“The Moment is the doorway to the presence of God” — that’s what all the spiritual teachers say, one way or another.
Holy hogwash, I say!
First of all, some moments are definitely bad, like the sad ones chasing you from the past, the scary ones chasing you from the future. You’d definitely better run away from those.
Sure, some moments are special, extra-desirable ones — but those are rare.
Most of the moments I have access to and am willing to be in are just ordinary and mundane. Like this one. I’m sitting here, eating oatmeal, looking out the window at the blank face of a building. It’s ok, but that’s all there is to it. There’s nothing I particularly want here. That’s why I have to keep running, so I can catch the really good moments.
Everyone knows that’s the whole point of life. That’s why they teach you how to run in school: so you can outrun the bad moments and catch the good ones. It’s not easy, moments keep slipping out of your grasp, and running for your life is exhausting. But it’s the only way to be in control.
That’s what I’ve been doing all my life, running and running — until today, when something weird happened. In the middle of my oatmeal I stopped to catch my breath — and the Moment sneaked up on me and caught me from behind! It clamped a gentle hand over my mouth so I couldn’t even scream, and held me motionless. Helpless, I watched as it opened the door…
And the Present flooded in — blinding and sweet and immense, gentle and comforting. I was helpless — saturated with an irrational joy, all I could do was look around me, all common sense washed away by the beauty of the world…
