The Now
We can constantly remind ourselves of present moment.
The power that the present moment possesses, as many people now believe, is its reality. To be in the now means that you are not distracted by memories of the past or expectations about the future. You dwell instead on whatever is right in front of you, applying mental clarity, alertness, and your full attention. Simple enough — until one looks deeper. Young children live in the now. Are they better off for it, considering the years of maturation that lie ahead to bring about full-fledged adulthood? The elderly suffering from dementia typically have severe memory loss, forcing them to live only in the passing moment, and this condition becomes confusing and blank, not to mention a source of distress.
In fact, for the ego the now is a threat, because it potentially contains the unknown. Always feeling insecure deep down, the ego protects itself from the threat of the unknown by denial or distraction or converting the now into something old and familiar.
Therefore, the power of now resides only outside the ego, and since the ego is a product of time and an artificial mental construct, to live in the now means escaping from the bondage of time and the repetitive activity of the mind. No matter what your mind is doing at this moment, it is removing you from the now. To live in the present moment isn’t attained through thinking, feeling, acting, or doing anything else associated with the active mind.
Instead, living in the present moment involves consciousness. Most people equate consciousness with the mind, but consciousness is actually the source and origin of the mind before any activity, even the slightest thought, arises. Consciousness has been called the screen on which the mind throws images, a metaphor that goes back to Plato and his teaching of light throwing shadows on the wall of a cave. In this metaphor, to pay attention to the shadow play is illusory. Only by turning around and seeing the light directly does one confront reality.
Up to now, you’ll notice that living in the present moment has become increasingly abstract and even metaphysical. Why can’t it be a simple matter of being here now, to use a pop phrase from the seventies? It can be a simple matter if you go about it the right way. All that is needed is a shift of attention to your sense of self. At any given moment, no matter what is going on mentally “in here” or physically “out there,” the experience is happening to the self, and therefore a sense of self is blended into every experience.
