Eckhart Tolle has made a specialty of emphasizing the present moment. What is the present moment? As Yogi Berra said,"You mean now?" Yes, that is just what I mean. Thinkers have long noted that a minute ago or a year ago is in the past. We can remember some of what happened in the past. We can plan, predict and prepare for a minute from now or a year from now. But as those thinkers noted, we actually have only this now here. Our memories can be faulty or incomplete. Our plans, predictions and preparations can be inadequate. Completely unexpected events may occur and what we were confident would happen sometimes doesn't.
But this moment, this now - that is real. Often, getting into the now, sensing the present fully involves the body. Feeling this breath, feeling our balance as we stand or sit or lie down, closing our eyes and reopening them to see, really see, intensely see what is in our visual field. Listening to all the sounds available to us right now. Smelling all the scents and odors we can and feeling the air, our clothes, what our fingers and lips can right now.
If I look very carefully, if I observe deeply everything I can, I find there is too much to see, too much to hear, to smell, to sense. There is far too much to think about. Everything in sight stirs thoughts, associations, memories, hopes, plans. I don't want to get into them right now while I am exploring the present but I know they are there. I know there are too many nooks and crannies, too many unusual angles to really see everything, even everything that is right here. Too many associations, ideas, questions. I can only harvest some of them, later, not now.
