I wanted to talk about the power of "Now" but Ekhart Tolle has already claimed that idea so I'll slide around him by talking about the same thing and calling it "Nothing" .I suppose people could discover this idea in many different ways other than the way that I have arrived at it but I will explain how I got here. Over the past 30+ years, Charlotte and I have been nomads, mostly by choice. Even the circumstances that have caused an upheaval in our lifestyle or geographical location are an indirect result of choices we have made. The underlying choice is the one where we purposely confront life from the "edge", that narrow, high line that we carefully balance on, high above the jagged rocks of reality below. Along the way, we could easily have gotten down off that path and signed up for a reality check by getting "real" jobs and settling down in one place (We actually do that from time to time but it usually doesn't last and I must admit that I'm puzzled by that). But I think the reason that we haven't succumbed to that choice, as tempting as it seems sometimes, is that we reap the benefits from living on the edge everyday. We are always wanting to know what is over the next hill.... around the next corner.... we are adventurers seeking new territory to explore. What are the benefits from not knowing where you're headed, where you'll live or what you'll do to pay the bills, etc., etc. you may ask? Aahh, I'm so glad you asked, grasshopper.
As we contemplated our uncertain future the other day (Our current house sit ends in about a month and we don't have a clue where we will be by June, 2012), we realized that none of us actually knows the answer to that question, no matter how many little bastions of security that we have piled around us for protection. As the people in the path of a tornado or a hurricane or a flood can tell you, the security of a home/house can vanish in seconds. As the victims of a car crash can tell you, the security of driving a "safe" car can vanish just as quickly. The victims of crime, disease, sudden death, etc., etc. Now, this may be quite upsetting to most who read this. What else is left? What's the use of living? What is the use of planning?
When one can isolate their identity, their security, their wellness, their happiness, their peace from the noise of our modern world and realize that all of those things and more are already present and permanent within us, you realize that all else is an illusion. There is NOTHING or as Wayne Dyer likes to say, "No Thing" that can give us any of those things. And that, my friends, is the blessing that comes from living life on the edge.... living in the NOW. Our happiness, our peace and all the rest come from intimate relationships with ourselves and others and from our perceptions of same. They have nothing to do with where you live, how big your house is or how much money you have. Armed with the realization that we come into this life with everything we will ever truly need, the possibilities become endless. The only true reality is now. All the rest is made up.... sometimes true and sometimes not. What an adventure! I can hardly wait to see what happens next!
