The Power of Now (NOT!)

So many people are talking about the power of NOW.  How being in the NOW is a solution to all their problems.   NOW is the only truth, NOW is the place of power, NOW is eternal, NOW is all you have, make NOW the primary focus of your life…logic_wide

Now, I want to say, that for most people this is bad information.   I am not saying that it is true, or false, only that it isn’t helpful for most people most of the time.   So let me explain why I say this.

Our world (most people, maybe not you) is living mostly in the vibration of victim.   Look around and you will see all the blaming and all the “Reasons” why people don’t have the lives that they want.   Look to yourself, do you have the life you want?  Do you feel truly empowered to create it?

Most people that I talk to are not empowered to create their lives (at least before coaching /grin.)   Most people (maybe not you!) think that they can do anything but feel differently.  The feeling is that they are stuck somehow.  Most don’t even dare to want what they want.

Consider the explosion of the “Secret” a few years ago — and all the teaching and support for Law of Attraction(LOA.)  That information would not have spread like wildfire if there wasn’t a pent-up desire for people to have more, or be more, or do more in their lives.   This means that a whole lot of people don’t have the life that they really want.

The wave of the Secret has passed with only some residual people still trying to teach the “Real Secret,” or the “Keys” to the secret, or the “missing link” to the secret … but mostly, the Law of Attraction is passing from fad into history (I am not debating truth or wisdom of LOA.)   People are going back to their lives, LOA teachers are having to find a new message to get anyone interested.

I teach LOA.  I agree that we can be attractive to what we want or we can be repellant to what we want.   But there is something more to LOA than wishing and hoping.   And it usually comes down to doing something, facing something, confronting something, growing something … truly understanding why you have what you have … and doing what you have to DO to create something else.

LOA was good in that it gave people some hope and moved them to want more in their lives.  It allowed them to consider that they might be settling for something rather than creating (Attracting) what they wanted.

LOA didn’t work for most people because they didn’t become empowered.  Generally speaking, it failed when people started relying on the Universe or the “Cornucopia of the Gods” to do the leg work rather than taking personal responsibility for creating what they wanted.

You see, the progression out of Victimhood isn’t reliance on the Universe, it IS personal empowerment, personal responsibility.  It is becoming the creator in your live and of course using universal laws or divine guidance/support.    So the way out of Victimhood is Empowerment.

With empowerment, one learns that they can create their lives.  They create the context that their life shows up inside of … and thus all situations become steps towards what they are creating.  Empowerment is the antidote to victim.

However, empowerment isn’t  the end of the road.   It is just a waypoint.  If one gets really good at creating their lives, they might want to ask the question … what is this all for?   What is the deeper meaning, what is the point of all these things that I am creating?   How do I appreciate my life even more.    And thus, even empowerment brings about a new crisis.   The antidote to this crisis is surrender.

Once you know that you create your world, it becomes a possibility to surrender to something larger than yourself.   You still know yourself as a powerful creator, you still know that you can create what you want; you can never be a victim.  But now that you have the knowing — not intellectual, but in your body — that you can be or do anything, you are ready to truly “be with” what is.  Now you won’t have to fight to stay in the moment because of all the things that you want  to be, do, or have.   You won’t have to escape from the victimhood of your life into the NOW.

So the progression is this:  Victim -> Empowerment -> Surrender (NOW)

Going from victim to surrender and bypassing empowerment isn’t really possible for most people.  It is a trick, a distraction, an escape from the now into the NOW.

What is the message of NOW for most people?  It is enjoy, appreciate, enter into the NOW and you will not NEED anything else.  Wanting more creates anxiety and pulls you out of the NOW.  Wanting to improve your life situation creates your anxiety and being NOW will remove your anxiety.

Just be here now, avoidance may get you nowhere, but at least you will feel better. /sarcasm

Striving for “being present without empowerment” is a crutch.   You must know yourself as powerful before you will ever rest comfortably in the NOW.  You are not supposed to be comfortable sitting in your chair when your house is on fire!   You are supposed to do something about it.   Most people don’t see that their life is on fire — or more, that it is dead, and asleep.  The discomfort they feel is supposed to motivate them to WAKE UP and CREATE, not be happy in the smoke.

Let me know if I can help you anywhere on your path to NOW.

