I know when the present moment is mentioned, most will often dismiss it with a 'meh boring'. I know this because I used to do it too. In dismissing the present moment, however, we are dismissing the most profound and fundamental cornerstone of all Spiritual and ontological practices seeking to realize the Self.
The present moment is the only place one can be without being in the process of thinking. Anything outside the present moment is thinking. There is only the present moment and thinking. Nothing else. If you as the Conscious mind aka thought, are not present within your Temple of Awareness aka Present Moment Awareness, then you are present in your own thoughts. If you are present in your thoughts while absent in the moment, then you have lost touch with reality for reality is always NOW, it is never your thoughts.
If one rises in thought, subsequent emotions will be activated from those thoughts. A good portion of unnatural emotions, that are not spent, will be repressed, and held within the subconscious, influencing every decision you make. In this way we defile our Temple which must be cleansed and purified on our way back home to ourselves, whenever that might be.
Using the uninspired intellect (ego) to think your way to any kind of metaphysical insight is limiting. It can only take you so far. It can only give you a theological understanding of Spirit which of course not experience. It can take you to the 'Well of Truth' but until you drop the 'thinking mind' you will not be able to drink from it. The intellect will only lead you to the fact that one must be in the moment rather than think in it. This is the most the intellect can do.
I realised at the age of 26 I had to meditate or hold the 'Being mind" if I wanted to go beyond the mental realm, thereby knowing myself as Spirit beyond an idea or form. A practice which I had put off for as long as I could. A practice most people put off for as long as they can. The egoic mind does not relish the idea of what it believes is a non-existence. To be fair that is exactly what it is. The end of the ego and the beginning of life as Spirit working through the One Soul that in turn works through the individual or Incarnate Soul. The death of the ego equates to being born again of Spirit.
Eventually you will have to put the books and videos down and walk naked into the abyss of NOW, with arms and heart wide open to the actual experience of your oneness and fullness within and as Spirit. You got to walk your talk if you want to go beyond theory, beyond the mental realm. You have to eventually realize being is the new thinking.
Your presence - your I am-ness is your attention. Now you can be in the moment but not have your attention there. When one's attention is in the moment it becomes more expansive like Awareness, in which one is fully aware of everything going on around them. It is a combination of attention (conscious mind) and awareness (subconscious mind) so you are highly alert or Aware. If you I am-ness is focused on the phone or your thoughts etc your presence is no longer apart of the Present Moment but apart from it. Do you see? You must stay a part of the Present Moment. You need to become ONE with the present moment so that you are no longer IN the moment but the moment itself. In this way you do not have a life - you ARE life. This is truly being present. When you are ONE with the moment you are directed by your true Intelligence and heart which is your Soul being Spirit rather than a mind cut off from its Source, leading you astray with false images aka thoughts that rise outside of the Temple.
Thinking (false images) is not able to give you the experience of being Spirit. One is either thinking about the experience of being Spirit or one is being Spirit. Thinking separates one from the experience while being unites one with the experience. The thinking mind can only theorize within its limitations of mentalism uninspired by Spirit. The present moment LIVES. The present moment is the Presence of All Being including your own. When you bring your being in line with the present moment your being becomes one with 'All Being". Life is living itself.
When you bring your consciousness to your awareness in and of the moment, your consciousness expands and expands, revealing the Awareness beyond the subconscious awareness. Behind one's thoughts and emotions is the true Soul directed by Spirit, your true and eternal being. Enlightenment like death is something no Soul can avoid or deny. It is everyone's fate within their own season. Not one soul will be lost. Not one. I know this.
Being in the moment may seem initially 'meh' or even undesirable, however like every relationship, the more familiar you get with it, the fonder you become of it. Initially, I won't lie, it is boring. Initially. After a time however, it will be the most riveting experience you have ever had. Addictive even. I say addictive as the mind will always seek that which gives it the most pleasure, the most peace and is the most familiar with.
Awareness aka Soul IS pleasure and IS peace. When aligned with the Soul (Am) being Spirit (I) you will begin to see the extra in the ordinary. I am not being dramatic or misleading when I say this. At one point, while fully present in The Now I felt a humming river running through everything, including me. I knew and felt this Oneness of all Being. I saw it. I not only felt the connection I saw it shimmer. Other worldly would be the best description of this experience. So surprising was this experience, I jumped back from it immediately, avoiding the expanse in consciousness offered to me. Only once did I feel it again and I reacted the same way. It takes time and experience for most to become Consciousness of yourself as Spirit being Soul. Coming into the light, at least for me, takes a bit of getting used too. It's like your eyes adjusting to the light after being in the dark for a while. It is quite disconcerting in a mildly unfamiliar yet familiar way.
I am not worried, however. I trust the seasons of my life and know if I stay present in The Now, I will be guided to whatever I as Spirit being Soul planned for myself before setting out on this particular incarnation. Faith, I have never been short of.
I vaguely recall oddly enough, life before birth. I have no experience of life after death, apart from what I have been envisioned, however I do recall life before birth, in a vague arbitrary kind of way via my sense of knowing, claircognizance. It is a vivid and strong experience that lingers to this day with promise.
It wasn't long however before life treated me in the way Kane treated Abel by breaking my heart while it unapologetically stood all over the pearls I tried to share with the world. Irrespective, I was determined in my intention to hold the promise I made my Soul, when I was but four years old. I have a very real and vivid memory of promising myself I would not die in vain but in service of thy Truth. Not my truth but Thy Truth. I don't know why I did this, but it has shaped my whole life in a somewhat unassuming yet pivotal way.
Even though I lost a lot of my Self through the history of my lived experiences, I have always retained a strong intrapersonal relationship with my inner Truth. Truth that helped me find my way back to my true Self beyond the egoic thoughts and emotions that distracted me for so long. In all honesty, it has been my saving, Grace. Literally.
Develop a strong intrapersonal relationship with the Awareness of your Being beyond thought and emotion - this is everyone's starting point. Getting real with themselves.
To conclude let me point out the three most important principles of what I said here. Firstly, thinking will lead you away from your truth, once you get to the point where you must seek your own inner guru. Not before - right thinking is important before this date but after it, thinking is of no use to you. Secondly, being present in your own Awareness, which is being present in the moment, is your salvation and the only path to Truth. Thirdly, you have to want the truth more than you want to breathe if you are to find it or rather let it find you.
~ Tracy Pierce
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