Gift

To truly honor my hopes and dreams, which are also my deepest anxieties, I must acknowledge the truth about the future: it consists of nothing more than electrical activity in my brain and solar plexus, happening now. Becoming aware of the future as sensation in the body, I can drop it in the well of Presence. This is the only 'hope.'

To truly honor my past, I let it be whatever it was, then drop it in the well of Presence. Even one moment ago is very heavy. But Presence is weightless, absolutely weightless.

I can enter the refuge of this weightless moment at all times. It is the only kingdom of absolute peace. And because I am always already here, no effort is required. In fact, simply to be here is to gain energy.

Too much of a gift for most of us to feel worthy of receiving, is the gift of the present moment! But it is here, and it is given, whenever we want it. The practice is just to say, 'Thank you.'

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Many ask, 'How can this talk about the present moment possibly be helpful in ending our deep economic crisis, our environmental disaster, our violence and social injustice? We need a concrete plan, and we need activism!'

I answer, it is precisely the practice of the present moment that will solve these problems; it is our activism, with all its plans, that has failed.

Compulsive activism does not work because it carries the story of the past. I am a Quaker, yet I see Quakers frustrated by this very mistake. Quakers began by gathering in silence to practice the Presence. The solutions to their problems arose by grace from the practice of Presence. This practice of collective silence was called Meeting for Worship. Yet now, as in many religious organizations, we are more engaged in political activism than in the practice of Presence. Presence has been co-opted by the old story of left wing politics.

Whether our story is political, ethnic, national, or tribal, we are crippled by the weight of the past. Whether the activist 'I' is an individual 'I,' a tribal 'I', or a national 'I,' it is nothing but a story from the past. This 'I' is the weight of fear, prejudice, and desperate hope from past generations. And its plans for the future are an extension of that past. The story of 'I' is always in conflict with the story of another 'I,' another tribe, another nations, another religion. Our world is a chaos of old stories: fear meeting fear, desire contending with desire, shadows projected against each other, furiously wrestling over precisely nothing.

Yet a new humanity is emerging, courageous enough to stand silent and naked as Christ before Pilot, telling no story. Can we rest in each others gaze, vulnerable, wounded, perfectly present? Can we meet where Rumi invited us, 'out in a field beyond right doing and wrong doing'? 

That field is here, the field of Presence. Let us gather in the now, in deep silence, then act together, spontaneously, from the heart. This is the only political 'plan.' This is the politics of Laotzu, Buddha and Jesus, who were members of the same party: the non-violent anarchist party.

The radical act is to be present. The revolution is to breathe. The world is nourished by your secret joy.