Learning to live in the Now has become the catch cry of the New Age. Of course, life is great when you can enjoy or appreciate all that is around you at any given point in time. However, as the multi-dimensional/spiritual being that you are, it is impossible to live exclusively in the present moment – this may even hinder your ability to evolve as a human being.
If you think about it, much of life and consciousness would be obliterated if you only focused on what, or who was physically in front of you right now. Does thinking about your deceased loved ones mean that you are living in the past? They exist only in your memory which in reality is NOT now.
When you dream during sleep you enter all sorts of non-physical realities that do not exist in this time/space dimension. Here you have access to much information about life, healing and so on that is not possible when you are awake and busy with undertaking the day’s activities. Meditation allows the same type of access to different levels of consciousness especially when you can manage deeper states of relaxation. Letting your mind wander by not being focused on any one thing (i.e. daydreaming) has the same effect.
Then you have the future – how can you not think about that? Buying a house, organizing a trip etc…you need to plan these things which involves placing your attention forward in time. Yes, you will need to take steps now to bring about these events but…you are thinking about things that have yet to happen and they may never happen since circumstances tend to change without any conscious effort on your part.
In my opinion, you would have to be devoid of consciousness in order to be able to exist only in the moment. The only thing that I can think of that functions in this way is a robot, a machine. Only they lack the capacity to reflect on the past, or the future, to dream, or to be aware of other dimensional frequencies. Where is the power in this state of being?
Helen
I don’t think when people say live in the moment they are saying forget the past or the future. I believe they want you to fully commit to others and things around you to truly experience and grasp the joy or lesson you are given in that day.
Only some people mean that, and yes, of course that is part of it. But I have been involved in New Age circles for over twenty years now, and what I see and hear most often is forget about your past and don’t think about your future because the universe will take care of everything. Taken to the extreme this is harmful especially when it comes to the past. Your history is an integral part of who you are now. By refusing to look at it you don’t learn anything or discover who you are.