Presence is one of the themes that runs through Nectar of Time. Below is everything in the Nectarium that touches on it.
Where it comes up 12
Within this theme 16
Concepts 4
- Social Media Addiction
Ian argues it is still culturally acceptable to spend all day on Instagram in a way it isn't to drink whiskey for six hours, and predicts it will enter the DSM. People know it's a problem…
- Distraction as Addiction
Tamir's idea that distraction works like a drug. The more you distract yourself, the harder you hit existential dread on the comedown, while distracting yourself less brings an inner…
- Presence
Living in the present moment. Sheela opens by saying time becomes nectar only in the present, and that people always choose the past or the future 'never where they should be looking'…
- Digital slavery
Tamir's term for being captured by phones and the internet so that presence feels unattainable. He asks Sheela how people can be freed from it.
Books 1
- The Power of Now
Tolle's book on presence. Tamir mentions it to show how much of our lives we actually spend living in the past through rumination and memory, which is why Tolle wrote a whole book about…
People 2
- Tamir Barzilai
Host of the Nectar of Time podcast; in this second official episode he shares his own path back into fiction via a pandemic book club and Haruki Murakami.
- Eckhart Tolle
Spiritual teacher and author of The Power of Now, mentioned in passing in the discussion of living in the past.
Quotes 3
Sometimes when I'm alone at night and there's that brief silence in between videos, something comes over me and I just feel like crying. Sometimes I do.
I can sit and philosophize, if somebody will, that's not a problem. But I rather sit and enjoy the Sonnenuntergang outside my window.
For me time becomes nectar only when you are in presence, present moment.
Insights 2
- Distraction's crash is existential dread
Like any addiction, the dread on the comedown is as deep as the distraction was high. Distracting yourself less brings a more unified sense of who you are and your place in the world.
- Stillness is now frightening
The black screen between Netflix episodes, where you briefly see your own reflection and ask 'what am I doing?', has become one of the scariest moments for many people. Streaming has nearly…
Practices 2
- Create your own spirituality, don't compare
Don't envy meditators or follow spiritual fashion. Take care of your own responsibilities and the desires you need to fulfill, don't compare yourself to others, and let spiritual people 'be…
- Meditation as training for silence
Sit quietly with your eyes closed and stay with your thoughts. Expect to last only a few minutes at first and to feel restless. Treat it as a skill that grows with practice against a…
Stories 1
- Logan's first attempts at meditation
Raised online with a 'partially fried' brain, Logan couldn't sit in silence for more than a couple of minutes when he started meditating a few years ago before getting restless and edgy. It…
Films, music and art 1
- Seinfeld
Tamir uses the sitcom to argue that even complainers can be likeable when they're authentic: you wouldn't hire any of them, but you might be friends with them or write them into a story, as…