Now is the Only Time that Is

Since the events of September 11^th , more people are trying t focus on spirituality and living in the present. These events have awakened many to the fact that there are no guarantees for the future. It is only by realizing that each breath is a precious gift, can we become truly in tune with the value of life. Taking life for granite seems to have become a secular norm. Billions of people bustle threw the day with too many expectations. Too often, the moment is spent in slow death or escape. Millions attempt to survive the day by soothing themselves with tons of sedatives, antidepressants, and street drugs and wash them down with billions of gallons of alcohol. Still they're jittery and discontent. We have over two million incarcerated, over 750, 000 in asylums and about 20,000 suicides per year. What's wrong in "the land of milk and honey?" Simple, when you resent the past, and fear the future, you can't make changes in the present. We become frozen, unable to move, in the same manner as Lot's wife was stuck by looking back.

The Chinese symbol for crisis is the same symbol for opportunity. When what we have been doing no longer works or no longer exists, we are faced with the need to create new responses to living. Death of a loved one, divorce, illness, and bankruptcy all require a redefining of our choices in living. Our apartness is as much a part of life as our togetherness and is more defining of who we are as individuals. This doesn't mean it's not a painful process.

This is a more difficult process if we stay focused on the injustice, the pain, and suffering. Perhaps we can borrow from Biblical lessons and learn to "turn the other check." I don't think that passage means to condone injustice. What it means is that we need to turn our attention in another direction in order to heal. We cannot solve problems in the same mind-set as when the problem started.

Now is the only time that is... This may sound very simplistic. Yet, it is a very simple concept for a very complicated way of life. Far too many individuals waste precious life times dwelling in the past or fearing the future. They never learn that life is like a precious string of pearls strung one at a time. If we were to sow one seed each day, and pull one weed each day, how long would it take to produce a beautiful garden? If we curse the burnt grass and the weeds, does anything really change?