Now is all we have; this moment, that’s it! If you’re living in the past and waxing nostalgic always, you’re not here and your life is a misery you’ve chosen not to look at. If you’re always chasing goals and repeatedly dying for a future that may fail you, you’ve found a way to cheat yourself out of your life. Now, the now, can only be found in a deep concentration for the present moment. And realize your ability to shape this moment in any way that you would have it to be. You simply have to want to do this; to know that this is here for you in this moment and seize it for yourself.
Please see the sermon video below, and the notes used to deliver the sermon below that.
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Sermon Notes
Living Now
1. Ram Dass wrote a creative book in the 60s, “Be Here Now.”
1A. It wasn’t very intellectual; designed to appeal to the right brain.
1A1. So it was rather loopy; literally and graphically.
1B. The title hit the mark, & the rest seems more a re-iteration in my memory.
1B1. It suggests to us that we shouldn’t be obsessed with the past, nor dwell on the future.
1B1a. Find the present moment; and expand this to cover the totality of your awareness.
1C. The mystical moment became the product of Ram Dass’ psychedelic exploration.
1C1. Though LSD & other drugs can bring us there, we can acknowledge that once this door is opened, we can get these without artificial aid.
1C1a. A popular Hindu Yogi in the 60s said that America was so materialist that it needed God to come in a material form.
2. A popular proverb–less mystical: There is no time like the present. It’s intent found in another popular proverb: Don’t put off till tomorrow, the things you can do today.
2A. With the latter, we can pull this into mystical consideration with Carlos Castaneda’s notion that we should live as if death was stalking us. Consider those important things we would say & do if we knew we would be dead tomorrow.
2A1. Indulging in petty pursuits & cheap pleasures that waste our time can be a way to put off what is important.
2A1a. Yet they can be a means to creativity, which is another matter altogether.
2A1a1. This would be counter-Gnostic.
2B. The fomer, we can split into 2 parts:
2B1. ‘There is no time…’
2B1a. Time is a projection of the mind; what the hilosophers call the a-priori.
2B1a1. ‘no time’ is the state of being called eternity, infinity, or even immortality.
2B1a1a. The Egyptians called it ‘millions of years.’
2B2. The 2nd part; ‘…like the present’ gives us initially, the present moment.
2B2a. But if we change the adverb’like’ to a verb, we can derive the notion to embrace and appreciate the present moment.
2B2a1. ‘no time’ is again, found in this moment.
2B2a2. Carpe Diem!
3. The artist naturally finds this timeless moment in the creation or performace of his or her art.
3A. [Tell story of sculture in grade school.]
3B. [Tell story of piano practice in high school.]
3C. Concentration; that which is also called Dharana is the key.
3C1. It moves the awareness of the passage of time into a complete immersion in the moment [boredom, angst].
3C1a. [Tell story of piano lessons I teach when I don’t feel like teaching.]
3C1b. Watching a clock can turn a minute into an hour.
3C1b1. A watched pot never boils.
4. Overall, we find the past & the future inside the present, so it’s not that we shouldn’t learn from the past or dream out future destiny.
4A. The formula that expresses this: past + present = future. Change any part of this formula, and you change the other two.
4B. We must then rule out certain ideas about prophecy & divination.
4B1. For these to predict the future, we would have to concede a lack of free-will.
4B1a. However, tendencies can be examined that can point to probable future outcomes.
4B1a1. We can only then change those tendencies in the present to alter the future, which can even come about by a recaptulation of the past.
4B2. So in conceding free-will, we give into a nihilistic tendency to deny our own vitality & godhood.
4B2a. As superstitious people say: “It is God’s will.”
4B2a1. How we must loathe the axiom: “Not my will, but thy will be done.”
5. The present moment, then becomes a series of successive moements; successive ‘nows.’
5A. And though any preceding moment would already be in the past, the recovery of recent moments can help us to becomes more conscious of the present moment.
5A1. [Give Ouspensky example by talking about driving & catching facial expressions.]
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