The Heavenly Life/The Eternal Now
THE ETERNAL NOW
Now is the reality in which time is contained. It is more and greater than time; it is an ever-present reality. It knows neither past nor future, and is eternally potent and substantial. Every minute, every day, every year is a dream as soon as it has passed, to exist only as an imperfect and unsubstantial picture in the memory, or be held in complete abeyance.
Past and future are dreams; now is a reality. All things are now; all power, all possibility, all action is now. Not to act and accomplish now is not to act and accomplish at all. To live in thoughts of what you might have done, or in dreams of what you mean to do, this is folly; but to put away regret, to anchor anticipation, and to do and to work now, this is wisdom.
While a man is dwelling upon the past or future he is missing the present; he is forgetting to live now. All things are possible now, and only now. Without wisdom to guide him, mistaking the unreal for the real, a man says, "If I had done so and so last week, last month, or last year, it would have been better with me to-day"; or, "I know what is best to be done, and I will do it to-morrow." The selfish cannot comprehend the vast importance and value of the present, and fail to see it as the substantial reality of which past and future are the empty reflections. It may truly be said that past and future do not exist except as negative shadows, and to live in them—that is, in regretful and selfish contemplation or expectation of them—is to miss the reality in life.
“The Present, the Present is all thou hast
For thy sure possessing;
Like the patriarch's angel, hold it fast,
Till it gives its blessing. . . .
“All which is real now remaineth,
And fadeth never;
The hand which upholds it now sustaineth
The soul for ever. . . .
“Then of what is to be, and of what is done.
Why queriest thou?
The past and the time to be are one,
And both are NOW!”
Man has all power now; but not knowing this, he says, “I will be perfect next year, or in so many years.” The dwellers in the Kingdom of God, who live only in the now, say, “I am perfect now”; refraining from all sin now, and ceaselessly guarding the portals of the mind, not looking to the past nor to the future, not turning to the left nor right, they remain eternally holy and blessed. “Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.”
Say to yourself, “I will live in my Ideal now; I will manifest my Ideal now; I will be my Ideal now; I will listen to the voice of my Ideal now.” Thus resolving, and thus doing, you shall remain in the Highest, and shall eternally manifest the True.
“Afoot and lighthearted, I take to the open road.
Henceforth I ask not good fortune: I myself am
good fortune.
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more,
need nothing;
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous
criticisms.
Strong and content, I take to the open road.”
Cease to tread every byway of dependence, every winding side-path that tempts thy soul into the shadow-land of the past and the future; and manifest thy native and divine strength now. Come out into the open road.
All that you would be and hope to be, you may be now. Non-accomplishment resides in your perpetual postponement; having the power to postpone, you also have the power to accomplish—to perpetually accomplish; realize this truth, and you shall be to-day, and every day, the ideal man of whom you dreamed.
Virtue consists in overcoming sin day after day, but holiness consists in leaving sin, unnoticed and ignored, to die by the wayside; and this is done, can only be done, in the living now. Say not unto thy soul, “Thou shalt be purer to-morrow”; but rather say, “Thou shalt be pure now.” To-morrow is too late for anything, and he who sees his help and salvation in to-morrow shall continually fail and fall to-day.
Thou didst fall yesterday? Didst sin grievously? Having realized this, leave it instantly and for ever, and watch that thou sinnest not now. The while thou art bewailing the past every gate of thy soul remaineth unguarded against the entrance of sin now. Thou shalt not rise by grieving over the irremediable past, but by remedying the present.
The foolish man, loving the boggy sidepath of procrastination rather than the firm Highway of Present Effort, says, “I will rise early to-morrow; I will get out of debt to-morrow; I will carry out my intentions to-morrow.” But the wise man, realizing the momentous import of the Eternal Now, rises early to-day; keeps out of debt to-day; carries out his intentions to-day; and so never departs from strength and peace and ripe accomplishment.
What is done now remains; what is to be done to-morrow does not appear. It is wisdom to leave what has not arrived, and to attend to what is; and to attend to it with such consecration of soul and concentration of effort as shall leave no possible loophole for regret to creep in.
A man’s spiritual comprehension being clouded by the illusions of self, he says, “I was born on such a day, so many years ago, and shall die at my allotted time.” But he was not born, neither will he die, for how can that which is immortal, which eternally is, be subject to birth and death? Let a man throw off his illusions, and then. he will see that the birth and death of the body are the mere incidents of a journey, and not its beginning and end: “Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting.”
Looking back to happy beginnings, and forward to mournful endings, a man’s eyes. are blinded so that he beholds not his own immortality; his ears are closed so that he hears not the ever-present harmonies of Joy; and his heart is hardened so that it pulsates not to the rhythmic sounds of Peace.
The universe, with all that it contains, is now. Put out thy hand, O man, and receive the fruits of Wisdom! Cease from thy greedy striving, thy selfish sorrowing, thy foolish regretting, and be content to live. Act now, and, lol all things are done; live now, and, behold! thou art in the midst of Plenty; be now, and know that thou art perfect.