The Present’s complete preclusion of time and form makes clear that nothing arises from, or appears in, the Present, Pure Being—and the Present is all that is present, eternally. An arising or appearance would take time, and at no point in Absolute Present-ness does a state of time, non-presence, begin or occur. (Even to say “preclusion of time and form” is inadequate, for even that gives too much status.)
The Infinity that the Present is, is Reality. Reality is not “deep”—Reality (what is real), is simply what really is—and only Present-ness, Infinity, really is. Nothing else is present to be Reality. One “starts here,” as said repeatedly, this is the “premise”—for the Present is all that is present to be a premise. What’s the alternative? To start with what is not present? Non-presence means not existing—so how is it possible to “start with” what doesn’t even exist? Non-existence couldn’t be Reality.
Perhaps the foregoing discussion of what the Present, Infinity, Reality, truly is, seems “too theoretical” because words are being used. As some may argue, “To even use a term ‘the Present’ is implying some sort of ontological ground of being; any conclusion regarding the allness of the Present, too, is merely a product of thought, conceptual, and is not ‘direct experience’.”
Then don’t use such a word as Present. Don’t use any words—just abide as pure un-thinking Awareness, or emptiness—the indescribable, indefinable “something-ness” that is no-thing—yet always now-alive. As the following excerpts show, One still can have a “direct experience” of the only-ness of the Present. But as said earlier, at this point It cannot even be called “experience” for It is the Present directly being Its own sensation-less, thought-less, timeless Pure Presence—which cannot then even be called an experience.
To illustrate what is meant by this, the following are excerpts from Chap 22, Time Never Began.
Present Consciousness. Two words. What do they really mean?
As said repeatedly, the fact that Consciousness is all there is to all Existence, means there never has been a physical, material world—anywhere, ever. If one were to even speak of what is called “the present day” or “all past events,” at most, all so-called events and times always would be only mental, or entirely “made out of” dream-thought.
Yet not even that is fully accurate. The fact that Consciousness’ Changeless Being is the entirety of what is present—as the Un-budging Absolute Present—leaves no possibility of time occurring! So not only has the so-called “past” never been physical—it hasn’t even been!
Only, only, only the Present is present—“everywhere.” As often as that has been said, this irrefutable Truth makes clear another huge point.
When it seems you ignore the Absolute Present You are, what would be happening?
In that instant, that would be creating all time—the entirety of time!
It literally would be creating all time for the very first time ever!
As Pure Conscious Being, as the Absolute Present Itself, You never say there was a past—only a false finite “sense-mind” or dream would try to say so. How does one not get fooled by it? Start from the true premise—that only the Unchanging Present, I-Am-Presence, is.
Now notice that whenever the finite thinking “sense-mind” tries to say there has been a long past, it is always right now when it’s saying that. The thinking would try to make it seem as if there has been this long, long past that stretches “way back there”—one that includes a recent past, and a much older past. Now look very closely where all—every last bit—of that so-called long past is. The entirety of it would be found only right here in that current thinking of it. The entirety of what is mistakenly called “the past” isn’t past at all—all of it is being projected only right now in that bunch of current thinking. That’s the only place you come up with any of it!
Stop reading and see if this is irrefutably true right here, now. Stay with this; keep “noticing” until absolutely certain. There simply is no evidence of a seeming “past” (emphasis on seeming!) apart from what seems to be the current thought of it.
Mistaken human belief would try to say there are both that current thinking of a past and the other “real” past—the one that occurred in a physical world at a previous time. Why is that not true? Because, again, absolutely all there is, is Consciousness—which precludes there being any physical world. And the fact that Consciousness, All, is changelessly Present only, precludes there having been any previous time.
The would-be ignorant “sense-mind” doesn’t realize that its “world” never is a separate physical world, but just its own dream-like thought. So all that the entire so-called past ever could have been “made out of” is thought. And when you examine it closely, you see the shocking truth—that dream-thought never is something that occurred “way back then”—for the entirety of it seems to be mentally projected only just now!
