I think this is a state (country, universe) where few of us ever visit. I know that I rarely get there, even though I have been working to do so steadily for years and frankly I am closer now than I ever was before my brain aneurysm 12 years ago.
Mark Van Doren describes it this way, There is one thing that we can do, and the happiest people are those who can do it to the limit of their ability. We can be completely present. We can be all here. We can . . . give all our attention to the opportunity before us.
Those who cannot find this place of being completely present, in some fashion will wither away from destination disease. They are always looking around to the next thing. There are always thinking about tomorrow, next week, next month, next year . . . they never are completely present.
For them, life is not about this moment, this breath, this relationship, this child, this spouse, this hour, this God, this life . . . but rather everything seems to dribble away into a means and never an end. Yet if I never have an end, then I never have a present, a now, a this moment.
Sure there are deadlines, and projects, and work. But there is also the present and I want to more and more be completely there ☺
Mark Van Doren describes it this way, There is one thing that we can do, and the happiest people are those who can do it to the limit of their ability. We can be completely present. We can be all here. We can . . . give all our attention to the opportunity before us.
Those who cannot find this place of being completely present, in some fashion will wither away from destination disease. They are always looking around to the next thing. There are always thinking about tomorrow, next week, next month, next year . . . they never are completely present.
For them, life is not about this moment, this breath, this relationship, this child, this spouse, this hour, this God, this life . . . but rather everything seems to dribble away into a means and never an end. Yet if I never have an end, then I never have a present, a now, a this moment.
Sure there are deadlines, and projects, and work. But there is also the present and I want to more and more be completely there ☺
3 comments:
Great post, David. The completely present thing's a tough one for me. I'm trying to up my percentage to at least 50% ;) Hey, what was that thing I was supposed to do tomorrow...
Great Blog Sir David. I have found that the ability to "rest" is connected to this idea of being completely present. A person can only truly rest if they are able to be completely present. We are called to rest but are unable because we have never learned to live in the moment, always living in the tomorrow. Mark M
Yes, I can relate. The phone conversation with a friend is an example. There is always formulation of what will be said next while listening to what is being said. The funny thing is that the more you listen to the speaker, the formulation of what you are going to say comes quite naturally without the formulation. It is then a response. Quite different I think.
btw, I'm Dave O. from Nanticoke. Shades of raquetball!!! The name is Japanese meaning "refined" warrior. Lol!!!
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