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Originally Posted by artman  he is stuck in the present. he has no sense of time. he is in the present but ultimately lost. so how is being in the present such a good thing? |
Well, artman, you are pushing the analogy a little to far. The guy has the mental illness. His problem is not being happy or stuck. His problem is not having a choice about remembering the past. And all the inconvenience it causes him or the people around him.
The usual talk of being in the present applies to people who have that choice. And often people choose to stay exlusively in the past or in the future. And not in the best parts of it. Using your terms, they are stuck in some bad moment in the past and don't notice the good world around them. In this respect they are in a worse position than the guy you write about.
The exercises that aim to put us in the now, have the goal to break this pattern, to give back the choice to the people. Personally, I think that being stuck is bad, no matter where you stuck. I think that people should strive to increase the number of options available to them in every area of the life.