Chapter 8 Overview: Being In The Now

Chapter 8:  Being In The Now

An excerpt from You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey of Self-Awareness, Peace of Mind and Joy by James Blanchard Cisneros.

Present Moment video (short version)

My friend, if we’re not in the now, we are lost. We bring judgments of the past into the present and question why we don’t understand what is really going on. We look at a brother or sister, call him or her a stranger instead of a friend and speculate as to why we live in fear. My friend, we live in fear because we bring all of our past judgments into the present moment.

We extend our past into the present, creating a future like our past, and thus we never really experience the present. Living this way, we can not experience the perfection of the present moment. The present is God’s eternal gift to us. It is when we look at a brother or sister without past judgments and see a friend. When we see our brother or sister as God’s perfect creation, we are experiencing the present moment. It happens when we look into our brothers and sisters’ eyes and see ourselves reflected in them. You need only do this once and you will want no other way. If you see your brother or sister as something other than God’s perfect creation, know that you are exchanging your past judgments for the present moment.

The present moment is perfect. If we see anything other than perfection in the moment or in our brother or sister, it is because we have veiled the present with past judgments. When enough veils are placed on top of each other, they become as thick as a wall and obscure the light of truth. We might add or subtract a veil and thus change our perception of reality, but it is still just that, a perception of reality. The truth is simple, but it can be as complicated as we wish to make it. As long as we bring any judgment into the present, we color the present with the past and thus change the present’s true color. This creates confusion, and ultimate peace cannot be experienced as long as we are confused.

Allow the simplicity and truth of the moment to manifest itself, or choose to replace it with the complexity and confusion of what we think we wish to see. This is the one choice we make in every moment. The present moment simply is. It is free from past judgments or future imaginings. We can find peace by allowing the present moment to be what it is. We can experience peace by simply doing two things:

• Having faith that the moment is perfect.
• Being thankful for however the moment chooses to manifest itself in our minds.

The present moment is perfect and this simple recognition is all that is asked of us in order for us to experience its perfection. It is in allowing the present moment to be what it is that we find peace. And as we recognize the present as God’s gift, we replace our judgment of it with gratitude.

If we do not experience peace in the present moment, it is because we have substituted the ego’s illusions for the present moment. The ego will invite us to believe in a thousand different ways in which we can lose our peace of mind. The ego will also offer us a thousand different solutions, which only ends up adding to our confusion. Yet, if one of the ego’s illusions or solutions is unreal, then all of the ego’s illusions and solutions are unreal. For the ego’s illusions and solutions, in and of themselves, are nothing. And regardless of how many times we multiply nothing, we will still get nothing.

You might ask for an example to clarify this point. The manifestation of that example might clarify a small number of similar illusions. This is exactly what the ego would offer, because it gives more than enough wiggle room to offer us a thousand different illusions and a thousand solutions to those illusions. And as long as we have use for the ego, it can remain alive, well and in control of our perceptions. And so I offer no specific examples to cloud your thoughts. I do offer that all illusions, regardless of their manifestations, will result in a loss of peace. There is really only one illusion, one problem, which is that we are experiencing the illusion as real. Call it your spouse’s impatience, your boss’ ruthlessness, traffic or your job. Call it what you will. If it takes away your peace, it is because you have seen the illusion as real. In their essence, all illusions are the same because all illusions are not real.

React as you will to illusions. Defend yourself against illusions if that rocks your boat. Hate, fear and punish that figment of your imagination that does not exist, if you wish to. Anytime that we relate to the present moment with anything but peace and gratitude, we have had a misperception brought on by a past judgment we thought had once served our purpose.

In order to live in the present moment, let go of past patterns that are inconsistent with the truth within you. Offer God the judgment of your brother or sister, the judgment that has brought you nothing but sadness, pain and regret. Let it go, and in turn, He will offer you eternal peace of mind and joy. Offer Him all of your past perceptions and He will offer you the eternal present moment. If you put aside the unfruitfulness of judgment, you could easily lift the many veils that you use to cover the present moment. Beneath the veils, you would rediscover the simplicity of faith, faith that the present moment is perfect. This rediscovery, that you need not add nor subtract or judge the present moment, will offer you total freedom and peace. And gratitude will become your only sane response to the offering of total freedom and peace.

Lay aside all judgment, and feel yourself lifted into another world, a world that you have not seen or experienced for a long time – but one that has always been and will always be available to you. If you offer God a little willingness to put your judgments aside, He will, in turn, offer you eternal peace of mind and joy. Do this for one moment in time and you will rediscover that this is all you desire. As you rediscover this, you will also find that this truth is available to everyone, at any time, and that a simple decision is all that separates those who have rediscovered their truth from those who are in the process of rediscovering their truth.

Knowledge that the perfection of the present moment is available to everyone all the time will fill your heart with an overflowing sense of gratitude and joy that even the most blind will see. Your heart will burst with rainbow-colored love that will touch everyone, and the judgment of your brother and sister will all but dissolve in its light. Your simple willingness to put judgment aside will result in the complete love of God flowing through your soul and not one cell in your body will be left untouched by His gratitude and love. You have dammed a once free flowing river, and as a result, you have not felt God’s complete gratitude and love flowing through you. But by trusting the present moment, you are once again putting your trust in God. Once you have done so, thousands of illusionary bricks will fall, again letting the river flow free. The river will overflow its banks, and you too will overflow with God’s gratitude and love. As the banks of a flooding river cannot contain its waters, your ego-self will not be able to prevent your Godself from extending and offering all that has been extended and offered to you. As you extend this love to your brothers and sisters, your gratitude and love toward them will grow. For as you extend love, so too will you experience it – its fullness, nourishment, beauty and purity. Simply put judgment aside and allow the present moment to be. If you do this, all your brothers and sisters’ colors, races, religions, beliefs, actions and reactions will dissolve into an ocean of gratitude and love so nourishing that peace of mind and joy will forever feed your heart and soul.

You will live in gratitude, and others will be grateful to have you in their lives. Your brothers and sisters are also engaged in a search. They may not realize that they are searching, but they are also on a journey. It is the realization that they are not where they want to be that will awaken the memory of their own journey. You will be there as an example to them that the place they are looking for is within reach. And you will remind them that it is not so much a physical journey but a simple realization. It is a simple shift from coloring the present with past judgments, to one of being grateful and allowing what is to be.

This text can be found in the book - You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey of Self-Awareness, Peace of Mind and Joy.

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