Our life is about a string of moments in time. So often we stand in our unhappiness trying to improve a future moment. The problem is that this moment is where we are creating what we call our “future.”
Most people are looking toward a future time for pleasure and a feeling of satisfaction, but very few experience it in the NOW. Yet NOW is the only time that exists. What you are being, living, thinking and feeling in the present moment will determine your happiness. It also determines how much time you will spend on worrying about the future.
Point of power
Think of your present moment as your Point of Power, because it is the only point where you can exercise your full power. For most of us the present moment exists only as mental concept. If there is such a place where all the creative forces of the universe come together, how do we know it is the present moment? What evidence is there that this is true?
Consider this; all your hopes for the future and even your memories of the past can happen only in the present moment. The present moment is that one point where everything comes together.
When does life start? When does it end? When do cause and effect take place? When is it that we meet every challenge? When are problems born and when are they resolved? When do we feel pain? When are we healed? This all happens in the present moment. We have been taught that those moments are separate from each other, but in truth, they all take place in the now. No matter what happens in life, it is always now, then now, then now – always in the present moment.
Dr Robert Anthony argues that nothing exists outside of the now. “Nothing ever happened in the past. – It happened in the Now. Nothing will ever happen in the future – It will happen in the Now.”
When you think of the past it is stored in the mind as a former now. And, when you think about the past, when do you do it? – You do it now. When the future comes – it comes in the now. And, when you think about the future, when do you do it? – You do it now. The past and the future have no realities of their own. Their realities are “borrowed” from the NOW.
The insanity of future time
Ideologies such as communism, socialism or any other type of “ism”, as well as rigid religious beliefs systems, operate from the assumption that the highest good for all lies in the future when happiness, fulfillment, equality, liberation, etc. will be attained.
Often, the means of getting there involves enslavement, torture and murder of the people in the present to create a better future. For example, Dr Anthony reveals, under the rule of Communism, 50 million people were murdered in Russia and China to bring about a “better world.” This is a chilling example of how a belief in the future can create a present hell.
“The truth is that all unhappiness is caused by denial of the present. We think our problems and unhappiness are caused by our situations in life, but attachment to the past and future and denial of the now is the real problem.” Ultimately then, there is only one problem in life – not living in the now.
Answers come in the now
Perhaps you are seeking answers to your questions or problems. Notice that sometimes you receive your answer, but most of the time you do not. Why? Because you are not in the present moment when the answer arrives. “Anytime your mind is out of the present moment you cannot receive the answer you need from Higher Intelligence.”
The answer can come in many ways and at any time, but it will always come in the present moment. If we spend most of our time regretting and living in the past or worrying about the future, we place ourselves OUT of the present moment where all creativity and answers take place.
Our ‘Point of Power’ can only exist in the present moment. We create from this moment whether the materialisation appears instantly or later as a complex event. However, all creation takes place in the NOW. “If we really understand this truth, we will have an inexhaustible supply of usable energy at our command.”
It is only our thoughts, attitudes and emotions in the moment that have power. It is not what happened to us in the past that that keeps us from living a successful and happy life in the present. It is how tightly we hold on to that past by reliving its trauma and drama in our present moment. When we constantly worry and re-examine the past in order to discover what is wrong with the present, we reinforce the same thought process that will create exactly that which we are trying to escape.
Trouble living in the now
The mind habitually resists the now because it cannot remain in control in the present moment. It only knows about your past personal history and the cumulative mind-set you inherited. In order for the mind to remain in control, it must continuously seek to cover up the present moment with the only thing it knows – the past.
If you are constantly focusing on the past or future, you are not in control of your mind. You are not using your mind; your mind is using you. More than likely, you do not even know that you are its slave. It is like being possessed without knowing it.
If you find it difficult to live in the NOW, try this: Take a moment and just observe the habitual tendency of your mind wanting to escape the now. You will observe that the future usually looks better or worse than the present. If your imagined future looks better, it gives you hope, pleasure and anticipation. If it looks worse, it creates more anxiety. Yet, both are illusions.
Inner and outer purpose
Dr Anthony believes that our journey has an outer purpose and an inner purpose. The outer purpose is to arrive at your goal or destination – to accomplish what you desire, to achieve what you want, which of course, implies the future.
But if your destination or your future takes up so much of your attention that it becomes more important than what is happening now, then you completely miss the inner journey’s purpose. Your inner journey’s purpose has nothing to do with WHERE you are going or WHAT you are doing, but everything to do with the NOW. It has nothing to do with the future.
If you do not understand your inner purpose you will ultimately fail at your outer purpose. Keep in mind that the outer purpose is just a game that you may continue to play because you enjoy it. And often you may fail along the way – but it does not matter if you self-correct.
Ultimately EVERY outer purpose is doomed to “fail” sooner or later, because nothing in life is permanent. Everything must change sooner or later.
The sooner you realise that your outer purpose cannot give you lasting fulfilment, the better. Once you see the limitations of your outer purpose, you can give up the unrealistic expectation that it can make you happy. More importantly, you make it subservient to your inner purpose.
The key is to have your dwelling place in the NOW and pay brief visits to your past and future when required. By saying “yes” to the present moment and surrendering to WHAT IS, you will notice how life suddenly starts working for you instead against you.
LIVE in the present moment, but know that you are creating your future in this moment. What you are looking for is balance in your thinking. In other words, living in the present moment while giving thought to something you desire and expecting it.
BY CAPT SAM ADDAIH (RTD)