Chapter 18 – The Now –
Authentic presence and happiness
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Always now
When we organize our experiences in a linear fashion, time appears as past, present and future, but strictly speaking, it is not possible to experience anything outside the present moment. It is always now. Yesterday was ”now” when it occurred. It was ”now” 2000 years ago, it was ”now” when we were born and it is going to be ”now” when we die. There never was, and there never will be a time that is not now. The past is experienced now. Planning for the future is done now. When the future is here, it has become now. We experience everything in the now – the present moment is all that exists – everything else is thoughts, dreams, memories et cetera that appear in the present moment.
How long is the now? The moment? The intellect would like to divide the present moment, prefer life to consist of an infinite number of small ”nows”. But that is once again a conceptual construction. When in contact with the whole we can experience that the present is eternal – one single eternal now and in this now I reside. My task is to stay present in this now – as here lies the power and the potential for development.
Thought escapes the now. If we always spend our time in the intellect, we live in a mental construction and miss the experience of the present moment – the only real moment. We need time and intellect, clocks and diaries in order to function in this world, but we can still live with an awareness of the Being and the now.
Krishnamurti tells us that we must learn to ”die” from yesterday in order to meet every day as new, to experience life with a fresh mind – as if it was the first time I had seen it.
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The lessons of life are learnt in everyday life
We can see life as an exciting inner journey, where existence provides the situations and people we need for growth and development, to make our behavioral patterns visible – if we choose to see them. To strive for a lifestyle that prevents us from creating new burdens and new pain. To make sure we have the opportunity for reflection and presence enough to see the meaning in what happens to us; to be able to take care of our experiences when they occur (or when the old catches up with us) and be able to use them for our growth. As we said earlier, we do not need to search in our past for reasons and explanations. If we have unprocessed emotions and experiences within, they will manifest themselves in the present moment. Guaranteed! If we are observant, we can even see that the mistakes we make now happen because of what we need to learn right now.
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