Words such as present and now are great “pointers.” However, they often are misunderstood (when in the so-called realm of words and thoughts). As discussed earlier (10/4 post – “Does Infinity co-exist with an ‘arising’ Pt. 2”)—the misunderstood meaning of present and other words is often brought to the subject of spirituality, and seems to obscure what is said concerning Infinite Reality, Absolute Truth.
Reality check: The Present that is present now, can be neither understood or misunderstood, for It is not in the so-called realm of thought. The Present cannot be obscure to Its own Presence. The Present simply, freely, un-thinkingly is, as Pure Awareness. As the Present Itself is the only Self that is present, It leaves no other self to either understand or misunderstand.
Present means having existence. It means being or that which is. Present means now existing.
Now look closely and be specific and clear as to what present actually is.
In the definition of present, there is absolutely no reference to, and no provision for, time. None. Present, which is a state of pure IS, doesn’t involve so much as a nanosecond of was or will be. The word was means no-longer-present and will be means not-yet-present—neither of which is anything like being present. The meaning of present, when considered by itself alone, actually has no relationship to time, past or future—for they would be not-the-Present or non-presence. Be clear that when speaking in terms of that which is present, it cannot be related to time in any way.
That which is present, or the Present Itself, is time-less. In the Present’s Pure IS, there is no state of is-not-yet and is-not-anymore. There is only IS—wherein time does not occur.
The Present is the absence of time.
As you read these posts, stop frequently to “be still” or silent, because only this is what is present. This still Present-ness is the presence of Awareness Itself—for only It is being This. Here, there is no need for pointing. Reading words and thinking would be a process; it moves from one thought to the next; it takes time. Time seems to occur only on the “level” of thinking and sensing—not Infinite Awareness. So trying to think what the Present is never will succeed. One only can be the Present, as Pure Awareness.
The following points are covered here quickly. They are covered in much more detail in CIA chaps 1, 12, 21, 22, 23.
Did you ever stop to notice that the Present always is present and never, ever goes away? Why is that? What “makes” the Present be present?
It is thanks to Awareness, Consciousness, as It now is being. A little Self-investigation makes clear that Infinite Awareness literally is what the Present is. The Present isn’t something separate that Awareness is aware of. Awareness as It is being aware here, now, simply cannot be taken out of being present. This ever-present Awareness, being boundlessly greater than what appears as an entire stellar universe and all things therein, is what is called the Present Itself.
Just as the Present never changes from being present, Pure Awareness never changes from being present—for It is the same One. The Present isn’t a time when Awareness is aware. It is the Present Itself that is being aware.
As Awareness is aware here, now, It is the Present Itself that is the One aware here, now—never a “personal you.”
As said before, when was the last time that the Present was not present? Has the Present ever decided not to show up? It sounds silly because it absolutely never happens. The Present unfailingly is present.
Now, in contrast, look at what time pretends to be. It pretends to be a period when the Present is not present. But that never happens! Simply never! That’s all there would be to “time”–a superimposed thought, a mere ignore-ant assumption, that the Present could be absent, which It can’t! The Present does not change from being all that is present.
In fact, as the Present Itself actually is all that is present, there can’t even be such an assumption because there is no one to assume it, and no “place” from which an assumption could come or arise. Only a state of thinking would make an assumption, yet the Present Itself does not think. Undeviating Present-ness is all that IS.