The Only THing I Have To Deal With Is The Present Moment

[HowToKnowGod]

So, I've got some classes this week (to teach). Should I not prepare for them? I don't want to, and they're pulling my attention to the future.

[Ananda]

Since the future is merely an idea, a projection of imagination which occurs in 'the present moment' then any preparation you do for the future happens in the now anyway. It is true that "The Only THing I Have To Deal With Is The Present Moment", so why worry about preparing or not preparing for something? Keep remembering that the future only occurs as imagination in the present, observe and see that this is so, and then how will you ever be deluded by it again?

[eputkonen]

So, I've got some classes this week (to teach). Should I not prepare for them? I don't want to, and they're pulling my attention to the future.

Is it really pulling your attention to the future, or is this a convenient excuse because you don't want to prepare?

You know you need to teach the subject matter (which, by the sounds of it, you don't know well enough right now to teach)...so prepare in the now so you can teach it well in the now.

Where is the future?

[HowToKnowGod]

What if we all just acted as if the future didn't exist? I wouldn't even write this, because writing this assumes that in the future someone will read it.

Bye.

[eputkonen]

What if we all just acted as if the future didn't exist? I wouldn't even write this, because writing this assumes that in the future someone will read it.

Bye.

The future doesn't exist...it is a mental projection of what might be. But I would like to make it home from work, so I mentally project my route and destination. Then I get in my car and drive...present...knowing what to do to get home. And I will get there eventually...unless I die before getting to that destination...but then that is fine too. In the meantime, I enjoy the trip.

[kiki]

What if we all just acted as if the future didn't exist?

Show me the future; where is it?

[HowToKnowGod]

Show me the future; where is it?

Right here in my head. I've imagined someone in the past writing this, and in the future reading it.

[kiki]

I've imagined someone in the past writing this, and in the future reading it.

That's only mind going into thoughts of past and projecting into thoughts of future - neither of those actually exist as an actual reality. With neither of those, now/You stand free of everything, untouched and innocent - that's where reality exists. So, live in reality rather than in imagination.

[eckhart01]

Doing the preparation does not necessarily pull you into the future. Your teaching is in the future, the preparation is something that you should do now. Or don't do it now. Do it tomorrow, or the hour before the teaching takes place. Whatever you feel is necessary for you to complete your preparation. Or don't turn up at all. The choice is there to be made. Thinking about how the teaching will go pulls you into the future and causes unnecessary anxiety, or alternatively makes you excited about the prospect of being complimented and praised.

The future is real in your case. You have a teaching coming up. For now though, you do what you have to do now. Whether that is watching a movie and bypassing preparation, or doing the preparation only you know.

[snowheight]

What if we all just acted as if the future didn't exist?

Show me the future; where is it?

Actually, when you look down the road and see a tree, you don't see it as it is at the same instant you perceive it, as there is a delay due to the speed of light.

If I "pretend that I don't need to eat" and therefore neglect my clients, I do that NOW.

HowToKnowGod: your classroom might burn before your next class. You teaching in front of your class is only one possible future NOW. There is no ***CERTAIN*** FUTURE NOW that can be assumed ... this is the nature of the Universe.

[kiki]

Actually, when you look down the road and see a tree, you don't see it as it is at the same instant you perceive it, as there is a delay due to the speed of light.

The same could be said if you were standing one millimeter from the tree because light is still traveling through space before photons hit the eyeball and then stimulate the brain to create an impression of an image "out there" somewhere apart from "me". "you" are not here and the "tree" over there; that is only true in the dualistic sense - that's the illusory world the people identify with and get lost in.

So the point I was trying to make is that "now" is not a slice of time because now is outside time altogether - it doesn't exist within the dimension of time, trapped between a past and a future. What You are is not bound by the dimension of time. Now is all there ever is or ever could be; You are the now, the only "time" presence/awareness can ever exist. To become wrapped up in the dimension of time is to invite the illusion of separation and create a mind made world to become lost within.

[snowheight]

So the point I was trying to make is that "now" is not a slice of time because now is outside time altogether - it doesn't exist within the dimension of time, trapped between a past and a future.

