In The Moment
Being in the moment means I am not focused on regrets over what has happened in the past nor absorbed by worries of what might take place in the future. But a state of mind where I am present to what is happening as it occurs can be difficult to attain. I am too often distracted by yesterday’s pangs of conscience or tomorrow’s problems and so don’t always notice what today is bringing me. Luckily, there are teachers who can show me the way.
Thich Nat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist and poet, described the here and now in his tea meditation: “You must be completely awake in the present to enjoy the tea. Only in the awareness of the present, can your hands feel the pleasant warmth of the cup. Only in the present, can you savor the aroma, taste the sweetness, appreciate the delicacy.”
In 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 5, Paul encouraged us to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing.” I don’t believe Paul was recommending that we spend our lives on our knees with our hands folded and our eyes closed. I take what he is saying to mean that we are to be aware that God is present in our lives every moment, whether we are at work or play, with others or by ourselves, happy or sad. If the moment at hand is filled with the presence of God, there is little room left for dwelling needlessly on yesterday or fretting compulsively about tomorrow.
In The Power of Myth, the series of conversations between mythologist Joseph Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers in the 1980’s, Campbell related the Navaho image of the pollen path as “a single, single path, the center, and then they were saying, ‘Oh, beauty before me, beauty behind me, beauty to the right of me, beauty to the left of me, beauty above me, beauty below me, I’m on the pollen path.’” To be anywhere on the pollen path is to be at any given moment, as Campbell says, at the source of life. At that moment, with that awareness, there would be little desire to be somewhere we’ve already been or anywhere we’re bound for. All that would matter is where we are, then and there.
One doesn’t have to be a monk, a saint or a mythologist to know the truth of what these three people are telling me. All I have to do is sit down on a winter night near my fireplace and savor the light, feel the warmth and appreciate the comfort.
