Live Quality
Life is both the old and new together, simultaneously – old because the whole past is present in the present moment; new because the whole future is potentially present in the present moment. The present moment is a culmination of the whole past and the beginning of the whole future. In this moment, all that has happened is hidden, and all that is going to happen is also hidden. Each moment is past and future both, a convergence of past and future. So something is old and something is new, and if you can become aware of both together, you will have sharpness and roots both together.
It depends on you – how you look at life. If you see the constant change, flux-like, the great whirlwind – like movement all around you, the dynamism of life, each moment the old disappearing and the new coming in; if you can see the continuous birth, if you can see God’s hand continuously creating, then you will be enchanted, thrilled.
If you are sharp and aware then only you will find – Life is constantly renewing itself; not even for a single moment is it the same. If it appears the same to us, that simply shows that we have missed seeing the change that has happened. Maybe the change was too fast and we could not see it; maybe the change was so quick, and we were not alert — we were asleep. Maybe we were occupied with something else. That’s what is happening: because the mind is constantly occupied with the past or with the future, it goes on missing the change that is happening right now.
Everything is changing. Trees are growing, so are the mountains; rivers are flowing and so are the mountains. Everything is in a flow – nothing is stagnant. The child is growing, the young man is becoming old, the old is moving every moment into death. Death is becoming life, and life is becoming death; day’s turning into night and the night is turning into day. It is constant – the wheel goes on moving, but we go on missing it because we are never herenow; hence the boredom. We think everything is the same.
Life can become a celebration, but one has to see the newness, the constant renewing energy of life. Each moment it brings something new into existence which was never before and will never be again. Each moment the old disappears and the new is born. Only in meditation can one see it, because in meditation one becomes unoccupied.
That is the definition of meditation: to become unoccupied, to be empty, not to be occupied at all. And these are the two occupations: the past and the future. The moment you are not occupied you are out of time; then you are herenow, in this immediate moment. And when eyes open to this immediate moment, it is simply unbelievably beautiful. It is a constant wonder. There are surprises and surprises at each step, with each breath. Then life takes on a new color, a new vigor. Then you are also fresh, because nothing ever gets old.
To remain in this freshness is to be spiritual. Then one is always young. Even in death one is young, even in dying one is fresh. Even the moment of death will bring only new surprises, that’s all. New doors will open, new mysteries will be revealed. Then life is a joy, and death too.
This is the alchemy of transforming life. So start becoming more and more unoccupied and available to the present.
