A couple of years ago, the Brothers of the Province read a book by Eckhart Tolle during our summer Renewal Program. The Power of Now is the sort of book that continues to swirl about in your consciousness even after you’ve read it. It left me permanently changed.
The principle of the book is quite basic — nothing exists outside this present moment. But that’s a very different way of thinking than we are used to. We think of our lives as line segments from birth to death. The present moment was just a single point on the line moving slowly forward. The past was the part of the line behind that point, and the future was the part ahead of it. The Power of Now stopped me from thinking this way.
The Power of Now taught me that there is no line segment. The point is all there is. The past and the future are just illusions. They only exist to the degree we focus our attention on them right now. We create the past and the future by imagining them in the present. But we don’t even exist outside the Now.
This shift in thinking produced a significant shift in my priorities. I started asking questions like, “How can I experience more joy in this very moment?”
Living in the moment has its graces. Think about living in the moment as you watch this video.
"God speaks to the heart of those who are recollected and silent in order to hear him." (1937 Const., art. 163)
