The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

Please visit our website at adioderma.org.

So, hello, and welcome to this continuing series on the insights of insight meditation.

And the topic currently is the first insight into Anitia.

Anitia is the poly word often translated as impermanence,

but in fact what it means is not constant. So in constancy,

and the difference between those two English words is impermanence is often interpreted that things will

end, that things are not permanent because some point they'll stop being there.

In constancy, in contrast, means that things are constantly changing. They come and they go.

That days are not going to stop, but individual days stop and then the day comes back. Daytime comes and

goes. Meals come and go. Breathing comes and goes. Sleep comes and goes. All kinds of things

in our life come and go and come and go and come and go breathing comes and goes

comes and goes comes and goes the heart beats uh ongoingly but each beat is an on constant sensation

in constant event a beat and it stops A beat and it stops. A beat and it stops. So it turns out that

if we don't impute permanence, if we don't get caught up in our thoughts and ideas and have ideas,

this is how it's always going to be, this is how it is.

If we don't live in that world of concepts and ideas, that it's much easier to experience

how the present moment is always changing, always in constant.

And this fascinating difference between the world of conception,

the world of ideas, the world of plans, the world of stories,

is that versus the world of direct experience is the difference between flowing down a river on a canoe

on a kayak versus sitting on the side of the shore and fantasizing about what a good kayaker I am.

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