The above was also the subject of the post on 9/29 (Reality Precludes Objects). There never has been a physical objective world, so there can’t have been a “real past” in which physical events occurred. At most there would be only a “thought-past.” And now it’s clear that very seeming “thought-past” isn’t really past at all, but seems to occur only right now for the “first time ever.” Again, don’t just accept this—see right now “within yourself” that it’s irrefutably true.
Go ahead, try as hard as you can to come up with a little bit of a “past,” or a whole lot of it, in some place other than the current thought of it. It’s impossible.
No matter how far one tries to mentally shove a “past” back there—it actually has had no prior existence. The only place all of it would appear to be found is in the very thinking-dreaming of it starting now.
That’s all there would be to all of the so-called “past”—just that one big mental “panorama” or “thought-collage”—all of which begins now. This is clear only from the vantage point of the Absolute Present, wherein no time has been. Otherwise one mistakenly assumes time has some other, prior beginning. It doesn’t.
In the exact same way, the entirety of what is mistakenly called “history”—both “recent past” and “ancient past”—is encapsulated in the one momentary mental snapshot or thought in terms of it. From the vantage point of Absolute Present Awareness, it is clear that the entirety of so-called “history” isn’t history or old at all—it’s all one mental panorama being instantaneously thought or dreamed now. Always, it would be current thinking only imagining there is oldness.
Even though this book has repeatedly referred to the passing of time—from the vantage point of Present Consciousness, one sees that time never is passing. The entirety of time seems to be projected now.
One never, never, never leaves Now, Present Awareness.
This being true, how old is Your Present Being? How old is All?
Look closely. How many prior thoughts in terms of time, or time snapshots have you had before? Do you say billions? The answer is none. Why? Even what would be called all “prior” times and all their snapshots would be found only in this snapshot of time-thought, in the ignoring of the Present that would be going on now. All so-called time is found only in the dream-thought—but that’s not You, Pure Present Consciousness. And not even the dream is “old,” but seemingly began this instant.
What is far more important, in Reality, the Absolute Present Itself, the Totally Aware Being You are, never has any time-snapshots. Not one. And never is there another being present. The Absolute Present never leaves or alters Its Absoluteness. It leaves no past of anything.
From the vantage point of Present Consciousness, Reality, there is no such thing as a past that was. There is only a would-be past, that appears to be projected now in thought. And to even come up with such time-projections would mean first ignoring the Pure Present You are; trying to superimpose that time-thought upon Your Self. In Truth, not even that is possible, for the Present cannot ignore Its Absolute Presence.
Be alert and don’t assume that there has been any prior time—not even a time which you now have seen to be false. Not even that occurred, for only the Present is.
It is one thing for the foregoing to be clear. But more importantly, what is being “done” with It? The above is the same as saying there is no memory. The Present Itself certainly has no memory, and only the Present is present.
So “throughout the day” are you consciously being the Present, as Pure un-thinking Awareness, Alive Nowness?
Or is it a matter of fondly thinking back about what was read here as being true of the Present? If so, that would be merely a memory of the Present–exactly what the Present Itself is not! It would be dreaming–only now you’re dreaming that you’re “being spiritual.”
This does not mean to imply that there is another who sometimes can be, and sometimes not be, the Present. The Present Itself is the Only Self.
So if it “seems” there has been a wandering of attention, just ask Your Self, “Has the Present Itself lost sight of Itself? No–It is fully present NOW and never lapses. Is there another that could lose sight of the Present, and must return its attention to the Present? No. In fact, has there even been a “past” in which attention wandered–and now attention must be returned to the Present? NO!”
From p. 239:
Can the Present Itself ever fall or lapse? Can Being fail to be? One does not keep score, but “stays in,” or is, the unrelenting, un-backdown-able Present. That is the only “job”—staying alert and catching oneself, no matter how often it seems necessary. It’s never that you’ve “fallen” and must “climb back.” It’s staying alert that, as the Absolute Present, You leave no past in which You could have fallen!