Past, Present and Future

The new motto or focus of my life is to stay grounded in all areas, spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, etc. When I've thought about the "power of now" or staying in the present moment, it's been more of an attempt to almost "stop planning" or "stop looking at the past." While all of that is well and good... I mean we should just "be present." I completely agree 

with that.

What Is Time?

Time is not a resource as it cannot be measured.

Time is inherently unlimited because it is an illusion.

There is only the present moment and it has no limit.

I cannot say I do not have enough time, because I cannot lack in what is imaginary.

We live in the eternal now.

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This photo (http://bit.ly/PhK2ft), “The Passage of Time” is copyright (c) 2008 Toni Verdú Carbó and made available under a Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 license (http://bit.ly/4DjovT)

Holding on to Future Projections

"Let your mental models go and bask in the light and freedom that comes with experiencing the eternal Presence."

As I progress on this path, I see that one thing that I tend to hold on to is mental models of the way things should be. I think we all do this in one way or another. Mental models are tricky, because they are hybrids of past and future clingings. We are scared of the future, so we construct elaborate models of the way things should be. These models may have been created years ago. They are a bridge between the present and the future. We want to know how to "get there" as if there was anywhere to "get" to.

I tend to miss these models as they seem to exist in the Now or present but do not. They are old mental projections that cloud my mind, keeping me from experiencing the present moment. The models are often times rooted in the ego so are very entrenched in our psyche. A lot of the times, the models are seemingly logical and harmless. It should also be noted that you do not come up with these; these are created on their own. Most of the time, you are unaware you have them.

For example, one model may be that any self-respecting person has a clean house. This is future projection, because another way of wording this is "if my house is ever dirty in the future, I do not respect myself." Cleanliness is great and there is a lot of truth in the model. The tie to the ego is my worth is then dependent on how clean my house is. The irony of this statement is that my earthly house is my mind. My house may be clean but I am cluttering my internal house with models such as these. These projections may give us comfort about the future, such as knowing our house will be clean and getting approval for that, yet they take us away from living our lives in the here and now.

How liberating it is to know we do not need these models anymore! Drop these mental constructs and see how lighter you feel knowing that You are loved unconditionally by the Universe just the way you are. Know that the future is an illusion. There is only Now. We are frightened by the future because we are clinging to this world. We are clinging to our appearances, possessions, relationships, and our body. This creates fear and we develop plans for how to hold on to these things. Let your mental models go and bask in the light and freedom that comes with experiencing the eternal Presence.

The Heart of Spirituality

"Loving yourself and loving others is only possible by living in the present moment."

Spirituality is very interesting, because the words that we use when talking about it seem very religious.  The funny thing is that this is the opposite of the truth.  It can sound very "churchy" and new age-y and all of that.  However, these are the most down-to-earth and practical teachings in the world.  This is because they are truth and true wisdom.  It is so difficult to communicate intangible truths to others at the risk of seeming "out there" and the simple fact that teachings are trying to make these truths concrete.  This is, of course, impossible.  No one can fully express spiritual truths in words that we can fully understand; the words are meant to be guideposts so that you can come to the realization yourself.  Any "out there" teaching can be communicated in "material" terms just as well as it can be communicated in "spiritual" terms.  In other words, the truth can take on any form so that anyone can see the guideposts.

A belief in "God" is not even necessary as spirituality can be communicated in language of this world, using only tangible things and concepts that you are already familiar with.  Buddhists, for the most part, do not believe in a god as many define that term.  We get so tripped up on these terms, because they have been over-defined, defined poorly or even incorrectly defined in some cases.  I think we all need to learn how to not get hung up on words.  We need to look to the meaning behind the words.  Even Atheists believe in a god.  Their god may be the rational mind, nature or science.  It's very silly, really, that there is this war of words when it comes to spiritual things.

I firmly believe that someone who does not even believe in a spiritual world can master concepts that arise from the spiritual world on the physical plane.  There are countless examples of this.  Just look to any popular, successful person that does not believe in anything beyond the 5 senses.  Famous actors, philanthropists, and artists are but few examples.  The reason for this is that any plane of existence, such as spiritual or physical can be explained in its own terms without overlap.  They are mutually exclusive.

The heart of what I see as the most beneficial message that I can communicate is the root of all problems in this world.  I have written about it in the past but need to address this directly.  The Western world's main problem is addiction to the mind.  You see 12 step groups for every addiction but, it is my belief, that any religion has been created to address this problem.  We are so stuck in our head most or all of the time, that we are not living our lives.  We are living our lives in our head, which is no way to live.

Addiction to the mind means that we are slaves to our mind.  We do not have direct control of the mind.  We do not know how to turn it off.  All spiritual teachings come from this one problem.  If you solve this one problem in your life, you have solved the problem that that has given rise to all religions.  If addiction to the mind is the problem, what is the solution?  The solution is self-control.  We must learn how to control the mind so that our mind is slave to us.  At the same time, we must love our mind.  Once we are able to be more present, love is then possible.  Learn how to love yourself and love others.  True love is only possible if you can quiet your mind enough to let the love through.  Loving yourself and loving others is only possible by living in the present moment.  If we are stuck in the past or future, dwelling on these endlessly in our mind, we are incapable of living a life of love for ourselves and other people.  A life of love is only possible through learning self-control.

Let Go of Guilt and Worry

"Guilt means I am holding onto the past; worry means I want to control the future. Both show that I am not living in the present moment."

Many emotions that we feel, we have direct control over. It is so easy to feel like a "victim" in life. We all act like victims of our circumstance. The truth is we can instantly change many of our emotions with the force of will. It is only our unbelief, our lack of faith, that makes us feel enslaved to every emotion. We need to see ourselves as separate from our body, mind and emotions.

If we do this, we can see that we can observe the emotions much more easily, and, consequently, understand why we feel a certain way. Understanding takes power away from the emotions. We see that we feel a certain way in a certain situation and take note of it. We, then, are better prepared to handle that situation in the future. For example, I may feel guilty about spending money on myself to buy some new pants. However, the pants may be necessary to hold down a job and the guilt is misplaced.

Guilt, when felt genuinely for a legitimate situation where I have wronged others or myself, should be taken seriously directly after the offense. Thereafter, feelings of guilt are a way for me to feel enslaved to that moment in time. Similarly, worry felt for a loved one may be a clue to us that immediate action is needed. Take that action, yet do not hold onto the worry.

Guilt means I am holding onto the past; worry means I want to control the future. Both show that I am not living in the present moment. For the most part, negative emotions are a slave to the ego. The ego does not want to live in the present moment. In the present moment, the ego dissolves away as we are then truly in the presence of God or Self. By a force of will, let go of guilt, let go of worry. They do us no good but serve only to rob us of living our lives. They keep us enslaved to the past and the future, two imaginary domains of the ego.

When else can we live our lives but in the present moment? There is no other time to live so we must drop our imaginary shackles and embrace the freedom that is ours in the here and now.