Showing posts with label present moment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label present moment. Show all posts

Monday 19 January 2015

The Bliss of Being in the Present Moment


Written by Mathew Naismith

“There is nothing more soothing than being in the moment of love and beauty void of any intentions what so ever “.

I shot consecutive photographs of a lovely sky as the sun was abating, not knowing what was actually in the photographs; I shot these photos just before Christmas and I never knew one of these shots had a heart silhouetted in the sky while taking these shots.  

The funny thing is I took consecutive shots and only one of the photos had this heart silhouetted in the sky, this was quite strange for this kind of cloud pattern because this kind of high level cloud doesn’t move all that quickly. There were no intentions by me to take a shot with a heart silhouetted in the sky, I saw a lovely sky with the sun abating quite low in the horizon and I shot consecutive photos ignorant to the heart in the sky.

The one thing to be aware of with intentions is it’s always in reference to the future; it’s only conducive to aims or plans, it has nothing to do with just being within the present moment.  

What we western people seem to do is try to use more than one spiritual concept at the same time that, at times, can be counterproductive.  Can anyone be within the present moment (now) and also be of intentions? Trying to live by these two concepts at the same time is indeed counterproductive; they can actually cancel each other out depending on what kind of intention we are using.

Because active intentions is more about forcing a plan or goal rather than going with the flow, active intentions can be highly counterproductive to being just within the moment, this isn’t the same with passive intentions. Active intentions are also more likely to be in retaliation to a situation in life like being more positive than negative; this is good except we are still being judgemental of what we have judged as having less value.

Passive intentions is more about allowing a plan to come together rather than forcing it, passive intentions allow us to mould such plans within our present moment (lives) without creating too much trauma. Passive intentions are also not about a retaliative reaction to something we have judged as unbecoming for some reason, this is why, if we need to have intentions, passive intentions works more with the present moment rather than against it.

If you are going to live by the concept of living in the now, it’s advisable not to have too many intentions.

What is also counterproductive in the west is judgment, it is a good idea to lesson our judgments and especially being judgemental, this again is determined by what kind of intentions we are living by.  A lot of people actually judge judgment as being negative therefor unbecoming in some way; this is brought about by active intentions I believe.  We are not supposed to be judgmental but we judge being in judgement quite severally.   

You don’t get this reaction with passive intention, passive intentions is about accepting judgement for what it is, just a different path to follow without judging this path too harshly as just plain negative.

Particularly in the west we need to be aware of the counter productiveness of what certain concept are going to have with each other, yes we have a huge array of spiritual concepts to follow but I think we need to beware of mixing and matching these concepts together, it is in my mind adding a fair amount of confusion into our lives rather than taking this confusion away.  

Self-empowerment is always conducive to future plans but while we are being so self-empowered, we are not living within the present moment and within this stillness of the moment.  Self-empowerment takes a lot of active intentions to bring about, this stops us from experiencing the very moment we are in and experiencing what living in the present moment can give.

Yes it might feel we are in the present moment while being actively intentional but that is not the case, you can’t live for the future with intentions and be of the present moment at the same time, just something to ponder!!   


There is nothing like living in the present moment, this is one path, there is also nothing like living with active intentions, this is another path, each path has it’s merits and is only a path for us to follow or not, they are not bad or good, negative or positive, they are only paths we can either follow or not.  It’s advisable not to try to follow two paths at the same time that can be quite counterproductive to each other, follow one path or the other for they are only paths, there is nothing to judge but of course being in judgement is but another path not to be judged.  

Thursday 25 September 2014

Spirituality-The Now within the Present


Written by Mathew Naismith

To me it doesn’t matter if we confuse the present to the now even though there is a difference, you can’t have the now in time without a present moment.  What most of us are doing is focussing on the future and even the past, disregarding the present moment altogether when it’s the present moment that defines our past and future.  When we say the present moment defines our future, this isn’t saying the future is predestined by the present, the present moment will influence the future but it won’t make it predestined. Yes we all individually and collectively have a path to follow but it’s not predestined, we don’t have to destroy or harm ourselves for starters, certainly not any more.

The present doesn’t actually bring on timelessness as I described in an illustration in my last post however, you can’t have the now, which is of true timelessness, without the present in time, this is why I illustrated this as below in my last post.

The present = timelessness + God’s consciousness (pure consciousness)

It’s actually more like this: The now = timelessness + God’s consciousness (pure consciousness)

The present moment leads to timeliness and this God’s consciousness but the present is also representative of the past and the future within time, the present is actually quite more important to us than the past or future or even the now in two ways.

The present moment = now + timelessness + God’s consciousness (pure consciousness)

But the present moment also = time +past + future

Focusing on the now, over and above the present moment, takes us to God’s consciousness but we are missing something here, were does time fit in here?  It doesn’t, even though we are still in time!! We must also remember time is also of this God’s consciousness; this is why when we are in timeliness we have a feeling to again be in time and visa-versa.  It’s all of this God’s consciousness, it’s just one is of time and the other timelessness, one is of ignorance the other awareness. Without the ego does it matter if we live in ignorance? No, so what part of us doesn’t want to live in ignorance? The ego of course!!  

Pure consciousness is in relation to God’s consciousness, an un-fragmented consciousness of timelessness and awareness, and fragmented consciousness relates to realities of time and ignorance.  

Pure consciousness = timelessness + oneness + non-duality + awareness

Fragmented consciousness = time + individuality + duality + ignorance

It matters not if it’s fragmented or un-fragmented consciousness, it’s still God’s consciousness however, fragmented consciousness can become quite destructive mainly because of it’s ignorance for only in ignorance can we be destructive. This sort of doesn’t make sense, we are more aware as a collective than ever but we are more destructive as ever.

It all comes down to how we are becoming aware, some people become aware through ego tendencies, this is obviously quite destructive,  other people become aware through the now disregarding the present moment in time.  How could disregarding the present moment be destructive?  If you think on this, we are ignoring the present for the now and what does ignoring the present represent? Ignorance and what is the only way we can be destructive?  Through ignorance of course and this ignorance is quite destructive to anything of time.

Actually the present moment represents time and timelessness simultaneously; this isn’t the case if we only focus on the past and future as many of us are doing and it’s not the case if we only focus on the now.  This is why I illustrated in my last post as below.

The present = timelessness + God’s consciousness (pure consciousness)

Past and future = time + man’s consciousness

If I illustrated that the present moment is representative of both time and timelessness, I would have confused a lot of people in that particular post.  If we were more collectively aware the below illustrations would be more correct.

Present moment = timelessness + now + God’s consciousness (pure consciousness) + oneness + non-duality + awareness

Present moment = time +past and future + man’s consciousness +individuality + duality + ignorance + ego


What the present moment does, if we are aware, is collates both time and timelessness into a cohesive collective instead of a fragmented collective or a collective without time.  In this we can use the awareness of timelessness to pacify the destructive tendencies of time and it’s ignorance. It’s all God’s consciousness, we should not ignore one over and above the other for only in ignorance can we destroy.