Let's Be Present

Here I am again telling you the story of my newly found interest in the spiritual side of the human beings!

After I finished reading Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr. Brian Weiss, still kind of dizzied by the surprising story, another book came to my hands. This time it was The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Ekhart Tolle (funny I mentioned this to a colleague at work only to discover that he had also read the same book, several times!)

People not familiar with spirituality and non religious folks like me can be put off by Tolle's way of expressing himself. But if one looks beyond the form then I think this book indeed has value and actually many people consider it a great book.

I am among the most common human beings that have trouble being present in the Now. My mind too often fantasizes with the future. Also the past pops in, although much less. I've been observing myself since I started reading the book only to confirm how undisciplined my mind is, how much it apparently dislikes being fully in the Now. Tolle insists in his book the past and future are not real and that focusing on them only creates unhappiness. The present moment holds the key to liberation form our unhappiness. 

Tolle asks us to observe our thoughts and observe our emotions and be conscious of them; also he urges us to not identify with our minds. Tolle says "The greater part of human pain is unnecessary. It is self-created as long as your unobserved mind runs your life". 

The recipe Tolle gives us to free ourselves from the mind is to be present on the Now, to end the delusion of time, to escape from the trap of time. Furthermore, he tells us that present-moment awareness creates a gap in the stream of mind and in the past-future continuum and that true creativity can only come to this world through this gap. 

I personally find some of these concepts totally fascinating. For the time being, I keep on reminding myself to come back to the present whenever I realize my mind is drifting to the future or the past..I have no personal experience with the "gap" (yet)

My next read, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra reiterates the benefits of being present in the Now. It will be the subject of my next post.