Thursday January 14, 2009

Good Morning!

Being Present

As we prepare for our "Spiritual Journey", we have been going through the many things we need to bring along, and somethings we leave behind. Today I would like to mention "Being Present", or more aptly put, "Being in the Moment".

The word present spiritually speaking almost always has a double meaning, as do most concepts of an esoteric nature. There is being present or being in the moment, as in here and now, a moment in time, as in attendance. There is also the more personal meaning of a gift, as in your being (a) present here is a gift to me or a gift from the cosmos or the Creator. We speak of being in the moment as if it were a foreign idea, as if only you would study the worlds most profound writings would you cull the mean. This is arrogant and further from the truth than you can imagine. We all live in the moment, we all just don't do it knowingly or often enough. It is the same as hitting a whole in one if you golf or if you are playing tennis and you just get your ball to the line. Unless you know how you did it, and do it consistently you never learn to hone your skill. The same with your spiritual performance, unless you understand how you get and stay present in your life and in the lives of the people you love, and get to this place often enough, it never has the desired result or impact.

There is no question that the world's religions and philosophies all recommend living in the moment with full awareness. Zen Buddhism especially is known for emphasis on "nowness". Other faiths and teachers urge us to make the most of every opportunity that comes our way as to not squander these precious moments that may never come again. There is this rubric about a traditional spiritual exercise of "practicing in the presence of the Creator. This means recognizing that the Universe is here, even now moving through our everyday activities, no matter how trivial or mundane.

This contrasts with the other two alternatives of living in the present, that being living in the past and living in the future. We live in the past when we hold on to regrets, constantly reviewing and second guessing things we have already done, often explaining these in terms of own or worse, someone else's actions. This kind of thinking often leads to guilt and blame. While living in the future causes us to loose our grip on realty and fantasize about what could be, and owning these unrealistic dreams. This becomes your new realty which leads to disappointment and dissatisfaction with what would normally be a happy, useful life. Whether we are obsessed with positive expectations (optimism) or negative projections (pessimism), we are not living in the moment.

When you find yourself constantly reacting to your experiences in one of these ways, when you always want to be otherwise and elsewhere, it is time to be present. The companion to this practice is contentment, being present and appreciative of ones life.

I love this oft quoted phrase, " Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, that is why it is called the present"! Succinct and to the point, and as with most spiritual quotes loaded with subliminal meaning that it would take many posts to ferret out the subtleties.