In The Present

Posted on 10. Nov, 2009 by Ruda in Purpose

Photo by TON70

Is it possible to be aware of our lives in every moment, rather than in the ones we consider most important?  We all have things to look forward to, sometimes an entire life could be viewed as a series of these things, big and small, that we look forward to.  What happens in the time in between these events?  If I go through the week looking forward to a trip on Saturday, how is my experience of the week affected?

If we are living in a life full of tasks that we don’t enjoy, tasks that we are simply doing for survival, the chances of us living for these meaningful events is greater.  The more that this is true, the less that we are able to be present in every moment of our lives, because we want to escape the mundane.  We create these little things to look forward to so that we get pleasure from the wait.  In most circumstances, at least from what I can extrapolate form myself, the time spent waiting for the event to arrive has more aggregate pleasure than the event itself.  The expectancy gives us a little pleasure each day that we have to endure the mundane.

The downside to this kind of living is that all the time in between events is not really lived.  We are either escaping boredom or daydreaming the future.  We leave no room for the present.  The second downside is that even otherwise bearable or even pleasurable things could become a burden in the expectancy of something much larger.  Recently a friend recounted to me a story where he was trying to get to the top of a hill with a great view.  The entire hike up the hill was to him an annoying event because he was anxious to get to the view and that’s all he had in mind.  If perhaps he had not decided on a destination to head toward, he might have enjoyed the hike up as well.  The events we seek in the future have a habit of creating comparison with the present.

The future is not yet happening, not yet experienced.  This being the case, it should not keep recurring in our minds, much less dominate it.  It is one thing to plan things or create goals, but to live in the arrival of future pleasures is a waste of the present.  The present was the future at a past time in our lives.  Why don’t we try to absorb the most out of it?  There is some sense of pleasure to be attained just be being completely aware of one’s own existence.  This can happen in the present only, because we cannot feel the past or future completely.  With this pleasure in awareness, there ceases  to be a reason to dwell on the future as a source of satisfaction.  The future will become the present as we approach it and we can continue in our same state of consciousness.

Tags: awareness, future, happiness, life, perception, present