The Importance Of Now

SAT., JUNE 8, 1985, 6:37 AM
FARM, STUDY

Your religion is Christianity, and that says look back and remember. Education encourages you to consider the background for present issues. History is part of good medical practice. Most counseling theory has you consider earlier life experiences as the basis for present problems. So, yes, it is important to look back on the past… on what has been.

Christianity also urges you to look ahead to the Second Coming, when I, the Messiah, will return and restore the earth and its people to a more Edenic state. (I have not emphasized that with you, but it is a part of your religious belief.) Your culture is future oriented, in its science and its economics, particularly. You are urged to plan for your retirement, and one of your favorite fantasies is an imaginative manipulating of the future.

The past and the future are important considerations here in the earth, for time is a part of this realm, and you have come to accept the reality of times past and times ahead, as the two accompaniments of now. You don’t have the maturity to see these as ultimately only constructs for this earth plane. (A few “primitive peoples” who have not learned to think as you have still dwell only in the now, so it can be a part of earth life. It is important only to be aware of this and appreciate that your way of thinking is not the only one possible.)

On this morning when the sun returns I am not asking you to live only in the present, for this would require you to be uncomfortably odd, losing some of the influence that I want to be able to use. However, I am urging your attention to the present, to the now, for this allows spirit to function maximally. Listen to some examples.

Today you shall do some planting. You plant with considerations of the past, your own experiences and those of others more knowledgeable. You plant envisioning a future of mature, producing plants. Today I want you to focus mainly on the present, on the now. Consider plants as they are and not as they will be. Consider seeds as they are, and not for what they may become. Appreciate the soil as it is now and not as earth that must improve as years pass.

As you listen to music hear it as a present experience. In this realm your lack of knowledge is an advantage. You know very little about the history of music, even of that which you like. Know that this is nothing you should seek. Just hear and appreciate. You have some favorite composers, and from them you anticipate pleasureful listening. Try to extend this anticipation to other music, from unknown or unfavored composers. It shall not all be wonderful, but it’s an important exercise for this day’s lesson.

This is a day in which appreciation of the now should be easy. You need not be recalling more ideal days, not anticipating ones better. It is a marvelous time of year in this part of the land, one that must urge you to live in the now. Make some reminders to yourself, for you will forget the essence of this challenge as you leave this place. Your goal should be to appreciate what you are doing and feeling right now, rather than doing it just for some future good. Finish the Ruminations not because it should be done, or because you are beyond your deadline, or for the value it may bring in the future. Finish the letter because it is a wonderful experience to muse upon these words of Mine.