C3/CCC Sermon Transcript for October 26, 2008 Namaste. I honor this moment. It is a gift, full of beauty and truth. In this moment, there is nothing to fear and there is nothing to prove. There is nothing to do, and there is nothing to achieve. Just be at peace with what is; the gentle sounds that fill the air, the aromas and energies that fill your senses. Inhale the moment. You are immersed in this moment like salt in an immense ocean; time and space dissolve into one taste of Now. Taste the moment. All you who are carrying heavy burdens and anxiety, taste the moment. It demands nothing of you, but your presence. All you who are troubled and lonely, taste the moment. It is your companion, full of peace and perfection. Take the advice of Wendell Berry. When despair for the world grows in you and you wake in the night at the least sound, in fear of what your life and your children's lives may be, go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. Come into the peace of wild things that do not trouble their lives with forethought of grief. Come into the presence of still water and feel above you the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time, rest in the grace of the world. You are free. You are safe. You are embraced by divine presence. What in this moment is lacking? Absolutely nothing. Presence is Dan Millman’s fourth Law of Spirit. So far we have explored choice, balance and process. Now we move to an exploration of the power of being immersed in the present moment. Aldous Huxley described being present to the moment as part of the perennial philosophy, meaning that it is universal wisdom, emphasized in many traditions. Jesus said, “Consider the lilies. They neither toil, nor spin….let tomorrow take care of itself.” The Buddha described it like this- “Don't chase after the past, don't seek the future; The past is gone, the future hasn't come. But see clearly on the spot the object which is now, while finding and living in a still, unmoving state of mind.” Rabbi Hillel said, “If not now, when?” Hopi Elders said, “This is the Hour and we are the ones we have been waiting for.” Jon Kabat Zinn said, “Wherever you go, there you are.” And of course, Kermit the Frog, with his timeless wisdom, “Times fun when you’re having flies.” The Challenge of Living in the Moment It seems an obvious point to live in the moment, and yet it’s also one of the hardest truths to live. It’s hard to let go of past hurts and fears. It’s hard to let go of the nagging desire to control the future. You start a relationship based on an ideal of some better time to be. You don’t start a relationship because you imagine something, or someone, better is around the corner. You switch jobs in search of the promised land of all jobs. You stay in a job because it feels safe compared to the new and unknown opportunity that beckons. In times of crisis, ancient beliefs and loyalties take you back where you thought you would never tread again. The promise of some future salvation lures you forward. The truth is that the past is nothing but memory, often intruding in your life like an unwelcome guest at midnight. The future is nothing but projection, often casting a shadow over your life like storm clouds. You hold your breath, for fear of allowing yourself to fully embrace the moment. So many people are holding your breath, waiting for November 4 to see if your candidate wins office? There is an almost surreal expectation around the election, as if you will wake up on November 5 to an actual new world. The sun will shine brighter (or if you are in Michigan, the sun will actually shine), birds will chirp in harmony, all will be sweetness and light. Your preferred candidate will usher in a new world order. There is a mixture of anxiety and unrealistic expectations, so much nervous energy. I came up with the perfect solution to election anxiety. I leave for Australia on November 3, fly for 20 hours and with the time change, arrive on November 5. That means that November 4 will not even exist in my experience. What a relief! As Charles Schulz (creator of Charlie Brown) said, “Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.” Do you remember the Y2K scare that computers would crash when clocks rolled over to 2000? It was very amusing to us in Australia, one of earliest first time zones, that January 1, 2000 arrived without incident and yet people in other parts of the world still fretted about what would happen to them? We love to worry, don’t we? Try saying to yourself- “November 4 will come and November 4 will go. I will caste my vote and leave the rest to chance. I will do what I can do, and not take on the whole world. The new president will do their best, but I don’t expect miracles. There is so much more at play than one person, or even one party’s style and policies.” Whatever you do, don’t miss the opportunity for each day of growth and new understanding. Secrets will be revealed to you in the days before and after November 4; secrets about your own journey, why you worry about what you worry about, what you care about and why. Whatever you do, stay present to the treasures and wisdom that will be revealed to you each and every day. Mental Time Travel As if the present moment does not contain enough beauty of its own, we so often engage in mental time travel. We travel back in time, at least our mind’s best effort to reconstruct the past. It’s like living life through the rear view mirror. The problem with living life through the rear view mirror is that objects (and memories) appear larger than they really are. Situations that were challenging in the past might not be so challenging now that you have more courage and wisdom. Your fear that the hurts of the past will repeat is disproportionate compared to your ever expanding ability to deal with life as it emerges. Quit judging yourself for who you used to be. Give yourself a break. The same challenges may arise, but this time you are ready. You are a new person, stronger, smarter and wiser. We also travel forward in time, at least our mind’s best attempt to guess the future. It’s the same problem. You think about the future from the level of wisdom and courage you have now, forgetting that you will be different, wiser and stronger by the time the future arrives. Mental time travel leads to such a distorted sense of identity, and so much unnecessary suffering. Balancing Planning and The Moment Of course, it’s essential to do some mental time traveling. That’s how you learn from the past and anticipate the future. It’s right to plan ahead. So how do you balance planning with living in the moment? How do you conduct your mental time travel without it becoming unhealthy or painful? Very young children live completely in the moment. Development brings the ability (and pitfalls) of mental time travel. Scientific studies were done on a group of children aged 3 to 5. The group was told they were going to the mountains and they could bring one item with them; lunch, a comb or a bowl. The four and five year olds all chose to bring lunch, knowing that they would eventually get hungry. The three year olds all chose either the comb or the bowl. Why would they choose lunch if they’re not hungry? Mental time travel is a necessary survival tool. It’s the only way we can learn from the past and prepare for the future. So how do we avoid the pitfalls? Its all about balance.
