ONE Concept…which changed my LIFE/Thinking!
Back in the 70’s I was searching for reality and also desiring responsibility for my decisions. My thinking, prior to my Out-of-body experience (1977), was that reality was a Past/Future situation. The model for my thinking was focused on the Past as a reality and the Future as a reality. I was ignoring the ‘present moment’ called the NOW. Why? probably because the NOW mindset was giving me ‘pain’ (mentally)!
I was living in the NOW but thinking with a Past/Future mindset. My education was in a public arena where the idea of a PAST was promoted as real and the idea of a FUTURE was promoted as real. So my thinking was centered upon this idea of PAST/FUTURE. I could imagine a ‘past’ and also a ‘future’. This was the model that I learned in school and it worked to a degree.
But in 1977 I had an Out-of-body experience which changed my thinking. I also read a book on psychology called ‘Playing the Game the New Way”, by Carl Frederick, which changed my thinking. Both my Out-of-body experience and this new psychology book helped me to THINK differently. The key concept which I was missing was the NOW…and the importance of thinking in the NOW!
After accepting the NOW as reality and dismissing the idea of a PAST/FUTURE, my thinking changed dramatically. I realized that the PAST is really a deception of the mind. There is actually NO PAST that I experience. All my experiences are experiences within the NOW. This helped me to ACCEPT the NOW as reality and dismiss this thinking called the PAST/FUTURE.
Gradually, I came to realize that reality is ALWAYS a NOW experience. My idea of a PAST is really nothing more than a NOW memory. I always live in the NOW so my memories a really NOW experiences. There is NO past that I experience. This also applies to the FUTURE. There is no FUTURE which I experience. All my experiences are NOW experiences. It is actually IMPOSSIBLE to escape the NOW.
My thinking was my problem as I had learned in school and with friends that reality was experienced with a past/future mentality. The past gives me a type of reality and then helps me change for the future. But all this thinking is really deceptive and illusionary (when understood). In reality, all my life experiences are happening in the NOW…and successive moments of NOW. There is NO past and NO future which I experience.
Many of you may also be avoiding this mentality called the NOW (as you focus on events from your past). This is understandable as our education has mostly promoted a past/future model. We look to a PAST as real and then we assume that a FUTURE is emerging. This mindset ignores what is really happening in the NOW. What helped me is to recognize that the NOW is what I experience. Give this missive some reflection at your leisure. Have a great day!
I am: Donald B. Swenson, Economist/Philosopher, donaldswenson.blogspot.com
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