Teacher: Teacher Ophelius

In many of your lessons, thus far, and from the lips of many teachers, you have hear it said that it is better to live in the “now moment” than to live in the past or future. What exactly is meant by this statement? Can you live in the now moment without reminiscing your past or ever having a thought about the future? Let’s examine this “now moment” and try to understand what it is to live in it, for many are puzzled by these statements and wish to have a clearer understanding of the deeper meanings behind the popular phrases.

Before we can understand the present, we must look at the dimension of time and what time actually accomplishes in the greater scheme of universe realities. Time is a like a storybook and each page represents a succession of “now moments” as they have occurred, is now occurring, and may be occurring in the future. The “present” is like being in the middle of the story—the page you have read up to and continue to read as you go—the ongoing experience of reading. This is the place in time that occupies your attention and the present awareness of your life. What you think, feel, and do writes the pages in history going backward in the book. Going forward, looking into the pages at the back of the book is the future. To skip forward is to read into the potentials of what “may be” according to your sphere of influence and your awareness of the collective experiences of yourself and others living together on a world in time and space. Your idea of this future is quite different from others depending on where you are on the planet and what your daily experiences are.

Your beliefs, assumptions, and conditioning shape who you are now and have a direct influence on the life you may have in the future. To truly live in the “now moment” is to have some cognizance of the overall picture of your life, which includes the failures of your past and your hopes for a brighter future. Those who are said to be living in the past, are those who see themselves as having already lived the greatest moments of their life with little hope for a future that can bring a greater joy and understanding than what has been. They have effectively stopped reading the storybook and are constantly re-reading only the parts of the book that gives them comfort—they are not living in the now moment. In constrast, those who live in the future are living in the hope for a better tomorrow, which in and of itself, is not necessarily detrimental, except that it places all values of life on unrealized potentials and completely ignores the present moment, which is vital to bringing those potentials into manifestation—the reader, again, has stopped reading the storybook and has chosen to skip ahead, yet finds that the pages are blank because they are doing nothing in the present to manifest the words on the pages of the future.

To live wholly in the present, means that you are aware of your past failures and triumphs and see them as teaching moments—stepping stones as a means to move from the imperfections of the past to a more mature and loving state of being in the present. “If I had not had those experiences at that time, I would not be in this better place today.” Moreover, future hopes drive the present in a way that keeps you moving toward that future. “If I hope to accomplish this dream of being a _______, then I must start doing ______ today.” This realization of sequence, “cause and effect,” must be present in your mind at all times. When you are doing those things that will shape your future toward those potentials that you idealize, then are you co-creating and writing the present pages of the storybook. You are now confident that when you turn the page, that there will be something there to read—not a blank page.

The most important part about living in the now moment is your awareness that the Creator, the Father’s presence—the I AM, lives in your mind and is guiding and coordinating your life experiences in a way that lets you be the driver, yet is always steering you toward those experiences that will bring you to a greater awareness and understanding of your real-self (I AM) where you can idealize the inherent potential that God sees in you from a place outside of time and space. The Father’s presence places the seed idea in your mind and then leads you to the water. You must draw the water from the well and nourish that seed to discover what fruit it will bear. Living in cooperation with the I AM means you are co-writing the storybook from the seat of the soul. Having the assurance of this divine partnership means you are ever confident that as you turn the page, the story gets more interesting and exciting and you realize (ah-ha) you are the main character “living it.”

Peace to you,

The Circle of Seven