Did you ask yourself the question, what’s common in people who seem to „have arrived at their goal“ in their life?
What is the same with the millionaire, the happy person and the enlightened one, so that they can state „I have arrived!“
This is not a philosophical, but a very practical question.
In fact, this is one of the most practical questions there is, because it aims at the very core of the essence of seeking.
Doesn’t matter if you are seeking for a million dollar, happiness or enlightenment, wouldn’t it be interesting to know, if there is something there - at the place of fulfillment - that is the same for everyone?
This would be the ultimate state. Absolute contentment, happiness and enlightenment. WOW! The golden grail we are all seeking!
What is different?
Let us first have a look at what is different in all these seekers and finders.
What did they find in their state of fulfillment? Maybe then we can come closer to this mystery….
On first sight, the differences seem to be extreme.
One of them drives a Lamborghini and the other sits in a cave in the Himalayas. What are thy thinking? What are thy feeling?
Thousands of thoughts and feelings - some similar, most different.
How to gain insight there?
I can’t tell you much about the Lamborghini guy, but about the enlightenment seeker, that I have been for many years.
He defines his final goal like this:
- Truth
- Love
- Oneness
- Nonduality
- Connection
- Wisdom
- Peace
- Bliss
- I am everything
- I am nothing
- I create my life
- I am source
- God lies through me
- God is in me
- Everything is a dream
- There is something outside the dream
- Personal enlightenment
- Inpersonal enlightenment
- more consciousness
- Space
- Eternal Being
- Clarity
….and the list could go on and on and on.
Wow, this a pretty long list of things, what final goal and having arrived could mean. The longer we are on the spiritual path, the more meanings and goals we accumulate.
We are creative with words and meanings. Around these meanings, we create a spiritual lifestyle and suddenly its all about devotion, God, the Guru, Sex, Meditation and other paths to reach our goal.
Maybe you recognize, how heavy in meaning this all is?
And I’m sure, our Lamborghini-Guy is having similar goals for his lifestyle…
What is the same?
Let us come back to our initial question of what is the same for everyone who can claim „I have arrived at my goal!“.
What is the same in every finder - the enlightened and the millionaire - doesn’t matter which path they took and their different list of achievements on their path…
What has the finder „found“? What is he left with?
How does the state feel of having arrived?
Here comes the very practical and simple answer:
What they have in their arrived state is This.
This here. This now. This moment.
Only that. This what is right here.
Totally unspiritual. Total normal.
Doesn’t matter where you are, how far you have traveled, how wise and loving, how rich or enlightened you are - the only thing what is is this moment here.
You are reading these words. There are thoughts and feelings.
There is this room. This moment here is the same for everyone.
Not the content! Not the thought! Not the feeling! No…
But this moment is the same for everyone.
In this moment here there is no question about who you are.
In this moment here there is no question if you are enlightened or happy.
For this moment here you don’t need concepts or plans.
For this moment here you don’t need Eckhart Tolle, Zen or any practice to try to come into the Now.
For this moment here there is no Now. What should a „Now“ be and why would you need it?
This moment here is totally simple - unthinkable easy!
It doesn’t get more or less through your effort.
For this moment here you don’t need to read books or attend spiritual meetings.
For this moment here you don’t need to understand. You can be unintelligent, broken and totally un-spiritual.
Even if you are too stupid to understand this, the only thing you are left with is this moment here.
You can’t be so stupid, that this moment here is withheld from you!
This moment here is everything you are left with and the ultimate justice.
You can’t buy this moment here, not work for it or even earn it.
This moment here is everything?? Yes, this moment here is everything. There is nothing else.
There is even no room for anything else, because for more than everything there is not enough space in this moment here!
Why have you meditated your whole life, went to workshops, looked for yourself, went to therapy and got rebirthed?
Because everything led you to this moment here.
All your life you were searching for your true home, something that doesn’t change, to find safety - all the time it always was this moment here.
„But there is still this ego and I am suffering!!!“, says one voice inside your head.
Even that voice is in this moment here.
This moment here doesn’t care if you got an ego or not.
This moment here is just this moment here with or without happiness.
