Living in the Moment

or Failing at forgetting not to remember.

I have studied many versions of context for decades, and this week, in a flash, I saw the puzzle complete itself. Perception is context, point of view, time, sorting, sifting, judging, evaluating, selectivity, like versus dislike, preferences, wants, expectations, organizing, reorganizing, strain, struggle, sacrifice, separate, separation, lack, believe, beliefs, association, confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance, willful ignorance, plausible deniability and all of it is STORY. The problem is when jumbled with what happens, we are living a lie, a myth of superstitions and illusions. Yes, we are inside a container of delusion.  

You KNOW it's true. Something about knowing does not require an explanation. These are the three questions we all ask.

Who am I?  

What is truth? 

What is love?  

Asked from the perception of a story leaves you disjointed, absorbed, and lost. From Knowing the questions provide excess energy, joy, and a path to travel. Three times this week, while typing the word 'united,' what appeared was 'untied.' My fingers are now sending me clues! United looks like strangled and slavery unless you are untied, able to be independent and united. 

Once I knew only darkness and stillness... my life was without past or future... but a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the rapture of living. 

- Helen Keller

I had three advantages over most people growing up. After returning home from WWII, he taught grades one through eight in a one-room schoolhouse. The same one he went to school at. The world of education changed, but he was home every night for supper at 5 p.m., and I had over 18 years of the best education anyone could ask for. By the time I was sixteen, I was in my fourth town and eighth home. I attended three grade schools and three different junior/senior high schools. Just as necessary, I have congenital aphantasia. I cannot visualize or conjure up any sound, texture, taste, smell, emotion, or other type of imagery. I cannot suffer from trauma, PTSD, ADHD, etc. No pictures from the past or made-up images of the future ruin or even color my experience today.

As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten–-a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that 'w-a-t-e-r' meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away. - Helen Keller

Breakdown always precedes breakthrough unless you stop or quit. Confusion always precedes clarity as long as you stay the course. Attempting to escape keeps you forever caught. 

Do you want peace? Peace is found only in total forgiveness, and it begins with yourself now. Do whatever you can to BE in the present moment without dragging in any past or future thoughts. A way to presence yourself is to make an alarm that asks, "Are you present to NOW?" Take three long, deep breaths and listen to your heartbeat; listen for birds chirping, the clock ticking, and the hum surrounding you. Repeat until "stepping" into now is natural. I am not stuck in a mind meld from the past or future. No pictures in my mind interfere with my vision now. You may have the same superpower, or you can notice the images in your mind are not what your open eyes report right now. 

In the universe there is an immeasurable, indescribable force which shamens call intent, and absolutely everything that exists in the entire cosmos is attached to intent by a connecting link. Intent is not a thought, or an object, or a wish. Intent is what can make a man succeed when his thoughts tell him that he is defeated. It operates in spite of the warrior's indulgence. Intent is what makes him invulnerable. Intent is what sends a shaman through a wall, through space, to infinity. – Carlos Castaneda.

Yes, you Know intent. Use it for peace. Nothing is wrong with you, anyone else, or anything else, but perception makes it wrong.