How often do you think to yourself- “I can’t imagine how I could handle a new job, being a parent, moving house, coping with a sickness”? But you have before, and you will again. As each new challenge arises, you find new resources to deal with it.
How does your religious or spiritual understanding resource you to live in the moment?
Christianity and Living in the Moment Christianity hasn’t always helped. It’s often been very future oriented, as if this world and this moment is not good enough. One of my favorite stories, am urban myth I’m sure, comes from Little Rock Arkansas. A woman was killed after leaping through her moving car's sun roof. Her husband, who was driving, described it as a mistaken rapture. The accident led to a 20-car pile up and 13 other injuries, as a mass of cars tried to avoid the woman who had become convinced that she had seen 12 people floating up into the air at the same time as seeing a man on the side of the road she believed to be Jesus. Her husband told the story - “She believed it was the rapture. She was screaming 'He's back! He's back!’ And she climbed onto the roof of the car. I was slowing down but she wouldn't stop.” As it turns out, the Jesus look-alike on the side of the road was on his way to a toga party. He had stopped his truck by the side of the road, when the tarp had become loose and released 12 blow up dolls filled with helium which floated into the air. The man, who had been told by several friends that he looked like Jesus, pulled his car over and lifted his arms in the air in frustration. Living in the Perfect Tense Christianity that has been focused on some future salvation has run the risk of missing the salvation that is here and now. Jesus said to Zacheus, you know the short guy who climbed a tree to see Jesus, “TODAY, salvation has come to your house”. Not tomorrow, but today! Jesus went to great lengths to teach that the kingdom would be revealed to those who open their eyes to what is already around them. Rumi, the great poet and teacher of Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam, said ‘past and future veil God from our sight; burn up both of them with fire.’ Salvation is now. It has come already. I wonder if you have read the book, White Teeth, by Zadie Smith? She offers a beautiful turn of phrase when describing the passage of time. She says; don’t fall for 'the myth, the wicked lie, that the past is always tense and the future, perfect'. It’s a myth that religion has so often perpetuated. The past is what it is, and what your memory makes of it. You make the future perfect by living fully in the present. That’s salvation. The Greek text for “salvation has come” uses a grammatical form called the perfect tense. In other words, everything that needs to be done is already done. It all collides in this moment; everything necessary for salvation comes together in this moment. The point here is, “live your life in the perfect tense.” You lack nothing in this moment. You need nothing in this moment. All is perfect right now. All your plans that come from a place of sufficiency will succeed. Plans that come from anxiety and scarcity will breed more of the same. Living with Mindfulness Zen says “before enlightenment, I chopped wood. After enlightenment, I chop wood.” Life is ordinary, but when lived with mindfulness or consciousness life becomes extraordinary. You realize your incredible power to act decisively in the moment, as well as your connection to so many others. Try this practice. When chopping wood, say to yourself, “This is me chopping wood.” Salvation has come. When washing dishes, say to yourself, “This is me washing dishes.” Salvation has come. When worrying about the elections, say to yourself, “This is me worrying about the elections.” Bring yourself back to the moment, even when you have drifted into some mental time travel. Thich Nhat Hanh offers a practice that combines mindfulness with a sense of the interdependence of all things in the moment in his book Present Moment, Wonderful Moment.While getting dressed, he suggests you say “Putting on these clothes, I am grateful to those who made them and to the materials from which they were made. I wish that everyone could have enough to wear.” Secrets are waiting to be revealed to you, if you just stay awake; secrets about yourself and the mysterious interrelatedness of the world. Sometimes it takes a young child to remind us to stay awake to the moment. I have a special memory of a phase in life when I spent Fridays with my two-year-old son. Darcy and I would walk. We walked and sometimes, we even walked backwards. Occasionally, we walked with our eyes shut. We smelt flowers. We got lost as often as possible. One of our favorite tricks was running sticks along the metal fence of the Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall. It occasionally disturbed the meetings taking place inside, and briefly the attention of these pious people was diverted from their future hope discussions to the reality outside. They probably expected trouble, yet when they looked, all they saw was a young child and his dad, both being kids. I often imagine that they might have pitied us as people who had no future hope according to their religious beliefs. If only they knew. If only they realized that this was one of the times in my life when I felt most alive and hopeful; precisely because nothing was further from my mind than the future. Salvation has come. I finish with some Indian wisdom-
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