We constantly walk a line between the lessons of the past and the uncertainties of the future. Every moment is relative to the previous and the next, in a continuous flow.
Living in the Present
Living in the present may at first strike us as selfish or superficial, but once we have made a commitment to always acting in the interests of others, then freeing ourselves from the anchors of time is extremely liberating, and it means we can get on with so much more.
We can spend the rest of our days attempting to become some imagined, perfect person. But, we’ll never reach the place of perfection. The path to perfection will only lead to exhaustion and disappointment — meanwhile, our actual life will be passing us by.
Peaceful, Practical Approach
The more peaceful and practical approach is simply to be ourself every moment, accept that being human is a messy ordeal, and learn to be okay with the presence of difficult situations. There’s no actual happiness to be found in always trying to be someone else at a future time, because we’ll never quite get there.
Deep Acceptance
So why not show up fully, right here, right now? We can allow ourself to let go of the idea that who we are already isn’t enough, and realize this deep acceptance is the path to real freedom.
In the Shambhala tradition, becoming a warrior doesn’t mean fighting, but rather being beyond war altogether.
Practicing gentleness toward ourselves and our world, and fearlessness in being willing to face fear without flinching, Shambhala warriors learn to exercise intelligence in meeting the challenge of being present in every moment.
Ludwig van Beethoven ( 1770-1827 ) was a musical genius. He was also an emotionally wounded, profoundly neurotic person. He was tortured by inner conflicts throughout his life. He suffered from inner divisions, split between his massive idealism about human nature and the misanthropic, angry, spiteful man he could be. He was tortured by his own behavior. He was suicidal off and on for significant periods of time throughout his life. And, even in his most stable periods, he could appear to be just on the brink of madness.
Bhagavad Gita Influence
In search for psychological and spiritual survival, Beethoven combed the world’s great literature. In the process, he discovered the Bhagavad Gita. He read it intensely. He made notes from it — and from other Hindu scriptures — and kept the sacred passages in plain view under glass on his desk.
Beethoven scribbled the following quote from the Bhagavad Gita into his personal diary:
Blessed is the man who, having subdued all his passions, performs with his active faculties all the functions of life, unconcerned about the event... Be not one whose motive for action is the hope of reward. Perform your duty, abandon all thought of consequence, and make the event equal, whether it terminates in good or evil; for such an equality is called yoga.
In his quest to make meaning of his suffering, Beethoven enacted in his life virtually all the key teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.
Wakeful presence is always with us whether we notice it or not. We don’t have to cook it up, make it better, or hold on to it. In fact, we can’t do any of those things, because wakeful presence is unconditional — it’s our inheritance from the heart of the universe.
Our Basic Nature
Our most deeply entrenched habit is to identify ourselves with changing conditions — especially the ones we call I, me, or mine. And, we take them personally. But by training to shift our sense of identification, our loyalty shifts to our capacity for being conscious of present circumstances, and we rediscover our basic nature — wakeful presence.
Who Knows Anyhow? 