The Present Moment Contains Insight & Wisdom
I was reading an editorial in Newsweek that contain this quote from Marcus Aurelius:
If you’ve seen the present then you’ve seen everything – as it’s been since the beginning, as it will be forever. The same substance, the same form. All of it.
Very few of us really seem to understand the present moment. This is because most of the time we view and experience it from a linear perspective in time. The experience then becomes reified and the whole lot is reduced to the realm of dualistic thinking.
If we really see and experience the present in the NOW, we will experience it from the non-dual perspective which is beyond linear thinking and time. It is this timeless experience that Marcus’ words point to.
The article goes on to list what Marcus sees as characteristics of the rational soul:
- Affection for its neighbors
- Truthfulness
- Humility
The author, Jon Meacham, explains Marcus’ perspective:
Human beings, he writes, “were made to help others.” Nothing is good “except what leads to fairness, and self-control, and courage, and free will. And nothing bad except what does the opposite.”
A perspective still worthy of serious contemplation.
Items of Philosophical Interest
Related Posts
- The Unfolding Now
- Lighting Up the NOW
- Eckhart Tolle & PBS
- Coming to You Soon Through Understanding
- How Easy Is It to Be in the NOW?
Links of Interest
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