we come to recognize that what is most valuable is always found in the present moment, not in imagined adventures.
A great wine always had value, but the first time you taste it, especially if you're young, it's sour. Your taste buds aren't ready. Then you discover there is so much value in good wine. There is so much value in really present, intimate conversation and relationship. There is so much value in very slow, intimate lovemaking, compared to what the mind imagined as sexual adventures and romantic escapades. There is an acquired taste, and what it amounts to is realizing where the value truly is.
The value is always now
What I'm pointing to is that the value, ultimately, is now. Now is always in whatever is happening now. And then we can fall in love with it. By seeing the value, and by seeing how much more valuable it is than anything we imagine, there is beauty there, and in that beauty we fall in love.
I think that's relevant, and I think I understand. I think I know the answer, but there's a question around "chopping wood and carrying water."
It is relevant. Before awakening, you chop wood and carry water, and it's miserable. It's the right metaphor because that's what monks were instructed to do. It's cold, and you have to go out into the wilderness and chop wood and carry water, and it's miserable. Then, after awakening, you chop wood and carry water, and it's beautiful. The activity is the same. The experience is the same.
Just like the wine is the same.
Exactly.