The wisdom of living in the moment

How often do we say: “I don’t have time!” We go through life without knowing the wisdom of living in the moment. We live as slaves of the material world and its systems: work, money, numerous responsibilities, etc., which quickly consume our lives. When we are young, we long for the future and when we are old, we yearn for the past. The philosophy of initiation affirms that “The truth is the unknown from moment to moment.”

The fallacy of running after time

We feel that it is impossible to capture time and therefore the finiteness of existence causes us to feel tormented by the idea that we will not be able to obtain all that we would like to, nor do all that we wish to.

In times of old this fear did not exist; for people patiently respected the rhythms of nature. Thus, farmers were guided by the lunar calendar and, since there was no industrialisation, processes took much longer. A shoemaker, for example, would take months to complete a single pair of shoes or it would take centuries to build a church. In that pre-industrial time, where populations did not live crowded together in cities, and where there was so much less technology, happiness was understood to be found in the endurance of the spirit, as opposed to the ephemeral nature of matter.

“O Lord, what have we come to, that we weep for temporal damage and for a small gain we work and hurry, and the spiritual damage is forgotten” Thomas of Kempis.

The Sense of Wonder

The comforts and routines of everyday life dull our physical senses as well as the internal senses that we all possess.

Time consists of moments that we allocate to the systems of the world, moments that slip by without us extracting their conscious value. When we grasp the consciousness of this instant, here and now, we extract from it the valuable teaching that it brings us.

 If our consciousness is asleep and we do not recognise the wisdom of this ‘instantness’, we have sadly lost time.

Children who, with their characteristic enthusiasm, find little miracles to play with at every moment, prove to us how asleep our consciousness is.

 The routine of time, and its alienating mechanics, makes us lose our sense of wonder, nothing astonishes us any more, nothing makes us stop in our tracks to behold and appreciate.

To live in the moment is to realise that in every instant there is something new to discover about ourselves and the world around us, and that it is up to us to consciously take advantage of it or else allow ourselves to pass through the time that makes up our life without having learnt anything.

Those who live in the moment, attentive and aware of themselves in the here and now, expand their sense of wonder….

“The sense of wonder enables us to experience self-observation more intensely.”  V. M. Lakhsmi.

How to extract wisdom from the moment

Buddha was once asked “Who is a Holy Man?” and Buddha replied: “Every hour is divided into a certain number of seconds, and every second into a certain number of fractions. The holy man is the one who is able to be fully present in every fraction of a second”.

Learning to develop a sense of self-observation through the simple practice of the SOL key is the best way to make the most of the present moment.

Practice:

Begin by dividing your attention into three parts: subject, object, location.

• • Subject: answers the question Who am I? in close remembrance of oneself; without forgetting oneself in the face of any event.
  • Object: answers the question What am I doing? Without becoming identified with any thing or circumstance.
  • Location: answers the question What is this place? Observing the place in detail, asking oneself Why am I in this place?

Whoever carries out this triple division of attention into subject, object and location succeeds in tapping into the wisdom of the moment, as they awaken their consciousness, discover themselves and avoid falling into error.

If you are interested in learning more about these topics and how to make the most of the moment, we invite you to participate in our free self-knowledge courses.