Only the Now Exists Right Now!
Only the Now Exists Right Now!
Was it Gertrude Stein, the early 20th-century poet and writer, who said, ” There was no ‘there’ there?“
Could we not be on a path, but in a circle?
No beginning? No end? Only now!
Are we where we wanted our life to be, but simply unable (or “un-enlightened” enough) to realize we are already there . . . here . . . right now . . . not tomorrow. Not a day, a minute or even a second ago. But now . . .?
Right now, just as we assimilate word after word, feeling upon feeling, breath in and breath out . . . Those are some thoughts that arise when I see comments that often strike me for their “ring of truth,” and so, I gladly offer them up to you.
Contoveros Response to Inwardsun
Sliding Doors,
One of my favorite poems is “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost.
Sounds a lot like you described in your post on seeing your ex. You captured something that’s universal — how love grows in several directions over different periods of times in one’s life.
How did you end up in Sweden anyway?
— Michael J
Inwardsun said:
Thank you for your insight, Michael! “The Road Not Taken” happens to be one of my favorites as well.
I have always been very fascinated by the different turn’s life takes and our idea that we are “going” somewhere. Our constant conception is that there is a beginning and there is an end.
There is a poem by Antonio Machado that provokes a lot of thought. I think you would like it.
Wanderer, your footsteps are
The road, and nothing more
Wanderer, there is no road,
the road is made by walking.
By walking one makes the road,
and upon glancing behind
one sees the path
that never will be trod again.
Wanderer, there is no road,
only wakes upon the sea . . .
———–
“. . . How love grows in several directions over different periods of time in one’s life” . . .
That was very beautiful and real. It means a lot to me right now. I am Swedish, although I prefer to take bits and pieces from all over the world and make them my own country. Hope to see you here again.
————
Below for your added entertainment, is one of my favorite poems that I read before deciding to go to Officers Candidate School and Serving in the Vietnam War:
The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Contoveros 
Michael,
I very much enjoyed your likening life’s process to more of a circle than a path. The circle is a powerful archetype and finds itself in almost every religious tradition. I have come to see our ideal life process as spiraling forward whereby we return to earlier moments but having spiraled ahead so that our re-visitations are qualitatively different: full of recollections but with new consciousness by which to reflect on them. Unfortunately, we can get stuck and spiral without real forward movement or spiral backward.
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Spiraling,
Let me know more about this concept. Spiraling forward and returning to earlier moments with a new consciousness to reflect with. Is this like watching a movie you had seen years earlier and seeing things for the “first time” because of your life’s experiences? If this is so, and if it is an original concept, you ought to develop it. I for one would seek more input.
Thanks,
*One who reflects now and then.
*
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Smiling 🙂 Right now. Right here.
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I’m glad you like it. I hope I got all of the poem you sent. I could not get the computer to print it the way you sent it, but I think it looks good the way it is.
I do this, you know. I used to work at a newspaper, and I know columnists often refer to comments they had generated from articles appearing in the paper,
I figured that if someone wrote me such a great comment, why should I not share it with the world?
Even if that world is in a heavenly place like Sweden.
Hey, if I ever make it over there, where in Sweden do you call home? Did you know that the North American headquarters for a corporation named IKEA is just outside my back door in good old Conshohocken, PA?
You know, there is such an allure to people from Sweden, at least to me when I was growing up. More liberal, more pragmatic, more wholesome.
Did I capture the essence of you guys well?
Read you later.
Wow, did not mean to get into such a spiel. I am on the phone with an insurance guy who is about to open an annuity for me, Ok, he just hung up.
What is it about speaking to someone in another country that is so alluring? I guess i like to feel I’m cosmopolitan and “international.”
Michael J
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You are funny. “A corporation named IKEA”, I think I’ve heard of it 😉 I am currently gazing out on an evening lit Stockholm city center, from upon a hill I call home this month. Long story. There is still time for that…
Life is not too shabby, although us Swedes will never fully appreciate our comfort. Spoiled with ease. And smart furniture.
You got the poem right! I’ve got a few others I think you’d appreciate if you ever have a minute to kill (whilst doing business associated phone calls) Go to my tags “poetry”.
I’m sure it makes for good business.
🙂
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