{"id":16180,"date":"2017-11-23T09:31:05","date_gmt":"2017-11-23T14:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16180"},"modified":"2017-11-23T09:43:51","modified_gmt":"2017-11-23T14:43:51","slug":"living-in-the-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16180","title":{"rendered":"Living in the Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cac.org\/pure-presence-2017-11-23\/\"><strong>Pure Presence<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Thursday, November 23, 2017<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>(Thanksgiving in the United States)<\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IfHyAMjLLdA\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nWisdom is not the gathering of more facts and information, as if that would eventually coalesce into truth. Wisdom is a way of seeing and knowing the same old ten thousand things but in a new way. As my colleague Cynthia Bourgeault often says, it\u2019s not about knowing more, but knowing <em>with<\/em> more of you. I suggest that wise people are those who are free to be truly present to what is right in front of them. It has little to do with formal education. Presence is pretty much the same as wisdom!<\/p>\n<p>Presence is the one thing necessary to attain wisdom, and in many ways, it is the hardest thing of all. Just try to keep your <em>heart<\/em> open and soft, your <em>mind <\/em>receptive without division or resistance, and your <em>body<\/em> aware of where it is and its deepest level of feeling. Presence is when all three centers are awake at the same time! Most religions decided it was easier to believe doctrines\u2014and obey often arbitrary laws\u2014than undertake the truly converting work of being present.<\/p>\n<p>The Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches this wisdom through the ceremony and meditation of tea (a Buddhist parallel to the Christian Eucharist):<\/p>\n<p>You must be completely awake in the present to enjoy the tea.<br \/>\nOnly in the awareness of the present, can your hands feel the pleasant warmth of the cup.<br \/>\nOnly in the present, can you savor the aroma, taste the sweetness, appreciate the delicacy.<br \/>\nIf you are ruminating about the past, or worrying about the future, you will completely miss the experience of enjoying the cup of tea.<br \/>\nYou will look down at the cup, and the tea will be gone.<br \/>\nLife is like that.<br \/>\nIf you are not fully present, you will look around and it will be gone.<br \/>\nYou will have missed the feel, the aroma, the delicacy and beauty of life.<br \/>\nIt will seem to be speeding past you. The past is finished.<br \/>\nLearn from it and let it go.<br \/>\nThe future is not even here yet. Plan for it, but do not waste your time worrying about it.<br \/>\nWorrying is worthless.<br \/>\nWhen you stop ruminating about what has already happened, when you stop worrying about what might never happen, then you will be in the present moment.<br \/>\nThen you will begin to experience joy in life.\u00a0[1]<\/p>\n<p>As you eat your next meal\u2014perhaps with family gathered for Thanksgiving\u2014enter into the experience mindfully. Savor the aroma. Taste the sweetness. Appreciate the delicacy. Experience the joy\u2014right now\u2014without needing anyone to notice. But they will!<\/p>\n<p>_____________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p>The Distraction of Contempt<\/p>\n<h4>By <a href=\"https:\/\/utmost.org\/oswald-chambers-bio\">Oswald Chambers<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><!-- \/.col-12 --> <!-- \/.row --><\/p>\n<div class=\"clearfix\">\u00a0<strong>Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt. \u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?version=31&amp;search=Psalm+123%3A3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Psalm 123:3<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<div class=\"row entry-meta\">\n<div class=\"col-sm-4\">\n<div class=\"top-sharing\">\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\">\n<div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\">\n<div class=\"sd-content\">\n<ul><!--\n \t\n\n<li class=\"odb-share-whatsapp\"><a onclick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('\/outgoing\/#print');\" rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"share-whatsapp sd-button\" href=\"whatsapp:\/\/send?text=: \" title=\"\"><span><i class=\"fa fa-whatsapp\"><\/i> <span class=\"share-label\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n--><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong><!-- .entry-meta --><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"top-rule\">What we must beware of is not damage to our belief in God but damage to our Christian disposition or state of mind. \u201cTake heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Malachi+2:16\">Malachi 2:16<\/a>). Our state of mind is powerful in its effects. It can be the enemy that penetrates right into our soul and distracts our mind from God. There are certain attitudes we should never dare to indulge. If we do, we will find they have distracted us from faith in God. Until we get back into a quiet mood before Him, our faith is of no value, and our confidence in the flesh and in human ingenuity is what rules our lives.<\/div>\n<section class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>Beware of \u201cthe cares of this world\u2026\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Mark+4:19\">Mark 4:19<\/a>). They are the very things that produce the wrong attitudes in our soul. It is incredible what enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by \u201cthe cares of this world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another thing that distracts us is our passion for vindication. St. Augustine prayed, \u201cO Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself.\u201d Such a need for constant vindication destroys our soul\u2019s faith in God. Don\u2019t say, \u201cI must explain myself,\u201d or, \u201cI must get people to understand.\u201d Our Lord never explained anything\u2014 He left the misunderstandings or misconceptions of others to correct themselves.<\/p>\n<p>When we discern that other people are not growing spiritually and allow that discernment to turn to criticism, we block our fellowship with God. God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pure Presence Thursday, November 23, 2017 (Thanksgiving in the United States) Wisdom is not the gathering of more facts and information, as if that would eventually coalesce into truth. Wisdom is a way of seeing and knowing the same old ten thousand things but in a new way. As my colleague Cynthia Bourgeault often says, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16180"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16180"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16185,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16180\/revisions\/16185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}