Love and blessings,
David


8 Responses to The Power of Now (NOT!)

  1. Franchesca says:

    Well spoken

  2. Chip Transue says:

    To me, truly being in the NOW does not mean IN-action. I agree that any philosophy can be used as a crutch or a way to escape, but Eckhart Tolle is very specific in his presentation of the principle of living in the NOW. He never says or even suggests it should be a way to escape. In fact, he strongly suggests that being in the NOW means facing whatever it is you’re experiencing in the moment, and being with that fully, no matter how painful it is. He strongly suggests that being with whatever you’re feeling in any moment actually gives you access to actions that are not deliberately about avoidance of what is. So, if you’re sitting in a chair while your house is burning down, you’re most definitely NOT in the NOW, because being in the NOW means not just feeling whatever you’re feeling, but also acting in ways that support your well-being. Avoidance does not support well-being, not even when its in the disguise of being “in the NOW”.
    I agree that praying and hoping and wishing for things to happen is not productive, but such ways of being are not in the NOW, and even “The Secret” talks about taking SOME actions toward what one wants, even if they’re small ones.
    I have no doubt that I’m among many people who have occasionally misinterpreted various philosophies popularized by Oprah and other pundits of New Age and alternative ideas, and I have come to realize that there is always much more to any given idea than the words and images that emerge from their popular presentations. I think most such presentations are not meant to be the sum total of what they’re talking about. I view them as springboards for genuine and rigorous inquiry, that ideally will lead to different sets of actions than those to which one is accustomed. Granted, most people don’t adhere to that ideal, if they even see it. That’s wholly the responsibility of each individual who listens to such ideas, and then assumes he or she can make something happen from a passive state of being.

    • peacefuldavid says:

      Certainly, this post was not an exposition of what works with the power of NOW. Nor is it in any way an indictment of Tolle, whose work I enjoy.
      Mostly, I am concerned with what people do with information, not the validity of the information. For the most part,
      When a teacher says something, it has a purpose — it was uttered to make something in that moment — it doesn’t even have to be ‘true’ to serve the needs of the moment. Spiritual teaching has a shelf-life. It starts to spoil when it leaves its moment of creation. When spoken beyond its point of inception, it loses its experiential quality and thus its essence. Often, it means what people want it to mean, and stops having the purpose for which it was born.
      Much of what I see people “doing” with the wisdom of Tolle, is becoming complacent… even though it wasn’t his intention.

      • Chip Transue says:

        Agreed. I think the disconnect between being and doing is sadly an all-too common phenomenon, especially in the western world, where it seems to be the dominant underlying conversation. Inside of that, any overlap between the two is accidental and anomalous, regardless of how often it happens. One of the most famous statements made in Eastern philosophy is, “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water”, which strongly suggests no real distinction between being and doing in the context of the awakened self. When doing is considered distinct from being, one becomes preferable to the other based on individual habits and temperament, rather than on awareness. In that scenario, enlightenment ceases to be about integration, and becomes a quest for “perfect” being OR doing, but not both.

  3. Brian Carter says:

    I am reflecting your thoughts into my life. When do I feel the living in NOW? Why do I feel that way? What is holding me back from this every day? And here are my answers:

    I feel that I am living in the NOW when I let go of my “ego”. This is my surrender… doing something that feeds my soul. I am on a path of deep inner personal work. It brings things out that I used to not want to face, but my gut tells me to keep facing them. And now I am owning them. When I face these things (and it is a process not a project), it is not a simple meet and great with my ego, but an uprising of many thoughts, feelings and learnings. I become closer and closer to myself, thus finding pleasure in things from my passion to a hot shower. That is me living in now. Not thinking, but living, breathing and feeling. The more I learn and know, the more I understand I do not know.

    Every day that I am not empowering my self and letting go, is a day that I have not lived in the NOW. Thank you for your wonderful words as always David.

    Love always,

    Brian

  4. Kai says:

    Well said Dave. For me, the NOW concept is limiting because it is a concept. I could very well be stuck and be in the NOW. There is too much an unconscious element to being human, that no matter how much I consciously orient to the NOW, I still may be plagued by an unconscious drive for safety that is keeping me from experiencing fulfillment. I have, for a long time now, been aware of how super-conscious states can be emotionally suppressive all the same. I believe power and experiencing being filled up (fulfillment) are one and the same. We need to move static energy to make those breakthroughs happen, not by adhering to a conceptual “NOW”.

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