This week, I read chapter five of The Power of Now.

Many years ago, I remember trying to formulate words to ask an intelligent question to a well-respected Christian homeschool author and teacher and mentor. I began with: “Can we ever reach that point…” but she didn’t even allow me time to explain what I was thinking before she cut me off with “NO!” I remember feeling humiliated.

What I was feeling was “Is there hope? Will there ever be time, even a moment when I am at peace?”

And this spiritual elder told me no.

I wrote briefly about seeking that confidence in faith here.

That was the beginning of the end for me with that side of American evangelical Christianity. I always knew deep down in my soul that there was something more, something different than what was shallowly preached from pulpits and Sunday school by mediocre white men and women.

I began reading and seeking and trusting my inner self for guidance toward Being. I have come such a long way and it’s so encouraging to find like-minded spiritual siblings and elders who don’t just dismiss what they will never understand.

Chapter Five: The State of Presence

Favorite quotes:

What is the power of Now? None other than the power of your presence, your consciousness liberated from thought forms.

“Be like a servant waiting for the return of the master,” says Jesus. The servant does not know at what hour the master is going to come. So he stays awake, alert, poised, still, lest he miss the master’s arrival. In another parable, Jesus speaks of the five careless (unconscious) women who do not have enough oil (consciousness) to keep their lamps burning (stay present) and so miss the bridegroom (the Now) and don’t get to the wedding feast (enlightenment). These five stand in contrast to the five wise women who have enough oil (stay conscious).

Even the men who wrote the Gospels did not understand the meaning of these parables, so the first misinterpretations and distortions crept in as they were written down. With subsequent erroneous interpretations, the real meaning was completely lost. These are parables not about the end of the world but about the end of psychological time. They point to the transcendence of the egoic mind and the possibility of living in an entirely new state of consciousness.

Presence is needed to become aware of the beauty, the majesty, the sacredness of nature.

To become aware of such things, the mind needs to be still. You have to put down for a moment your personal baggage of problems, of past and future, as well as all your knowledge; otherwise, you will see but not see, hear but not hear. Your total presence is required.

Because we live in such a mind-dominated culture, most modern art, architecture, music, and literature are devoid of beauty, of inner essence, with very few exceptions. The reason is that the people who create those things cannot — even for a moment — free themselves from their mind.

Since Being, consciousness, and life are synonymous, we could say that presence means consciousness becoming conscious of itself, or life attaining self-consciousness.

Everything that exists has Being, has God-essence, has some degree of consciousness.

The parable [of the Prodigal Son] describes a journey from unconscious perfection, through apparent imperfection and “evil” to conscious perfection.

Through you, consciousness is awakening out of its dream of identification with form and withdrawing from form. This foreshadows, but is already part of, an event that is probably still in the distant future as far as chronological time is concerned. The event is called — the end of the world.

The collective egoic mind is the most dangerously insane and destructive entity ever to inhabit this planet. What do you think will happen on this planet if human consciousness remains unchanged?

If it weren’t for alcohol, tranquilizers, antidepressants, as well as the illegal drugs, which are all consumed in vast quantities, the insanity of the human mind would become even more glaringly obvious than it is already. I believe that, if deprived of their drugs, a large part of the population would become a danger to themselves and others. These drugs, of course, simply keep you stuck in dysfunction. Their widespread use only delays the breakdown of the old mind structures and the emergence of higher consciousness. While individual users may get some relief from the daily torture inflicted on them by their minds, they are prevented from generating enough conscious presence to rise above thought and so find true liberation.

Christ is your God-essence or the Self, as it is sometimes called in the East. The only difference between Christ and presence is that Christ refers to your indwelling divinity regardless of whether you are conscious of it or not, whereas presence means your awakened divinity or God-essence.

Jesus attempted to convey directly, not through discursive thought, the meaning of presence, of self-realization.

The “second coming” of Christ is a transformation of human consciousness, a shift from time to presence, from thinking to pure consciousness, not the arrival of some man or woman.

If “Christ” were to return tomorrow in some externalized form, what could he or she possibly say to you other than this: “I am the Truth. I am divine presence. I am eternal life. I am within you. I am here. I am Now.”

Avatars, divine mothers, enlightened masters, the very few that are real, are not special as persons. Without a false self to uphold, defend, and feed, they are more simple, more ordinary than the ordinary man or woman. Anyone with a strong ego would regard them as insignificant or, more likely, not see them at all.

Egos are drawn to bigger egos. Darkness cannot recognize light. Only light can recognize light.

I love that I can glimpse The Now and Being more and more as I mature in my faith.

I love experiencing the Holy in Nature. I love that still quietness that settles my mind and relieves my stresses of everyday life.

I love watching my children in awe. I made them yet they are their own Selves.

I love that soul swell when someone is kind and I can return that kindness.

I am proud to be Insignificant and less and less Ego as I turn toward the Light.

This is a season of stresses, so many ups and downs.

