The present moment: It's all in the here and the now. It’s almost paradoxical how, this, is at once the simplest and the most complex. It’s simple because it’s a super sensible and rational concept. Every moment is the present, so can we focus all our energies on the here and now; no brainer, right? Complex because, by the very nature of our being…… existing in a framework of time, with full awareness of a beginning and an end, the present carries within it all the moments of the past and the need of the future.
When Ekhart Tolle says, I’ve spent a lot of time with great Zen masters….. all of them cats; he’s essentially talking of their ability to be in the present. And in that context he says there’s so much to learn from every flower or tree or animal.
But then, the human is said to be the highest in the process of evolution; It takes a tree, a flower, a cat, thousands, no millions of lives to reach human. In the process what we've earned is a mind, a mind whose essence is to think, to reason…… so it’s the cat and the flower in terms of presence, but as human, its getting there and being there by choice. A present by choice.
Meditation is not about shutting off thought. It’s not just about quieting the mind.
It’s about knowing yourself...getting to that heightened degree of self awareness, from the within and the without.
It’s not for nothing that people call it ‘the monkey mind’. There’s so much chatter there, so much drama that arises out of the humdrum of life, from the baggage of the past and the want or fear of the future. It’s about quieting the unnecessary chatter.... getting to a quiet space.....a space which allows awareness.
Here Ekhart Tolle quotes a nice little story on ability to get rid of the chatter.
When two ducks get into a fight, which never lasts long, they will separate and float off in opposite directions. Then each duck will flap its wings vigorously a few times, thus releasing the surplus energy that built up during the flight. After they flap their wings, they float on peacefully, as if nothing had ever happened.
If the duck had a human mind, it would keep the fight alive by thinking, by story making. This would probably be the duck's story: '" I don't believe what he just did. He thinks he owns this pond. He has no consideration for my private space. I'd better be careful around him going forward. I can never trust him again'. And on and on the mind spins its tales, still thinking and talking about it, for days, sometimes months and sometimes even years. As far as the body is concerned, the fight is still continuing, and the energy it generates in response to all those thoughts is emotion, which in turn generates more thinking. This becomes the emotional thinking of the ego. This is how humans live all the time. No situation or event is ever really finished.
Our ducks lesson is this: Flap your wings......let go of the story....and return to the only place of power....... the present moment.
Present for all of us is the place missed out in carrying yesterday's baggage and driven towards tomorrows fears.
ReplyDeleteSo present is that dimension that allows you be there in the same space as your breath which is always a fresh inhalation .
Then each day would be fresh and lived fresh fully as there is no past to brood or no future to fear.
My Favorite Tolle Story from "The New Earth":
ReplyDeletetwo Zen monks, Tanzan and Ekido, who were walking along a country road that had become extremely muddy after heavy rains. Near a village, they came upon a young woman who was trying to cross the road, but the mud was so deep it would have ruined the silk kimono she was wearing. Tanzan at once picked her up and carried her to the other side.
The monks walked on in silence. Five hours later, as they were approaching the lodging temple, Ekido couldn’t restrain himself any longer. “Why did you carry that girl across the road?” he asked. “We monks are not supposed to do things like that.”
“I put the girl down hours ago,” said Tanzan. “Are you still carrying her?”
Ahaaa .....dear mysterious mountain dweller...that's reaction to just seeing you back :) :)
ReplyDeleteKiran, yep, it's one of my favorites too..says it beautifully
ReplyDeleteWhatever you need to do when learning how to meditate properly wikihow to meditate properly is to get
ReplyDeleteyour mind focused on something: your breathing.
Being present.
ReplyDeleteWhen u r high, u r here in the present moment, acting and reacting to the happenings around and not bothered about the past or the future.
ReplyDeletewhen u r in love, the whole world looks beautiful and u r at yr most benign self.
The cocktail of the above two states would be heady and that's what I would like to achieve. To be present in that Present without the use of external stimulant or for that matter internal turmoil is the challenge.