The Present Moment, Part 3

The Present Moment, Part 3

…can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? So do not worry about tomorrow… Matthew 6:27, 34

Last week I used Figure 1 as an imperfect illustration of how we might imagine the present moment as the intersection of where we are in earth-time and the focus of our awareness. Perhaps the main point of the illustration is that the present moment is not a moment in time because our lives are in constant motion along both the horizontal axis, representing earth-time, and the vertical axis, representing the focus of our conscious awareness. In other words, the point identified as the present moment is fluid and dynamic. As such, entering the present moment is not about stopping time and attempting to remain there, but exploring, acknowledging, and owning one’s past journey and future trajectory.

Although entering the present moment requires conscious awareness of past events and future possibilities, we cannot be in the moment when our conscious awareness is overly focused on either the past or future. We can understand our past as a necessary process leading us to today and that points us toward possible futures. Figure 2 illustrates what happens when our conscious attention gets consumed with guilt and regret over past events or drifts into useless worry about events that may or may not happen in the future. The net result of either is the removal of our attention from the present moment, away from where life is occurring now. Only in the now can we do something about our circumstances. The vertical axis represents where our conscious attention is placed in time, so when we allow it to drift away from our current position in earth-time, we attempt to live either in memories (past) or imagination (future), neither of which can unite us to what is right here, right now. 

Although we are unable to change what occurred in the past, we can change how what happened in the past affects us today and in the future. That change, however, is only possible in the present moment, never by simply dwelling on the past or feeling sorry for ourselves. When traumas of the past negatively impact our todays we can act in the present moment to grieve, heal, and transform those past hurts in appropriate and healthy ways that allow us to release the poison that otherwise festers in unhealed wounds. Professional assistance is often helpful. This is not an attempt to rewrite history but is a transformation of the on-going impact of our tragic history so we can move forward without the burden of unresolved trauma.

In a similar way, we cannot make desirable futures manifest more quickly, nor can we avoid the possible futures we fear by focusing our attention in the future. As Jesus says in Matthew 6, we cannot add a single hour to our life by worrying. We can, however, begin co-creating a more desirable future through the planning, preparation, and visioning opportunities available to us in the present.

We learn to see that this moment, wherever we find ourselves here and now, and the state of mind we bring to it, is inclusive of everything from the past as well as all future possibilities open and available to us – not as a sequential ordering of random events, but as a well-organized, singular life-experience that is continuously unfolding. Focusing our conscious awareness into the present moment does not ignore or deny the past, nor does it inhibit working toward the future we feel drawn toward. It does, however, align our conscious attention with the exact place where we have arrived and from which we will grow into what is next. It is at this place, once we are consciously aligned with it, where we become conscious co-creators of our lives. When we remain unconscious co-creators, which is where most people exist, we often feel victimized by and powerless against our life experiences. It is only from the sweet spot of the present moment that we can know with assurance the depths to which we are loved and can attain certainty that we are being guided in ways that are perfectly conducive to our growth and development, which is inseparably intertwined with the growth and development – the consummation – of all of creation.

This is the 11^th in a series of Life Notes on Space, Time, and Eternity. The opinions expressed here are mine. To engage with me or to explore contemplative spiritual direction, contact me at ghildenbrand@sunflower.com.