Living In The Now

Living in the Now

Our true home is in the present moment. To live in the present moment is a miracle.

The miracle is not to walk on water;  The miracle is to walk on the green Earth In the present moment.

[It is] to appreciate the peace and beauty that are Available now… Peace is all around us–

In the world and in nature– and within us– In our bodies and spirits.

Once we learn to touch this peace, we will be healed and transformed.  It is not a matter of faith, it is a matter of practice.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Cited in Prayers for Healing

As the wisest among us, East and West, declare we only have the NOW… The constructs of time and place are always changing, always fluid… From the times and places of Heraclitus, we are constantly re-discovering that the true value of time is in the measurement of our wisdom, our love, our compassion, and our desire for equality and justice. All other attainments are, at best, secondary. 

The now is what we can be responsible for, as we cannot redo the past, nor can we fully anticipate and plan for in a fully knowing way, what lies ahead of us… The Buddhist teach about “this Present Moment” and the value of staying present… staying open, aware, and receptive without judgment to whatever this present moment has for us; be a blessings or sense of peace and contentment or a crisis of some making that calls us to a heartfelt attentiveness until it is resolved.

What I surmise the beloved teacher of Theravada wisdom is offering us is to gently dis-engage from the world of accomplishment; and the myriad of external ways our attention can be captured. Instead, we are to, seek to arrive and then maintain a sense of living in the NOW, and seeing that as a miracle; a blessing; a place of peace and calm.

The caveat he adds at the end is a warning to any spiritual aspirant who thinks or who feels that this is a quick attainment, or that after some measure of time one can adeptly move into this contemplative space/place. I see it as the exercise of a lifetime… 

For me, it is constant practice… One that I fail at often and regularly, but nonetheless attempt diligently to find or realize. What Thich Nhat Hanh recommends and teaches finds its close parallel in Centering Prayer, and other meditative practice East and West. That universality attests to its validity. I can only trust that with enough diligent practice, I will reach glimmers of this ideal state of mind/heart.