The one place to truly exist is the present

The present is the only true place to be. The times in which we live provide few reasons for joy while our future holds many fears. We have exhausted the earth and destroyed our environment.

Self-centred Nationalistic Right Wing movements and their politicians are gaining territory.  The attitude towards other religions is becoming increasingly intolerant. Wars and unequally divided wealth have set populations on the move in search for ‘better’.  In the meantime an exceptionally deeply rooted world wide egocentricity blocks options for positive developments.

While looking back on one’s life, regret easily moves in.  Regret about the way in which you have handled situations in life especially those with fellow men, even your loved ones. Regret about the way you put your self-interest first at the cost of others. By making a maximum profit you caused others to suffer. It is no wonder that we massively flee towards superficial niceties, pleasures and luxuries, or long to get high on psychedelic drugs.

Is there a way out? Is there a way to prevent suffering induced by our ideas concerning both our scary future and our rueful past?  Once we stop continually focussing on either the future or the past just the present remains. In the present you can return to the home within yourself, the place where there is no need to lose yourself in frightening ideas about either the future or a regretful past. That is when you become aware that both future and past are coloured in by imagination and that the reality remaining is both positive and manageable.

It is in the present that you will find peace, it is where threatening and gnawing thoughts dissolve. It is in the present that you will find it needless to suffer the pain brought about by your own thoughts. It is in the present that you can become aware of your breathing, where you can acknowledge that you are a loving being rather than an egocentric. You realize you are someone who loves not only their partner, children and family but their near and dear ones as well, at the same time the world and everything in it gains meaning. You discover that there is so much to enjoy, so much that makes you happy. In the present you can feel happiness and peace. In the present you can be energetic, creative and innovative. The present is the only place to be truly human.