7e. Being in the moment
Our government, and increasing ourselves, sometimes seem to exist to just to service the national debt and become full-time bean counters, justifying every action and every moment financially. The curse of ‘money consciousness’ is that it removes us from existing in the moment. We are either justifying our existence to the ‘system’ in some way, or planning how to purchase the next object of desire, or just get by. Money clearly puts us in the past or the future, never in the now. This is how consciousness of money destroys our ability to enjoy life.
Life has far more to offer. Joy, fun, transcendence, laughter, love; all the human things that make life worth living exist in the moment and we are blessed with hundreds of ways to find that moment. How do you want to spend your precious moments on this Earth?
So put the accounts away for a while, forget about the guilt of your wealth and go out to connect with the Universe, (unless of course ‘accounting’ is your thing!) Existing in the moment is extremely rewarding and utterly good for you! Here are twelve suggestions from my own personal favourites:
Growing, making, eating food. From planting the squash seeds, nurturing the little plants, watching them romp across the beds, enjoying the huge yellow flowers and the pleasure they give the bees, staring in rhapsody at the unique fruits they produce to the delight of picking, cooking and eating them, it is an experience without comparison. Eating food, like sex, is one of the very few activities which employ all of the senses and can be completely transcendent. I’m not saying I had sex with the squashes, but they were damn beautiful. ‘Growing your own’ puts you in touch with nature and its rhythms and seasons, increasing your awareness and contact with nature and the universe.
Physical work with nature. I find something as simple as sawing wood, mucking out a stable or digging soil to be an intensely pleasurable experience. It is so ‘clean’. You harvest the wood, you get warm. You saw the wood (no chainsaws here), you get warm again. You burn the wood – you get warm again in front of the fire. I have had many moments over the years where, totally absorbed in physical work with nature, lost for a time, transcended, I ‘come too’ and re-discover myself as an independent entity. Just sheer physical enjoyment of your body, your ‘animal’ nature, in sport or play or work can tune you into the universe.
Craft activity. Making things with your hands is also a way to become one with the universe. You can see this in pottery, knitting, watercolour painting and a whole host of art and craftwork where the creator has ‘transcended’ and become a vessel directly channelling the energies of the universe into the material through their own unique physiology. It is nothing short of fantastic when this happens to you and for a short moment you become ‘the one’.
Practising a sense of wonder. A sky full of stars never fails to move me. Get yourself to a place without light pollution and spend some time enjoying them. The Milky Way unfurled like a huge ribbon across the sky and uncountable pinpricks of twinkling lights glittering above. Excuse me while I wax rhapsodic but if you consciously realise each one of those pinpricks of light is another sun then that pretty quickly puts things in perspective. You are Nothing. The Universe is Infinite. Simply expand your nothingness into infinity ! There you go !
Enjoying time with children and animals. Children, dogs, cats and other animals are quite naturally ‘in the moment’. Join in with their world and play their games with them. Pretty soon you will discover a universe of fun filled hours covered in mud.
Sports. Another way to spend fun filled hours covered in mud, many sports can help you to connect with a sense of ‘one-ness’ through sheer physicality. From one-ness achieved through ‘Zen and the Art of Archery’ (mastery of craft, skill, sport) to the natural endorphins released through physical exertion. The more you put in, the more you get out – sports can leave you not only feeling (and looking) fit, but give you a deep connection and a feeling of unity.
Dancing. I used to enjoy ‘freelance’ dancing but someone turned me on to Salsa a few years ago and I found a suitable class. Discovering this dance led me to book my only ever long-haul flight I have taken to go to Cuba to learn from the natives. Talk about pure existence in the moment – I love dancing Salsa like nothing else. Maybe Salsa isn’t your dance but there are so many different forms of dance there is just bound to be one that suits you.
Making music. I have got this far writing this list and suddenly feel utterly blessed, because I can play the guitar. How many times has making music helped me transcend the everyday mundanity of ‘necessary’ existence. Music is a pure form of energy and creating it, even listening to it, can take you into another dimension. Through music you can transcend ordinary reality and become one with a universe of energy. Like dancing, there are many forms of music and many ways to create it. Percussive music, such as drumming can be deeply transformative, to strings to wind… Go on a search to ‘find your instrument’ and use it as a key to open the universe around you.