I find it difficult to sit and be still and not worry about the future or regret the past.

What’s the difference between change and transformation?

Many of us make new year’s resolutions or go to therapy, hoping to change our habits. But that’s just conditioning and often doesn’t stick beyond a few weeks.

Then there’s inner transformation and it’s really much more difficult. There seems to be a lot of resistance to real metamorphosis.

I feel bombarded by outside influences all the time, every day. It takes so much effort to quiet my mind and realize that so much conflict is not about me, I shouldn’t take it personally. While I have responsibilities and duty, I know I must take time to meditate for renewal and self-care to protect myself so I can continue to serve my family.

Chapter Four: Mind Strategies for Avoiding the Now

Favorite quotes:

To be free of time is to be free of the psychological need of past for your identity and future for your fulfillment.

Most humans alternate not between consciousness and unconsciousness but only between different levels of unconsciousness.

What I call ordinary unconsciousness means being identified with your thought processes and emotions, your reactions, desires, and aversions. It is most people’s normal state. In that state, you are run by the egoic mind, and you are unaware of Being. It is a state not of acute pain or unhappiness but of an almost continuous low level of unease, discontent, boredom, or nervousness — a kind of background static.

In ordinary unconsciousness, habitual resistance to or denial of what is creates the unease and discontent that most people accept as normal living.

Why are you always anxious? Jesus asked his disciples. “Can anxious thought add a single day to your life?” And the Buddha taught that the root of suffering is to be found in our constant wanting and craving.

Resistance to the Now as a collective dysfunction is intrinsically connected to loss of awareness of Being and forms the basis of our dehumanized industrial civilization.

This collective dysfunction has created a very unhappy and extraordinarily violent civilization that has become a threat not only to itself but also to all life on the planet.

Make it a habit to monitor your mental-emotional state through self-observation. “Am I at ease at this moment?” is a good question to ask yourself frequently. Or you can ask: “What’s going on inside me at this moment?” Be at least as interested in what goes on inside you as what happens outside. If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Primary reality is within, secondary reality without.

The pollution of the planet is only an outward reflection of an inner psychic pollution: millions of unconscious individuals not taking responsibility for their inner space.

If you had a choice, or realized that you do have a choice, would you choose suffering or joy, ease or unease, peace or conflict? Would you choose a thought or feeling that cuts you off from your natural state of well-being, the joy of life within?

it is certainly true that when you accept your resentment, moodiness, anger, and so on, you are no longer forced to act them out blindly, and you are less likely to project them onto others.

To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it.

Are you resisting your here and now? Some people would always rather be somewhere else. Their “here” is never good enough. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences. No excuses.

Surrender is not weakness. There is great strength in it. Only a surrendered person has spiritual power.

Stress is caused by being “here” but wanting to be “there,” or being in the present but wanting to be in the future.

Is your goal taking up so much of your attention that you reduce the present moment to a means to an end? Is it taking the joy out of your doing? Are you waiting to start living?

Your life’s journey has an outer purpose and an inner purpose. The outer purpose is to arrive at your goal or destination, to accomplish what you set out to do, to achieve this or that, which, of course, implies future…the journey’s inner purpose, which has nothing to do with where you are going or what you are doing, but everything to do with how.

What is the power of Now? None other than the power of your presence, your consciousness liberated from thought forms.

We don’t have to live with excuses.

We can have freedom from unhappiness.

It’s interesting to read this book through the lens of Christianity and with the axioms of all Jesus taught, along with all the knowledge I’ve gleaned from other religious texts and teachers through the years.

There’s nothing really new in this book. It repeats and quotes and emphasizes the same concepts that have been known by spiritual masters for centuries. But I love the format and simplicity.

I am also reminded by the teachings of Richard Rohr in the two halves of life in Falling Upward. In the first half, we are often constrained by rules and outside influences. In the second half, we become more mature, more open-minded, and more able to listen to that inner stillness or be in The Now.

I am realizing more and more as I get older. I turn 46 next week! I am encouraging my teens not to sweat the small stuff. Everything is a crisis to young people! I realize how it feels to them, but that it won’t really matter in the long run. It’s a delicate balance to respect their feelings while trying to guide them into The Now.

We can escape the background static of perpetual discontent.

Other posts:

• Week One
• Week Two
• Week Three

The news has been bad this week.

I realize how difficult these lessons of living in The Now are when circumstances try to invade.

I am constantly seeking balance and trying to rest in between our busy schedule and obligations.

Chapter Three: Moving Deeply into the Now

My favorite quotes:

You have already understood the basic mechanics of the unconscious state: identification with the mind, which creates a false self, the ego, as a substitute for your true self rooted in Being. You become as a “branch cut off from the vine,” as Jesus puts it.

Here is the key: End the delusion of time. Time and mind are inseparable. Remove time from the mind and it stops — unless you choose to use it.

