This
is a guided meditation on Living in the Here and Now.
To
get started, please have a look at the Meditation
Image, next return to read this text (you may also want
to print out the text).
Contemplate
on the meditation image for a while. If your
inner voice starts talking to your, listen to it, without interfering or
judging. Allow yourself to go on the journey and return to this text only in a
few minutes.
No
matter in what way you looked at the image, chances are that the flower in the
foreground attracted your attention again and again. No matter how deep you try
to delve into the cosmos, your daily life brings you back time after time.
This
is how most of us experience life, despite the far away goals that we set
ourselves. It is only in the future that we will know the meaning of experiences
and metaphors we encounter today.
Life
apparently is a series of lessons, which we can understand only later, but have to
take already today in order to reach the "later". Until then what we
need is faith that the obstacles and difficulties of our daily lives will make
us mature and grow spiritually.
It
is the shadows of the Here and Now that cast their gloom over our sunny skies.
It is precisely these shadows that make us fear the new morning and the day when
we have reached our goals. In the darkness of the shadows all that we have
suppressed becomes alive and according to the law of cause and effect (also
known as Karma) every small step we make in the present could cast its
shadows on the future, making sure that one day we will have to face the
consequences.
So
we muse for a little while how we could live a life free from mistakes, what it
would be like if we already knew the contents of our life's lessons. Wouldn't it be easier
if someone or some power could tell us what to do to reach our goal? Are the
'mistakes' we make in the Here and Now supposed to happen? Can we not be
different? - A confusing rainbow of questions. The clouds in the sky
along with their shadows show us ways that seem to be predestined for us to
choose. But the more we look at the chosen way, the more confused we get because
more and more ways become visible. If there are so many ways, how can we know
the right one? Again we are flooded with a sea of questions.
Finally
the flower in the foreground gets our attention again, waking our consciousness
and asking: "What are you worried about? Why are you wasting your energies?
Are you so carefree that all you have to deal with is tomorrow's tomorrow? You
are like a traveler to the Northern Pole asking all the time how to get there.
And if somebody told you that you are currently heading North but should head
South, would you head South?"
Your
present requests all of your attention Here and Now. Apply what you have already
learned in your daily life, avoid the mistakes you have already recognized as
such, and enjoy the flower of the presence when it presents itself. And even if
it lets you anticipate your tomorrow, you have to take the steps yourself. Maybe
the path would be shorter or less painful if you would know your lessons
already today, but would it be your path or just the idea of your
path?
Your
life wants to show you the Northern Light with ALL its charms and when you
follow, you can't miss the right path. The knowledge of the infinity of life in
the cosmos is rooted is this very moment of your presence, of the Here and Now,
and grows into a gentle flower of hope that will accompany you on your journey
to tomorrow.
If
you succeed in becoming the flower of today, you will reap the fruits of
tomorrow.
The
Beginning