Just remind yourself:
With or without ego - with or without happiness - with or without enlightenment:
Everything you can ever have is this moment here.
So the next time you meet an enlightened person at the grocery store, then remember, that this moment here - buying stuff at the grocery - is everything. It is the same moment - in this case even with the same content!
While you get into your Lamborghini to drive the 50m back home to your Villa, all this searching suddenly appears very strange to you.
In this moment here you don’t know, that your cryptocurrency has crashed, and this moment here will soon appear in its new form of being a homeless person.
By this time, it won’t matter anymore, because you will have found the answer to all your questions: It is only this moment here.
To my beloved muse Kira. I love you
I just joined Steemit yesterday and this is the first post I'm upvoting. What a joy to find such quality writing on here. I was skeptical about what I would find, but now I feel like I do fit here.
Yes, what we have is always this moment. So much of my path these days has been about getting myself out of that forward grasping stance that is so habitual in our lives. Even when we're grasping at lofty goals like enlightenment, it still remains something we hope for, not something we are. Over and over, I have to keep reminding myself to abandon hope and embrace this moment. Deep bows, my friend. Nice to meet you.
Let´s celebrate another premiere: I just gave you the first 100% upvote on a comment since I'm here at Steemit! (This is nothing you normally do with comments, because you have to watch your Voting Power, which replenishes itself only by 20%/day total)
Your words are giving me goosebumps and I'm deeply grateful ❤️
Thank you for your comment, that is not only warming my heart, but will always be remembered as one of these moments that changed everything.....
It´s my honor and pleasure that you found your way here and I deeply hope, that your stay will be a marvelous one!
So many thoughts in reply to your comment! First, I'm so glad to hear that something I shared meant as much to you as what you shared meant to me.
Second, wait... we only can upvote but so many posts per day?
I'm so new, I really don't get much of this. Sorry if that's something I should know from somewhere, but if you could explain it is appreciated.
Third, you are helping me to become more and more excited about Steemit and what is possible here for spiritual community. Wow.
You are very welcome! Yeah, it also took me some weeks to understand all the factors here. One tool that I use daily is Steemworld - under steemworld.org/@indigoocean you will find your Voting Power and many other details. You will need a certain amount of Steem Power to be able to adjust you upvote though. Good to keep your Voting Power between 80-90%. Basically I would recommend to read newbie articles here (there are many) and understand Steem, SBD, Steem Power and Voting Power as a concept - the rest will come by its own. I don´t have the time to explain it in detail right now, but when you got questions feel free to ask anytime.
I´m falling in love with Steem everyday more and more.... ❤️
Thanks so much for your generosity.
YES! " This moment is everything"
Time is a thought construct, an illusion. There is only this moment, past and future is a thought product, for without thoughts there cannot be anything outside this moment. The past itself has nothing at all to do with this moment, exclusively thought attachment.
Great post as usual :)
Well...I must say you did good job with that post. I'm impressed. Honestly.
However...can we say that this moment has any value on it's own when we know that every person is perceiving it differently (and many of them didn't even know about having it because they are somewhere else, usually in the future or in the past). Everything is in the eye of beholder. Or maybe out of it...hm, maybe that post will help with...sight correction that some of us needs...
And about lambo-man and caveman...meditating in lambo is much more comfortable than meditating in a cave.
Well, stripped from its content, this moment has no other value than just be.
It´s the only thing that is though - all else is speculation and made up stuff.
So regarding "reality" (or the lack thereof) you have the seemingly choice between what is real (= being) and what is imagined. Yes, most people are used to (or "prefer") imagination over beingness - it´s the literal "fall from grace" and leaving paradise in eating the apple of knowledge (in more biblical terms). So we could say, that knowing what this moment is, is a way of preventing it to be.
Even the notion of "value" is only about an imagined content and of no concern for this moment. There is no value (or lack thereof) for the present moment.
Thank you for your beautiful comment and your openness to take this exploration deeper!
followed - you totaly get it.
We are either in relationship with reality - only possible through our senses.
or
in relationship with some version of it as filtered through the conditions we place on it.
the conditions are our beliefs, they bounce around in our head until we stop reacting to them with the very emotion that empowered them. Tricking our biology into storing them as body memory an in-tension.
