No subject

by evaluating and using criteria and by  considering hope?
==
Yes if evaluating and considering in that moment enter into it, but  there 
is a different way. I could look back at the immediate past and see  that 
the present moment at that time was degraded. I can also see it in  other 
people. A relative of mine is always hoping for a bigger house, a nicer  car, a 
multi-million dollar win at the lottery. She doesn't enjoy where she is  at 
that moment because her attention is off in the distance.


MN131  Bhaddekaratta Sutta
> "A Single Excellent Night" as translated by  Bhikkhu Bodhi.
.... The Blessed One said this:
>
>  3.    "Let not a person revive the past
> Or on the  future build his hopes;
> For the past has been left behind
> And  the future has not been reached.
> Instead with insight let him  see
> Each presently arisen state;
> Let him know that and be sure  of it,
> Invincible, unshakeably.
> Today the effort must be  made;
> Tomorrow Death may come, who knows?
> No bargain with  Mortality
> Can keep him and his hordes away,
> But one who dwells  thus ardently,
> Relentlessly, by day, by night -
> It is he, the  Peaceful Sage has said,
> Who has had a single excellent night.  
======================
Joy: From a philosophical point of view : how  long does the present moment 
last?
I am thinking of Bergson and his theory  of duration, of the present being
pregnant with the past, of the present  existing only with regard to a past
and a future, and of time being a  synthesis, spontaneous or reflexive, e.g.
like a melody.
===
I might be mindful in that moment of a thought of something in the past  or 
of a plan for the future. But, but at that moment, there is only the  
present moment.
===
Joy: Isn't even the wish/decision to connect with a pure  undegraded 
present a
hope positioning itself in time? Not to mention what  motivates such
decision.
======
Doesn't have to be. There is a difference between chanda and tanha.  Chanda 
in Pali means intention or resolve. An example might be deciding to  walk 
across the room. There is no degrading of the present moment. Tanha  in Pali 
means desire. Desire is wanting reality to be different, in  my opinion. I 
could sit down to meditate and have the intention to keep my  attention on 
the present. This intention, chanda, does not degrade the present  moment. I 
am peaceful with my attention wandering all over the place. My job  is to 
bring my attention back to the present moment and doing so without  judgement. 
 
Nice talking with you.
 
Jack