Practice:
Our calendar is a constant reminder that we are on a continuum of time. We are ever moving away from one event and toward some unknown other events. This system suggests that The Now is no more important than what happened before and what will happen in the future. Today is just another day.
If now was always the year one, we would recognize more readily that the now is all there is. This, moment right now is the central event of history. It is the moment upon which the future pivots. The past recedes from now and the future explodes out of The Now as each act of each living being determines the future probabilities that bear fruit in the next moment of Now. Instead of waiting for something to happen, we would be constantly aware of the responsibility for our action or inaction to create the world. We would reside at the cusp of time, the event horizon that is our world coming into being. We would, perhaps understand that the world was not created long ago, but it is being created perpetually and immanently.
Imagine that starting now, the system of time keeping on Earth is changed so that events in the past are dated by their distance from Now. We already do this when we celebrate a centennial or bi-centennial. The event was 100 years or 200 years back from Now. So right now is The Year One. We are in the first second of the first hour of the first year. When you look at your digital watch, you see the readout 00:00.
Get the feel of keeping time in such a way. Now is happening. Now is happening. Now. It is all Now. You are not waiting for something to happen. Something is happening all the time. Some of the happening is still and quiet and some is not. All there is is Now. Be present for it.
© 2010 Tom Barrett