When we dont mind what happens next, everything is rich in texture and detail as our focus is un diluted and our biology can respond to its environment rather than some movie in our head.
it is all a bit of joke really.
trying to use the mind to escape it is like putting out a fire with petrol :)
fear or fomo is oxygen that feeds it. observe with equanimity and it is starved of the emotion it requires. make that a goal and we remain attached.
Absolutely right - and even easier: Just stay as the presence that you already are. This is too simple though.... Truth is so simple, if it were complicated, everyone would get it. 😀Thank you and I followed you too!
yes it is hilarious
humour is my lifeline back to sensation
gets stretched awful thin lol
Ah, the present moment, how beautiful it is, flowing through us in all it's glory.
I've just written My own post on My experience of the Now and enjoyed reading this. Thank You :)
Thanks for getting in touch! I love to see more people interested in these topics here. ❤️
Sweet, You might like My post then ;)
I’ve added it here if you’re interested in meditation and the present moment
@atmosblack this post if great! I often sit and drive myself crazy by thinking that this exact moment is the present in terms of time, but by the time i think the entire thought it is now the future of when i first started thinking about that moment. Very hard to explain but i think you will understand where i am coming from. Great post once again.
Thank you! I know what you mean. I guess the reason why you can´t find the present moment is, because there is none - at least not for the mind, that tries to find it 😀
This moment I was once discouraged with things but this moment here I'm encouraged by a post like this. Good job
Thank you! Blessings!
@atmosblack Excellent article! Keep up the good work!
Interesting topic, thank you for your post. I see mainly two sides two the wish to arrive and the mindfulness of staying present in the moment.
Actually I see two main strategies of dealing with desire. The desire for arriving / enlightenment can guide us to a path of mindful presence. So it‘s good in a way. In Buddhism there is a lot of advice of letting all desire go. This would make as instantly present and more accepting, even though it usually takes a lot of practice.
So having no goals and not trying to achieve anything would let us simply be, in this moment. On the other hand desire motivates us to do all the things that make us and our loved ones happy.
For my everyday life it‘s part time focus on outcomes and part time just being. That way I can balance the two.
Thanks for your comment and bringing up the topic of desire.
It seems, as if I should write about this next - because the way I see desire, it is nothing that has the potential to bring you out of this moment, if seen in the right way... Desire ist just a foreshadowing of what is to come - kind of a teaser of "Coming to a consciousness nearby soon!"
I guess, I need to explain this further in one of the next articles...
There is nothing wrong with goals - they also just appear in this moment.
The question only is, how (and if) you react to these appearing goals and treat them as a carrot in front of your nose you are running after...
phew well done that is very hard to address.
there is an intense sense of fun to move with intent, enjoying both the movement and where it leads. I guess the "happy one" remains sensitive to whatever arrives.
the strategy unfolds as both a mystery and an understanding
In trusting our senses, much fear is avoided.
in our minds, there is no texture for our biology to relate to beyond the tension of our in-tension lol.
it is impossible to understand an illusion, it can not be experienced can not be understood, so can not be trusted, fear is bound to arise in such a place.
blah blah - you get it, I am still writing ha ha, so I am still playing with mind :)
haha Feel free to play with mind - as long as you realize it... Take care of your hand when feeding it - it may bite you. You have been warned! 😀
indeed, I am frequently both in and out of my mind :)
Perhaps the most important thing for inner state "here and now" is to stop finding for your way, because we can not lose it, really. But start looking at world around for things and persons that interesting and inspirational, here and now... Thank you for article.
People often forget that the only thing that exist is this moment. The past and future are continually folding into the present moment. We can use this moment like a dumbwaiter to explore the various levels of our consciousness and connect to that which dreams or reality. Thank you for sharing.
Yes focusing present moment is very important for mindfulness and for success. Thanx @atmosblack
You´re welcome! It´s my pleasure to serve ❤️
each and everything in one single post, great keep up...
Here and now is the basis of everything. Nice text :)
Thank you! ❤️
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