There is a natural love of life. This love of life may also be called an attraction to the now, for life is now.
Here is a passage from The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle that I came across today (p. 71):
" Question: Even if I completely accept that ultimately time is an illusion, what difference is that going to make in my life?"
"Answer: Intellectual agreement is just another belief and won't make much difference to your life. To realize this truth, you need to live it. When every cell of your body is so present that it feels vibrant with life, and when you can feel that life every moment as the joy of Being, then it can be said that you are free of time."
Life is not primarily about "getting somewhere". It is about being here. When I become overly focused on "getting somewhere" something feels off, like a joint out of socket. This is feedback from an inner thermostat- it is the call or nudge to return to the true vocation of living fully in the eternal now. As life becomes more about being and less about "getting", I still move toward future goals, but with joy rather than compulsion.
There is a stronger attraction to what is present here right now than to even the most glorious possible future.
This is always the case even when the attraction to present reality is obscured by longing for imagined future gain. When I stop running away, sooner or later I feel reeled in by the attraction to the invisible heart of this moment.
When awareness touches the actuality of being alive in this moment there is contentment. Not a static contentment, but a dynamic contentment that blooms and shimmers.
"What to do
but draw a little nearer to
such ubiquity by remaining still."
(R. S. Thomas, excerpt from poem But the silence in the mind in Roger Housden's 2009 anthology)
(Photo is from Flickr public files)
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