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Being Present… in the Present

Living History

We are surrounded, enamored and consumed by our past. It is in everything, everywhere and everyone we know. It is our comfort zone, our personal security blanket to protect us from the world.

Our past does not haunt or stalk us. It is in us. It lingers in the shadows of our minds like infinite echoes eternally bouncing off of each other.

When we choose to view our lives through our antiquated filters we are living in our past. Most of us avoid releasing our past from our perception. Eventually, we fail to see how much of our past is in our present and inevitably our future.

It isn’t that the past is particularly safe, comfortable, enriching or illuminating. The past is relative. It is only beneficial to us when we may overlook something advantageous in our present. Its greatest value is in the expression of our awareness in the moment.

Consciousness is the true measurement of our experience. The more conscious we are in our present, the more we will harvest from it when it has become our past. Who we were and who we may become ultimately creates who we are.

Our society is living in the past. We are constantly conditioned, influenced, entertained and frightened into its familiarity, certainty, docility and false security. It is an illusion we consciously and unconsciously construct and sustain for the sake of our selective remembrances, possession accumulations and professional achievements.

Our past is a fragile and diverse fantasy we enable to escape the severity of society’s present reality. This survival strategy we adopt disconnects us from our lives and imprisons us with our own apathy, pride, cynicism and fear. We become enslaved by our experience with the artificial safety and finality of our relativity.

Over the Horizon

As human beings we have an extraordinary power to focus our attention, project our energy and connect with anything we choose. Whether it is a healthy or unhealthy expression, the ability to do so is inexplicably misunderstood, disregarded, invalidated and unemployed.

We live in a social structure that has gradually diminished and destroyed the necessity and importance of being the pioneers of our true path. It scatters us into various directions leading us away from our lives and ourselves. We have been persistently distracted, traumatized and emasculated into our soul’s sacrifice.

Whereas our past may dictate, alter or consume our present, the probable future can be equally as ominous and influential. When we fantasize about what may be, we inevitably compromise the awareness, quality and possibility of our present.

We become a perpetual pendulum swinging between what was and what may be. In so doing, we rarely occupy our present long enough to give ourselves the opportunity to identify, cultivate and manifest our truth, mission and life. Our present is annihilated by the existence of our archaic memories, empty dreams and unconscious fears.

Our future is dependent upon our insights, thoughts, choices and actions in our present. It is in a continual flux until the moment we manifest it into our present reality. When we have produced an outcome in our lives, it becomes a fixed experience that instantaneously becomes our past.

Even when we alter the dynamic of its existence, it is simply a variation of an obsolete life experience. More often than not, we are kicking the proverbial can of our future further in front of us just before it is actualized. Even our ideal perception and desire of what we would like our future to be can alter its creation and existence.

The Present of the Present

At any time in our life we may find ourselves a split second ahead or behind expressing our purpose and creating our destiny. Unbeknownst to us, the achievement and success of our intended fate is often earned or lost within the slightest degree of experience.

This slim measure is the distinction between living in the past, the present or the future. We neglect to generate and maintain a functional consciousness that would allow us to acknowledge and distinguish this minute diversity. We are rarely effective in our ability to keep our lives, let alone ourselves in the moment.

However difficult it may be to ground and center ourselves into the present, it is vital to our evolution. It is only in the present when we are able to connect with our intuition. It is only in the present when we find the sacred balance and harmony within that allows us to obtain and express our vision, purpose and destiny.

It is only in the present we can fully become who we were meant to be. It is only in the present when we are creating our life. It is only in the present when we can fully experience love. The past and the future may appear real. Yet, the present is all that is true.

Beyond Now

There is an infinite emanation of life occurring in the present that is beyond our senses, comprehension, competence and imagination. Before we are able to acknowledge, understand and interact with the multiplicity of the present, we are inundated with social diversions.

Our three dimensional reality, social conditioning, common sense and beliefs compromise our consciousness, creativity, possibility and intuition. This temporal battle rages within us. It sources our insecurity, uncertainty, indifference, cognitive dissonance and fear. We become that to which we concede.

The present is a proactive, powerful, creative and extraordinary life expression. When we are in and aware of the present to the best of our ability, we live everything as we were intended. What once appeared to be linear in dimension, perception and experience transforms.

We become aware of the multi-faceted existence of being. This is not something that is initiated simply by our shift in consciousness. It is the natural dynamic of universal experience. The present is an eternal gateway that allows us to exist in concert with numerous realms of being.

The present is not the destination of our journey. It is simply the foundation upon which we choose to live. The present is as unpredictable as the future. It is a multi-dimensional experience of being. Infinite possibilities are expressed from the womb of its presence.

When we seek to control, inhibit and manipulate its outcome, it results in only what we individually think or believe. The present isn’t intended to satisfy the ego, desire and will of the few. It exists to transform, inspire and empower all.

When we are conscious and related in our lives we truly experience it. Only then are we able to be an infinite expression of the present. Only then are we able to create, share and be the fulfilled nature of its possibilities.

By Iam Saums, Zen Gardner