Engaging the Now

In his quest for Truth, the young Sidharrtha prayed and fasted, took vows of poverty and lived in the woods. He begged on the streets and meditated, he chanted the universal mantra, he gave up all worldly ties including friends and family. And he prayed. He prayed for wisdom. For insight. For Truth. Gurus and mystics were his teachers and from one to the next he would go, eager and open and ready to learn. After years of such discipline, he awoke one day by the river to realize that it had all been for naught; he still was no closer to the Truth than when he had started. Forlorn, he decided that his life had had no meaning and just as he was about to throw himself into the river to end it all, the boatman who ferry's passengers across the river happened to come by.

"Why are you so forlorn?" the boatman asked. "It's a beautiful day and the sun is shining and the river is singing her special song. Can't you hear it?"

"My dharma is to seek the Truth," Sidharrtha replied. "And I have failed in my purpose. I don't know where to look anymore."

The boatman smiled. "Don't you know where to look?" the boatman asked. "It's right here in front of you."

"Where?" pleaded Sidharrtha. "Please, boatman, don't amuse yourself with my sorrow. Where can the Truth be found?"

"Here," replied the boatman. "Now. Do not look backward in anger, or forward in fear, but around in awareness. Here you will find the Truth." And then the boatman laughed.

Just as the state of any given network is the network itself, the state of "reality" is in the now moment. Paradoxically, this is the greatest lesson an actor can learn -- live in the now moment. The truthful portrayal of a theatrical moment can only happen when actors focus on, exist in and engage the "now." Not yesterday's performance. Not tomorrow's audition. Right now. Engage it with full consciousness and in doing so, breath life into it.

This lesson holds true for all pursuits. The best engineers, the best lawyers, the best doctors, the best politicians, the best of all of us are so and do so because of our ability to engage the now moment. I think that's what John Lennon meant when he wrote, "Imagine all the people, living for today."

This is not to say that the study of history is without merit, or that planning for the future is not worthwhile. But neither history nor prediction have any real meaning without the now. And now is the only moment that is.

As the internet (and information technology) saturates the fiber of our lives, our ability, as a species, to live in the now becomes turbo-charged. The numerous complex systems that make up the fabric of reality will become understandable in ways we have yet to imagine. And together, we will engage the now as never before. The empowering nature of this process -- the wiring of the planet -- will bring us together in a now that has been enhanced by the cumulative works of humanity and made available to us all -- for free.

Do not look backward in anger, or forward in fear, but around in awareness.

The Truth lies here -- and now.