in the present

[Guest guest]

M: I am always now in the present, and what is with me now shares in my

reality. The past is in memory, the future -- in imagination. There is

nothing in the present event itself that makes it stand out as real. It

may be some simple, periodical occurrence, like the striking of the

clock. In spite of our knowing that the successive strokes are

identical, the present stroke is quite different from the previous one

and the next -- as remembered, or expected. A thing focussed in the now

is with me, for I am ever present; it is my own reality that I impart

to the present event. We consider memories, only when they come into

the present The forgotten is not counted until one is reminded -- which

implies, bringing into the now. Things and thoughts have been changing

all the time. But the feeling that what is now is real has never

changed, even in dream. The blankness of deep sleep is due entirely to

the lack of specific memories

 

--Sri Nisargadatta