My Sunday Thought for 12042016: Living in the Now

"We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between an all-powerfully causative past and an absorbingly important future."

-- Alan W. Watts (1915-1973), interpreter of Eastern philosophy

For me, living in the now means living between the ticks of a clock. It means an ability to focus on the air as its being beaten into submission by the wings of a bee, or to simply pick a point of water as it approaches in a fast moving stream, and follow as it passes and continues out of sight. Even before his death in 1973, Alan Watts rightly understood that our culture had lost touch with the present, the now. We were fully absorbed in creating better, faster, easier, less expensive; a disposable life for our disposable world. If you don't believe me, I'm sure there's an app for it.

We move much faster than in Allan's day. I'm sure online dating, email, texting, and other technological ills of mass impersonal communication weren't even dreams in his time. Our ability to link to the internet at our local coffee shop means that, even when we take a break from our hectic day, we never really take a break. We find ourselves constantly on the move, constantly accelerating through our lives of which there is so precious little.

"Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!"

-- The White Rabbit (1865), "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

Do you use a calculator, or do you do the math in your head or on paper? Do you use spell check or the dictionary? Grammar Check, The Essential Writer's Companion (mine's the 1997 edition), or Roget's A-Z Thesaurus? When was the last time you read a book and actually caught all of the spelling, punctuation, and grammatical mistakes in it? It seems large publishing houses don't spend money proofing an author like they used to, and let's not even get started on newspapers. The news industry would be better served to learn how to be ethical journalists before they work on their proofing and grammar. Today's journalism is a journey back in time to the late 1800's and "yellow journalism" which was more fiction than fact and was soon distrusted by the public. We are not to be bothered thinking for ourselves and separating truth from bullshit, that's what we have governments, universities, and machines for, right? Why do we try to struggle with independent thought when we can allow ourselves to be programmed?  Kind of makes you think, doesn't it?

We have become so busy in our jobs, our leisure, our family and friends, we have no time to watch the moon long enough to see it move between branches of a tree, much less watch the night sky long enough to find the planets. We never sit and try to see the beating wings of a hummingbird. We never try to live between the moments, much less in them. We are too busy trying to become, when we should simply - be.

"All the Buddhas of all the ages have been telling you a very simple fact: Be – don’t try to become. Within these two words, be and becoming, your whole life is contained. Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance."

-- Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (1931-1990), guru, spiritual teacher

"Where do you have to be that is more important than you are right now, this very second?" This is the question I often put to my PTSD group, at the medical center, when I meet with them each Sunday morning. Inevitably, someone will mention watching the television, reading a book, and the like. I excuse them to go on about their preferred business. They usually either stay or return, which opens their eyes and is a lesson to the group. The more important question is why we feel we need to be somewhere else, and is it a valid or simply a desire to escape the now, where we belong?

Where we want to be is much different than where we know we have to be, or should be, at this very second.  Many times, where we have to be is really where we want to be, we just haven't wrapped our minds around the fact that neither really matters - wherever we go, there we are.  One who pays attention usually finds we are where we are for a reason.  Where I am, how I got there, what I'm doing there, when I can leave, are all questions of lesser importance to why I am there, and why I am there is insignificant to the fact that I am.  Next time you get on the elevator and press the button for the first floor, but the elevator takes you up to the third floor, maybe you should get off and see what's happening.  Life might have brought you there for cause.  You might need to witness something, or someone, or they might need to witness you.

Life is now.

There was never a time when your life was not now, 

nor will there ever be.

-- Eckhart Tolle, spiritual teacher and author

When we look at the world around us, what do we really see? We look at flowers in a garden, oh how pretty, but have we seen how absolutely marvelous they are... up close? We look at a beautiful woman and admire her great legs, but do we see the tell-tale signs of physical or mental abuse, the cries for help screaming from her eyes? We look at the children playing in the street, but do we see their hunger and the mom working two or three jobs? Do we ever truly stop to smell the roses, or do we simply look as we pass by? Do we ever wonder why it's important to pay attention?

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.

-- Henry David Thoreau

Living in the now means living in it all. It means we don't get to pick and choose what comes at us, but we have to take life as it comes, in the moment. We have to take the bad, of which there is so much, and learn to stop and enjoy the happiness and beauty which might come our way. We tend to look at the ugliness more than we see the beauty and happiness within it, for even in the ugly we can find a beauty which can inspire. We need to force ourselves to stop, focus, and see the wonders of the world, good and bad.

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. 

If you are attentive, you will see it.

-- Thich Nhat Hahn, Zen master, Buddhist monk, poet

Why does it benefit us to live our lives with blinders on?  Why do we have to be led, like sheep to slaughter, by those we elect to protect us, and why do we need protection when we are all perfectly capable?  Why does it benefit us to rush forward and miss the beauty of life around us?  Why do we live everywhere, every time, except in the now in which we belong?  Why do we feel we can move forward on our path if we can't even stop and deal with our present?  Why do we think we can imagine a future if we can't even see the facts of our present with our own eyes?  Why?

As you move forward through your busy life, try to take a moment, smell the roses, be attentive and see the world around you, and ask learn to ask yourself, "Why?"  Why am I here, now?  Why do I have to be somewhere that is so much more important, and if it truly is, why am I not there instead of here?

No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.

-- Alan W. Watts

Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider another viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 23 years with United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and senior manager. Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to the intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, in the guise of the Congregation's official, online, blog, "The Path," of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteers as lead chaplain at a regional medical center.