Timeless Moments

The present is supposed to be something that is not just the present moment but a continuum of present moments. That I knew for myself without referring to Chapter 5 in “No Boundaries”. What I want to see is how there is no past or future according to the philosophy behind the thought that only the present is the issue to think of. It keeps in line with the main theme of the book where as the author suggests, we should not be putting arbitrary boundaries between time events, that the present is not just do something to stick between the past and the future.

The present is pervasive it seems yet one would like to think of past events as having some relevance to the present and to the future. Ken does not argue against that, he just says that one has to live in the moment, to experience it for you to realize that there is no past and no future. The only recollection of what is past is in the memory as he goes on saying that the memory is something experienced in the present and not the past. Since the present is forever moving forward in what common man would like to measure through timed events, there is only the present to experience too because by the time the “future” has arrived it is already the present moment.

So the advise behind this is to live in the present moment which does not go well when you tell your kids to pan for the future and learn to sane their money for a rainy day. Then I would have to philosophize with them and say that they should not dwell on past events and should not be anxious about what they think will happen, they should instead be comfortable with the experiences that they are getting now. It would then be part of living in the moment and always living in the moment. That would also explain why that moment would be eternal and never ending according to this chapter.

There is one thing I would add that Wilber does not include in the chapter, what to do about remembering events even though they are not actually present but were part of a person’s reality in the past. Events such as the haulocaust and continuous disasters should be remembered for what they were so that people have a chance to reflect on how to live better and avoid the same mistakes if they can. If they see a tyrant coming to power just living in the moment might not be the answer to preventing his access to power. If they see that contnuing living along fault lines means an increased risk of falling victim to a natural disaster, I would not just live “in the moment”. Too much concentrating in the now, as the past and future are considered to be are own inventions of convenience, could also prevent people from taking the necessary action and avoiding or coping with those events.