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.