“We are always thinking that the satisfaction of life will be coming later.
Don’t kid yourself. Only suckers put hope in the future. There isn’t much of a future. You’re going to die.
Therefore this hope for the future is a hoax. It’s a perfect hoax because you’re not fully alive now. You think maybe someday you will be …
The Christian word for “sinning” in Greek is amatanene, which means “to miss the point.”
And the point is eternal life which is here and now.
Come to your senses …”
— Alan Watts
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A huge quote, a ruthlessly upfront quote, to lead with – but a crucial one.
The secret to a life well-lived lies in the present moment. Yet most humans are notorious time-travellers; we live anywhere but here.
You might think I’ve been banging on about this for too long.
“Yeah yeah, I know this, I’ve heard it all before. Give me something new, Arjuna!”.
While it’s easy to do, try not to “Yeah yeah” the simple truths such as this one, for they are the most powerful, the most life changing.
This message is repeated because it seems to be the hardest thing for our doing and getting and consumer oriented brain to get around.
The needing something new IS the trouble. The future IS the trouble – the source of all our troubles.
We live in a brutally fast-changing, uncertain and insecure world where it would seem everything is being thrown up in the air. One look at your media channels and you’ll find plenty of drama and chaos to be lost, confused and fearful of.
In order to navigate all this change and uncertainty, in order to make the difference you want to make and to be the lighthouse you know you can be, you have to live life differently.
One of the most brutal habits we have is thinking that another moment will be better than this one, so much so we skip this for that.
As the great Alan Watts so powerfully puts it, we think we’ll be more alive someday, in some other moment.
“When this settles back to normal”; “When I get better and more evolved, when I learn more”; “When I have x, y, or z … I’ll be happy and calm and powerful, then”.
Don’t miss the point – the point of life.
Come to your senses, don’t put your trust in time. Be alive now.
Literally … come to your senses.
As Watts goes on to say, when you truly listen, can you actually hear the past? Can you hear the future? Can you see it with your eyes? Touch it with your fingers? Smell it, taste it, BE it?
When you truly align yourself in your Self and the present moment, the past and future disappears. It vanishes. All that is left is now.
Here life begins. Anew. Renewed. Vigorous and exciting and complete; free of need, addiction, drama and fear.
This IS the point especially when you have responsibilities to take care of and dreams to chase … it is.
You can only align with the greatest version of you here and now.
Here, the very best of you can come through.
There is no better you, there is no better moment, because this is it.
Don’t waste now, for pity's sake, thinking – like I have for so many years – thinking, believing, that the future will be more worthy than what you can taste directly, right now.
Don’t postpone your life, please.
Now –
It’ll take repetition, but only because we have built such an addiction to time.
Gentle repetition, gentle reminders, gentle releasing of the habit of time.
So get going now; don’t postpone your life.
And should I be able to assist in this inner path of yours, please let me know.
Go well my friend.
Arjuna