Being present means being here and now, alert and awake, and not somewhere else, lost in thoughts, feelings, ideas, or hypothetical scenarios. The premise of this method is that only what is happening right now, in the present moment, is real. Both the past and the future are only conceptions of the mind – unreal, like dreams or illusions, artifacts of the mind’s capacity for imagination and simulation.
A common argument against this method is that we need to think about the past and the future in order to survive and succeed – that this is how we learn, improve, solve problems, and progress. This is true; however, the problem is that this pattern of the mind has become automatic and unconscious, and is overdone and overused. When we start spending most of our time being absent, and develop a strong preference and compulsion for absence, then the original purpose behind it is defeated and destroyed. Unfortunately, this has happened to most of us, whether we know it or not. Our minds are chronically in overdrive, constantly running, and we don’t know how to stop them.
Sit silently, with sincere intent, and assert this truth to yourself: only the here and now is real and existent. Abandon all thoughts, feelings, and conceptions about both past and future as being unreal. Allow yourself to abide in this present moment, without needing to escape from it. This method will take you inwards, deeper within yourself.
Look closely into how your mind is working. It constructs a horizontal timeline of past and future events for the purpose of evaluation, analysis, and prediction. It is connecting pieces to formulate a story, where no story actually exists. The stories and timelines of the mind are mere projections of desire and fear. On the other hand, the present is real, existing beyond the mind. It is too dynamic, spontaneous, fluid, and alive to be grasped or contained by the poor mind; and so, the mind ignores and denies the present. In this present moment there is no desire or fear, no illusion, no misery, and no movement of thought, but only a sense of pure being, peacefulness, and utter freedom. On the horizontal timeline containing the past and future, the present appears to be a single point, but this point extends in a whole different dimension – a dimension of infinite depth.
In the present, you have no obligation to be consistent with your past. Consistency is a great burden and a fallacy because it forces you to constantly compare, identify, and conform with the past. The past is stale and dead. It inhibits your freedom and happiness. The present stands independently, perpetually new and fresh, an eternal spring of creativity.
The future will happen on its own, independent of anything you can do to try to influence, alter, or change it. And when it does happen, it will happen as the present! In fact, your very effort to interfere with the future is the thing that harms it.
There is an old story in which a merchant was walking in the marketplace in Baghdad. As he was walking, he was jostled by someone, and looking around, he saw that it was Death, who looked back with a threatening expression on his face. The merchant ran back home in panic, afraid that Death had marked him and would find him. In his fear, he thought to himself, “I will flee to the town of Samarra, so that Death does not find me.” He reached Samarra that night, and immediately saw that Death was waiting for him there. This time the merchant accepted his fate, and said to Death, “I will not run now, I will surrender to you. But tell me, why did you let me escape from the market this morning?” Death replied, “I did not let you escape. I was in fact surprised to see you in Baghdad, because I knew that I had an appointment to meet you here in Samarra tonight.”
The merchant’s very effort of avoiding Death leads him to Death. If he had accepted his fate in the first place, he would not have gone to Samarra, and so would not have been taken by Death. In trying to control and manage his destiny, his future, the merchant sabotages it completely.
The future is unpredictable and unknowable. It happens in its own way, not according to anyone’s wishes or any predetermined plan. Knowing this, don’t waste energy predicting and managing the future, but instead focus this energy on the present, the here and now, out of which the future will emerge spontaneously and organically. Accept the future unconditionally out of trust in the present.
The present is ever-changing and dynamic, yet always here and now. Within this mysterious present moment lies the state of meditation – a state of no-mind, inner peace, and godliness.
It should be remembered that only by trying the method experimentally can the insight and serenity underlying the method be experienced. Even if you agree with the premise of the method, this is not enough; agreement is just an intellectual, surface-level acknowledgment. Implementation and experimentation are essential for a true experience of any meditation method.