One hears nowadays the phrase, “to be in the present”. It is now in the popular vernacular and that is a good thing and a bad thing. It is good, because it is a great teaching. It is bad (or unfortunate) because it trivializes a very deep teaching.
In order to really be in the present, you really have to know what you are doing. It takes tremendous discipline and passion. It is not just a pop growth tool that can be used alongside a narcissistic orientation or an excuse to act with immaturity.
What does “to be in the present” really mean? It refers to the fact that the mind is highly conditioned and often acts mechanically. Secondly, it implies what life is really about. One enjoys life and finds life much more meaningful when one is very present and focused.
We tend to set up a hierarchy based upon what actions are perceived as valuable and then to go asleep to activities which are percieved as either unimportant or mundane. However, the mundane actions are just as valuable as the so-called important ones. Why is this?
This is what is enquired into when one learns to be in the present. In order to do this, one has to get to know one’s self more deeply, because the self is what is in the way to being in the present. We have to look at our self, honestly and squarely in order to understand why our mind moves around so much. Why are we obsessed with this experience or that person?
When these things can be let go of, we can begin to look closely at all our activities and realize that all have the potential to bring some satisfaction and meaning. Every aspect of our lives can be meaningful because all actions in a day outline some important social component. There is no such thing as a literal “meaningless” activity, for every action implies some kind of social utility.
We can do something that is inappropriate and that is part of the learning experience. However, when one is really present, it is impossible for it to be meaninless. The more present you are, the more meaning you find. In the ancient art of Astrology, all social contexts are inundated or ”ruled by” cosmic forces (astrological signs). One finds the same thing without resorting to ancient cosmological forces or interpretations. The more you get into something, the more you discover meaning or some kind of satisfaction.
However, to do this requires various trainings. To be in the present is only a work of the Attention, a very important structure of experience. However, we use other structures or centers of experience. So, if we only train Attention, it will often disengage if the others are not trained also.
For example, we not only are attentive to the present, but we ”act” in the present, also. If we cannot decide upon appropriate actions, or if we do not know what to do, or cannot complete important actions, then our life will feel the effect. We cannot literally just flow around in the present. We have to act. We are always in some “action” at all times. And Attention cannot automatically help us do that.
We need the “wisdom” of the other centers or structures (”faculties”) to steer us in the path of wisdom, which being in the present definitely implies. We have to understand how to act, how to feel, how to be and how to use our instincts appropriately. Then, when these are in place, to a sufficient degree, we can learn to be in the present more efficiently and with joy.
As a start, we can talk briefly about the technical aspects of being in the present, as Attention (without the other structures). In order to be present, we learn how to engage the four major sensory zones of Sight, Sound, Touch and Balance. We can exclude the senses of taste and smell, because we do not use them often (only in certain situations). However, we always use those four zones. They can be applied moment to moment.
Look at an object and then listen at the same time. When that is accomplished, then one can then “feel” one’s body against the chair or moving along the street if one is walking. Then one can put these three together.
Finally, learn to gauge the balance of the body in space. Realize your own dependence upon your posture. When this can be put together along with the other three, one is really in the present at least from the angle of Attention. Again, one has to learn to use the other centers, because these will have to engaged in our social experience at some point. We feel, we act and we use our instincts (among others).
But we can begin with Attention, and this will lead to the work on the other centers. The most important of the four is really, “touch”. The more we sense our surroundings with our skin, the closer or connected we are to experience, and this is vital if we want to be in the “now”.
We actually “touch” the now. We become intimate, as it were, to the present moment, and that often involves our ability to sense our experience. This begins with our mindful sense of using our skin to engage experience; to feel where we are. When this zone is engaged, the other sensory zones follow, instinctively.
Transformed Attention will naturally lead us to seek out to transform our other centers of experience, such as emotion, thought, identity, volition and instinct. We will naturally begin to eat better foods, watch or check or engagemnent of negavite emotions and think clearly and appropriately.
Attention is the easiest and most natural of the trainings, because it is so easy to be in our senses. We did it when we were children. The trick is to learn to do it more consciously, and find ways to eliminate the distraction of the ego, negative emotions and mechanical thinking.
William Edwards
Author, Trainer
The Skill of Wisdom
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 8:44 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.