Return to the Present

Prayer for the Day presented by Steve Taylor.

Good morning.

In the 17th century, the French philosopher Pascal complained that human beings rarely live in the present. As he wrote, ‘We wander about in times that do not belong to us, and do not think of the only one that does…We dream of times that are not and blindly flee the only one that is… Thus we never actually live, but hope to live.’

Human beings haven’t changed very much over the last four centuries. In my view, the fact that we don’t spend much time in the present is the reason why we often feel discontented. Most of our unhappiness comes from thinking about the future or the past. We think about the future we feel anxious. We think about the past and feel emotions like regret and guilt.

But what happens when we think about the present? In actual fact, we can’t really think about the present. We just experience it. As soon as you start thinking, you are no longer present. Living in the present just means paying attention to your surroundings, or to how you feel right now.

Maybe today, try to keep your attention in the present. Focus on the buildings, people and objects around you. Pay attention to the natural phenomena around you – the trees, the sky, the clouds, the flowers. Be aware of your breathing and your body. Hopefully you’ll find that you immediately start to feel more contented. As I have expressed it poetically:

Only the now is real.
An unreal past can’t hurt you
as a shadow can’t break the ground.
An unreal future can’t hurt you
as a reflection can’t break the surface of a lake.

Only your mind can hurt you
when it wanders away from now
and loses itself in restless thoughts
of unreal times and places.

Blessings.