here now

The enlightened way of being comes to us when we are rooted in the present moment, here and now. It is only this immediate world that has the taste of reality; which can be perceived directly, without thought. Ordinarily, our awareness, our feeling of reality, is rather distorted, stuck to our thinking process. And thoughts are never immediate. They are never of the here and now.

Have you noticed this? When something catches your eye – a beautiful flower, a butterfly – for a fraction of a second there is no thought. There is a direct perception of what is. This is reality. And then a moment later a thought comes in, “How beautiful!” or “This flower reminds me of when I was young.”

The mind, which is making associations, bringing up memories of the past, and then projecting things into the future; this thinking mind takes us away from what is here, now. And with it, the intensity of life disperses, is lost.

In the enlightened state, memories, thoughts, ideas for the future, hopes, expectations, desires, regrets, sorrows; these things carry no weight any more. They are not felt as the abode of truth. We do not look for reality in these things. Instead, having come to that still point within us, our centre, our essence, from here we feel the moment, intensely; this moment, now, here, without distraction from the past and future, these strange creations of the thinking mind.

Residing with what is here, now, we come to love life as it is. We come to appreciate existence flowing around us, through us, as us, right now. And with this, with this rooting in the here and now, our struggles and worries can drop away and life becomes effortless. For effort is all to do with the future. And fears drop away too. For fears, anxieties, worries, they are also regarding the future. Let the future disperse into the imaginary realm from whence it came. Come back to the present moment, now.

In this moment, here, now, what is lacking? Nothing is lacking. Anyone who asks this question honestly, in the moment, will feel this; This completeness within oneself, in the here and now.