What you think of as the past is a memory trace, stored in the mind, of a former Now. The future is an imagined Now, a projection of the mind. When the future comes, it comes as the Now.

The reason why some people love to engage in dangerous activities, such as mountain climbing, car racing, and so on, although they may not be aware of it, is that it forces them into the Now — that intensely alive state that is free of time, free of problems, free of thinking, free of the burden of the personality.

Since ancient times, spiritual masters of all traditions have pointed to the Now as the key to the spiritual dimension. Despite this, it seems to have remained a secret. It is certainly not taught in churches and temples. If you go to a church, you may hear readings from the Gospels such as “Take no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself,” or “Nobody who puts his hands to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.” Or you might hear the passage about the beautiful flowers that are not anxious about tomorrow but live with ease in the timeless Now and are provided for abundantly by God. The depth and radical nature of these teachings are not recognized. No one seems to realize that they are meant to be lived and so bring about a profound inner transformation.

Meister Eckhart, the thirteenth-century spiritual teacher, summed it all up beautifully: “Time is what keeps the light from reaching us. There is no greater obstacle to God than time.”

The mind cannot know the tree. It can only know facts or information about the tree. My mind cannot know you, only labels, judgments, facts, and opinions about you. Being alone knows directly. There is a place for mind and mind knowledge. It is in the practical realm of day-to-day living.

Most people find it difficult to believe that a state of consciousness totally free of all negativity is possible. And yet this is the liberated state to which all spiritual teachings point. It is the promise of salvation, not in an illusory future but right here and now.

In the Bhagavad Gita, one of the oldest and most beautiful spiritual teachings in existence, nonattachment to the fruit of your action is called Karma Yoga. It is described as the path of “consecrated action.”

I feel that I need to shift my goals and focus while quieting my mind and narrowing my path to this moment.

I am impressed by the idea of psychological time and real time. This makes such sense to me and now I have a way to express what my soul knew.

It’s been a rough week with the news and my child recently broke their leg and had ankle surgery. I don’t like feeling rushed or stressed or bound by real time in stressful ways and I have felt all of that recently. I haven’t had my downtime as much as I would like. I have found it difficult to focus and be aware. I have felt unbalanced and it’s been hard to just accept circumstances. I want to fix it and heal my child and fast forward to summer.

Other posts:

• Week One
• Week Two

I’ve had a chance this week to really start putting into practice: Living in the Now.

My 14 year old broke their leg and tore the ankle ligaments at ice skating lesson and it’s been a rough time. So many doctors. Surgery scheduled. And so much disappointment with canceled events. It will be a long road to healing.

It’s been an emotional rollercoaster.

I have had to stop many times to take deep breaths and sit with my emotions and realize I am not in control. I could not prevent or change events and I shouldn’t worry about the future.

I don’t like being busy or feeling rushed.

This week is a lot of appointments and scrambling to work out schedules to accommodate the doctors visits. I have to make sure my other daughter gets to and from work and gymnastics and my son gets to baseball practices.

Chapter Two – Consciousness: The Way Out of Pain

Of course we all want to avoid pain, but sometimes it seems unavoidable.

I have to stop multiple times this week to realize that I am not in control.

What happened happened and there’s nothing I can do to change that.

I can and should control my thoughts and use my mind as a tool when needed, but I shouldn’t let it overwhelm me and cause anxiety.

Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don’t realize this because almost everybody is suffering from it, so it is considered normal.

Eckhart Tolle

Being still or quieting the mind is a lesson in almost every world religion, faith, spiritual practice. It’s not easy or widely taught.

I am trying to learn this concept of inner stillness so I can better help my children be spiritually healthy.

Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within.

Eckhart Tolle

I think Western society has its priorities all wrong. And the Western church perpetuates those values and projects those worldly ideas on to Jesus, who never taught those concepts.

We are all seeking wholeness, but we don’t really know how to achieve that.

This is the esoteric meaning of the ancient art of alchemy: the transmutation of base metal into gold, of suffering into consciousness. The split within is healed, and you become whole again. Your responsibility then is not to create further pain.

Eckhart Tolle

Our society is so, so sick and it’s odd for anyone to be truly healthy and happy.

In John 5:6, Jesus asked: “Do you want to get well?”

If you have lived closely identified with your emotional pain-body for most of your life and the whole or a large part of your sense of self is invested in it. What this means is that you have made an unhappy self out of your pain-body and believe that this mind-made fiction is who you are.

Eckhart Tolle

The biggest lie of the world is FEAR. Knowing everyone is living in fear helps me to have compassion instead of retaliating or being angry.

The number of people who have gone beyond mind is as yet extremely small, so you can assume that virtually everyone you meet or know lives in a state of fear.

Eckhart Tolle

Many faith traditions and spiritual practices have a concept of “death to ego” leading to enlightenment.

It’s really hard to relinquish ego and live in the now with responsibilities as a parent.

In the next chapter, we move more deeply into The Now.