Here and Now

Living in the present moment, here and now. That's spirituality. The patterns of resistance and ego-centredness do arise when you sit now, when you are present here. To be in the present moment is a boring thing.  The mind moves forward or backward: either to future to plan or worry about things, or to replay the past. Jesus asks not to worry about times and seasons, not to worry about past or future. He asks us to forgive the past, and not worry about tomorrow. Not even to worry about food or drink or clothing. God's kingdom is not a matter of food and drink, of clothing and shelter. Jesus asks us not to worry or fret or be anxious about anything or anyone or any "time." The Lord reveals himself in the present; only in the here and now we will know that we are already in union. So the spirituality about the here and now is about living the union with God just now just here. All that we need now is here, all that we need for here is available just now. God is available just here just now. He is present. The boundaries around the present keep increasing and the peace too increases. The past and the future don't matter. No boundaries in space and time are needed to experience God. To lose yourself into this present moment, and waste your time into this present moment is the key to living here and now with God. That lonely, deserted place, where you don't expect anything for your past or future is that place you need to arrive at. That place is here just now. Always in the now. And that is the hardest place to be, the hardest period of time (point) to be conscious of. This is the moment where the point or spark of nothingness is revealed (of which Thomas Merton is speaking).