NEGATIVITY AND SUFFERING HAVE THEIR ROOTS IN TIME

 

But the belief that the future will be better than the present is not

always an illusion. The present can be dreadful, and things can get

better in the future, and often they do.

Usually, the future is a replica of the past. Superficial changes are

possible, but real transformation is rare and depends upon whether

you can become present enough to dissolve the past by accessing the

power of the Now. What you perceive as future is an intrinsic part of

your state of consciousness now. If your mind carries a heavy burden

of past, you will experience more of the same. The past perpetuates

itself through lack of presence. The quality of your consciousness at

this moment is what shapes the future — which, of course, can only

be experienced as the Now.

You may win ten million dollars, but that kind of change is no more

than skin deep. You would simply continue to act out the same

conditioned patterns in more luxurious surroundings. Humans have

learned to split the atom. Instead of killing ten or twenty people with

a wooden club, one person can now kill a million just by pushing a

button. Is that real change?

If it is the quality of your consciousness at this moment that

determines the future, then what is it that determines the quality of

your consciousness? Your degree of presence. So the only place where

true change can occur and where the past can be dissolved is the

Now.

 

All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and

denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry — all

forms of fear — are caused by too much future, and not enough

presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness,

and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past, and not

enough presence. Most people find it difficult to believe that a state of

consciousness totally free of all negativity is possible. And yet this is

the liberated state to which all spiritual teachings point. It is the

promise of salvation, not in an illusory future but right here and now.

You may find it hard to recognize that time is the cause of your

suffering or your problems. You believe that they are caused by

specific situations in your life, and seen from a conventional

viewpoint, this is true. But until you have dealt with the basic

problem-making dysfunction of the mind — its attachment to past and

future and denial of the Now — problems are actually

interchangeable. If all your problems or perceived causes of suffering

or unhappiness were miraculously removed for you today, but you had

not become more present, more conscious, you would soon find

yourself with a similar set of problems or causes of suffering, like a

shadow that follows you wherever you go. Ultimately, there is only

one problem: the time-bound mind itself.

I cannot believe that I could ever reach a point where I am

completely free of my problems.

You are right. You can never reach that point because you are at that

point now.

There is no salvation in time. You cannot be free in the future.

Presence is the key to freedom, so you can only be free now.