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:
Leave a Reply