The Glory of Now

On this Easter Monday morning, I step outside and the world seems magical...frost sparkling on new grass, brilliant yellow daffodils, hyacinths beginning to open. 

I take a deep in-breath and see with clarity that this moment will never happen again; that each second of our lives and the whole natural world around us, is a precious, never-to-be- repeated, glorious experience of now. Yet, I wonder, how much of this clarity of vision do I miss in my day-to-day life?

We spend so much of our lives thinking about the past and planning for the future that we are often not wholly focused on the present. We can get lost in a mind maze of busyness, rushing here or there to meet our obligations. In our down time, we are either ruminating about something or zoning out with T.V. or a cocktail to calm the "hamster wheel" of conscious thought.

Eckhart Tolle, in his book The Power of Now, calls the experience of now "that intensely alive state that is free of time, free of problems, free of thinking and free of the burden of personality."  He points out that some people love to engage in dangerous activities, such as mountain climbing, intense sports and car racing, because it forces them into the Now, where slipping away from the present moment even for a second, may mean death. 

I don't believe we have to engage in death-defying activities to enter into the now.  It is a state that most spiritual traditions teach about: Jesus said that we should not be anxious nor worry; to look at "the birds of the air "; to "consider the lilies" and how God cares for them.  Rumi, the great teacher of Sufism, said that "past and future veil God from our sight". Likewise, Buddhism focuses on meditation as a tool to reach the eternal present that enables one to let go of obsessive thoughts about the past and future and to thus transcend suffering. According to Eckhart Tolle, "the whole essence of Zen Buddhism consists in walking on the razor's edge of Now--to be so utterly, so completely present that no problem, no suffering, nothing that is not who you are in your essence, can survive in you."

So how do we begin to enter into this state of "Now" and connect with the essence of who we are?  Tolle presents a concept that for me, is a little nugget of truth that I can wrap my head around.  He suggests thinking about ourselves in terms of "the watcher" and "the thinker". The thinker is the conscious, rational mind, the part of us that is constantly chattering and busy. The watcher, on the other hand, is the eternal, still presence that is capable of observing the thinking. If we separate the two and silently observe the thinker, we begin to enter into a whole new state of awareness, one that is connected to the eternal, unchanging Presence that we call God.

Try this simple exercise to begin:

Start with observing the breath and then just watching the thoughts, rather than trying to control them. Let them drift away, like a leaf caught in the breeze. Be aware of the eternal, silent Presence within..."Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).  Meditate this way for  a few moments and then take this presence of being with you, observing the world with fresh, alert eyes that are wholly focused on each precious moment. Use the conscious mind, but don't let it control you...be aware of it and thankful for it, but not immersed in its chatter. 

 Practice mindfulness throughout the day,
continually bringing the mind back to the now moment. 
Let go of the past and do not be anxious about the future... be here now