Living in the Now

Some years back at a time of deep personal crises, I went on a trip to Thailand. While there, by some kind of osmosis, I absorbed what became my interpretation of the Buddhist philosophy of Life. The basic principle of this philosophy is: The present is the only Reality.

The rationale is this: the Past is past and nothing can recall it or undo it. You can recreate it in some way by memories, but memories whether good or bad are not constructive. If they are bad, they inspire bitterness, which is defeating. If they are good, they induce nostalgia which if acute can be equally destructive. As has been said, the trouble with the good old days is, they make the new look so bad. So looking back to the Past is out.

Looking towards the Future, this philosophy asserts, is another exercise in futility because the Future is completely unpredictable. One can plan, but one can never be sure that suddenly something will not happen to change things–a death of somebody close and dear, the burning of a home, a financial loss. The only thing certain about the Future is that it is uncertain and its surest predictability is its unpredictability. So again, one cannot base one’s life on the Future.

The only reality is the Present. And not just the Present in terms of the present year, or the present month or even the present day. The only reality is the NOW, the present moment. The whole secret of this philosophy is living in the NOW.

Having decided to try out this one formula among the many that are usually offered to the psychologically dispossessed, I was amazed at its initial effect. Concentrating on the NOW meant flavoring the present moment to its fullest.

If one were eating, it meant being aware of every flavor, the contrast of the bitter with the sweet, the smell of one’s breakfast coffee, the texture of the fruit, the crispness of that one piece of toast. If one were listening to a tune over a radio, it meant concentration on the melody, the words and letting the harmonious whole sweep over you like so many waves.

And if one were talking to a person, any person, it meant concentrating completely on what he was saying, taking in not only his words, but what his words reveal of his personality. It did not matter who the person was–the houseboy bringing in the morning newspaper, the big business contact with the power to award a lucrative contract, somebody’s simple secretary or a well-known intellectual. Concentrating fully on that one individual in the NOW transforms anybody into an interesting person. And, in turn, that concentration makes one an interesting person to the object of such undivided attention.

Just as one would take a course in Music Appreciation or Art Appreciation, adapting this philosophy of Living in the NOW is a crash course in appreciation of the basic joys of living. After some time of practice in being completely and intensely aware of the present moment, one is amazed at the intrinsic beauty and excitement of just being alive–not living for something or somebody or for any specific reason, but just living, savoring to the fullest everything that life has to offer in the present moment. Suddenly, all the accumulated burdens of a lifetime–old unhappiness, old disappointments, old preconceived ideas and prejudices–drop off.

Suddenly, the secret fears and the vain hopes of an undeterminable future are gone. The eternal and usually defeating search for "The Meaning of Life" is over. The only thing that is left is Life itself, sparkling, always brand new, full of vivid color and excitement–in the beautiful, attainable, wonderful NOW.

Try it. It might work for you as it has worked for me.