This is an excellent example of how the words that ET uses actually have radically different meaning from the conventional.

The same could be said if you were standing one millimeter from the tree because light is still traveling through space before photons hit the eyeball and then stimulate the brain to create an impression of an image "out there" somewhere apart from "me". "you" are not here and the "tree" over there; that is only true in the dualistic sense - that's the illusory world the people identify with and get lost in.

Contemplating this resulted in a ***sHiFt**

==========================

The point about the short distance to the tree dovetails well with the idea of no certain future ... this is quantifiable in degrees. The closer I am to the tree, the less the likelihood of some event occurring in the interval of time between the photon bouncing off of the tree and hitting my eye which would cause the tree to cease to be there right "now". The closer something is in space and time the more "real" the possible future becomes.

Namaste,

snowheight

[kiki]

kiki wrote:So the point I was trying to make is that "now" is not a slice of time because now is outside time altogether - it doesn't exist within the dimension of time, trapped between a past and a future.



This is an excellent example of how the words that ET uses actually have radically different meaning from the conventional.

Words aren't very effective in getting through to people in describing this stuff, that's why there is so much confusion. Silence is the best teacher, but mind thinks there has to be something more.

The point about the short distance to the tree dovetails well with the idea of no certain future ... this is quantifiable in degrees. The closer I am to the tree, the less the likelihood of some event occurring in the interval of time between the photon bouncing off of the tree and hitting my eye which would cause the tree to cease to be there right "now". The closer something is in space and time the more "real" the possible future becomes.

Yes, that's true as far as mind goes. The problem is that people remain identified with mind, and the most sticky thing identified with in mind is ego. People continually get caught up in mind/ego and miss their essence - Consciousness/Awareness, the only thing that is real and present.

Things, events, sensations, and experiences are all linear, time bound, so they have a beginning and an end. The ego is linear as well, making it time bound - it is not a thing per se, but an event, a happening/thought stream that is identified with as me; other than thought it isn't real. Ego wants certainty so that it can anticipate what it will do and how to defend itself if some specific event happens. It is uncomfortable "not knowing" and so it seeks to be assured about everything that might happen. It's no wonder, then, that ego causes so many perceived problems.

Time bound ego, of course, is blind to what is actually present and real, now, because now is out of time. Ego looks for other events, looks for movement and change and wants to anticipate those movements and change so it will feel secure. In other words, it is dependent upon time. Now, however, is not an event, is not linear, is not bound to anything in time and space, and so it has no dimensions to it. Now is perfectly still, perfectly silent, and fully awake and alert - that is the only certainty that exists as far as I know. Paradoxically, in the certainty of now there is complete surrender, so there is no anticipation or hope for any particular event to arise. Whatever happens is just fine as far as now is concerned. From the perspective of now you could even say "not knowing" about the "future" is no problem because now is all there is, and so there IS no future.

[Sighclone]

When I get my shorts all wadded up and then just shake my head, it's very funny. The present moment was lost for a couple of seconds, and when I "return" to it, I have to laugh. The question arises as a sensation: "wow, that was weird...Where was I?? Of course, I (the real me) was right here all the time, but got "velcro-ed" into an imaginary problem.

Kiki's point about the "now" being outside of time also applies to "eternity." "Eternal" means timeless, ie free from time.

Andy

[runstrails]

SC--what you say is very important, so I'd like to re-iterate in a slightly different way. As someone on this forum once said:

Now does not really mean present moment (since that is within time)
Now =eternity


Similarly when ET says, you are the present moment---another way of saying it is that "you are eternity" or "you are timeless".

This helped me a lot in the beginning, to not get stuck on the present moment as a tiny slice of time

Edited to add:
There is nothing wrong in preparing for the future (otherwise we could not survive---e.g., you have to plan a little to eat) BUT there is no point in being identified with thoughts of the future. That is completely pointless. So prepare your class (or not) but don't identify with idle thoughts about it. If our ancestors identified with idle thoughts about the future instead of acting in the now to prepare for the future, we would not be here as a species!