Singing, like music, has the power to transform not just yourself but those around you. Those of you lucky enough to have good voices, please sing more often. Those of you who are not so sure maybe sing to yourselves more. Or you could get some help or even adopt an instrument. Humming can be pretty good too. Harmonica anyone ?
Tantra. When I first discovered Tantra for myself, my friend claimed to be a Tantrika but resolutely refused to tell me what it was about. So I enrolled on a weekend course. It was simply the most amazing experience and completely beyond description. I have been on other courses with other teachers since then. It’s not what you think it is. It defies description. Go find out for yourself. Really connect with the nature in other people.
Loving relationships. Following on from the last, your partner (if you have one to love) is a gateway to the universe. Through union with another it is a short step to union with everything. Religions are very poor at letting you know this.
Mixing with elemental forces. Filled with awe at the Grand Canyon (earth), amazed at the stars (air / space), lost in the playful flames or relaxed by the rhythm of ocean waves – the elements in their raw state have a profound effect on a being open to their influence. Find raw elemental places in tune with your being and go to them to surrender yourself. Even create a ritual in which you combine the elements, for example building a chimney of rock with a fire in the middle as the tide comes in.
Meditation. To an extent all of the above are forms of ‘dynamic’ meditation. Many people practice Yoga, Tai chi, Qigong and other more formal forms of mediation and if this suits you it is a great way to open yourself to other ways of being ‘connected’.
The universe is always there, always waiting for us to be in it. The culture in which we exist seems contrived to separate us from being one with the universe. We do have a choice.
Parliament Must Die contains quotes from: A. Greenburg, M.D._Abraham Maslow_Albert Einstein _Alnoor Ladha_Andrew Gwynne _Anneke Lucas_Arthur Koestler _Arundhati Roy_Asgeir Jonsson _Barbara Max Paul Hubbard_Bertrand Russell _Bill Mollison _Buckminster Fuller_Calcida Jethá _Caroline Lucas_Charles the Great_Chief Arvol Looking Horse _Christopher Ryan_Copernicus_Daniel Christian Wahl_Daniel Pinchbeck_Darwin_David Edwards_David Holmgren _David Icke_Dieter Duhm_Donald Worster_Donnachadh McCarthy_Doreen Massey_Doris Lessing_Dr A Bartlett Giamatti _Dr Claire Wordley_Dr Jay Cullen_Dr Kathy Sykes _Dresden James_E C Lindeman_Eckhart Tolle_Edgar Cayce _Edward Snowden _Ethan C Roland _Ewen MacAskill_Galileo_Galtang and Ruge _George Monbiot_Gerald Heard _God in Genesis_Greta Thunberg_Gudrun Johnsen _Guido Dalla Casa _Gustave Le Bon_Guy Fawkes _Henry Cloud _Henryk Skolomowski_Isaac Cordal _J Eliot_Jack D Forbes_Jack Forbes_James Gordon M.D._James Lovelock _Jeremy Lent_Jeremy Rifkin_John Cleese _John Hammell_John Hilary_John Trudell_Jon Stone_Jonathan Bartley_Julian Assange_Karl Marx _Karlos Kukuburra_Ken Ward _Lee Williams _Leonard Higgins_Lierre Keith _Lord Strasburger_M Knowles_Maddy Harland _Marianne Williamson_Mark Boyle_Martin Kirk_Martin Winiecki_Masanobu Fukuoka _Matthieu Ricard_Mogens Herman Hansen _Nafeez Ahmed _Nanice Ellis_Neil Dawe_Nikola Tesla_Noam Chomsky_Olafur Hauksson _Osho_Paul Hawken_Paul Levy_Peter Joseph_Peter Macfadyen_Pope Francis_President Franklin Roosevelt _Rabindranath Tagore _Rene Descartes _Russell Brand_Safa Motesharrei _Seyyed Hossein Nasr_Sigmund Fraud_Silas Titus _Simon Mitchell_Sir David Attenborough_Sir Isaac Newton_Sir Joshua Stamp_Skip Sanders _Steve Kent _Sting_Terrence Mckenna_The Dalai Lama _Thomas Berry_Tom McKay_Tyler Durden_Walter Bradford Cannon_Wendell Berry_William Derham_Yaneer Bar-Yam
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