Revival Part 5
January 11, 2025
Revival Part 5
There is a lot of talk these days about being present. But there's little that explains what it means to be present. Oh, I know it means to live in the moment, but what exactly is the moment? Is then a moment each second or is it longer? How do we define the "present moment?"
If we are present, what do we do with the thoughts and feelings about people who are not present, past occurrences, and future anticipations? We can't ignore them. Regardless of the many interpretations of presence, how can we be sure we are genuinely present?
Several years ago, I attended a workshop on presence at an International Enneagram Association Conference. After the initial lecture, the leader separated the participants into groups of three. Our “assignment” was to practice being fully present to each other. I will never forget a nice young lady in my triad.
I noticed she was really trying to get the exercise right. She strained to focus on everything that was being said and done. It was as if she thought being present meant not missing anything. As the three-way conversation continued, she hyper-focused on all the details and our movements in the seats. With a belabored look on her face, she took heavy breaths and seemed exasperated and uncomfortable. She may have been present somehow, but was she present to herself? During the exercise, she became noticeably exhausted. I found myself wanting to tell her, "Just relax."
Despite all the talk about learning to be present, we already know how to be present; we simply have to revive the knowledge. There is someone you know who is an expert on presence — any child around age five or under. These children have not developed their egos to the point that the past or future is particularly relevant to them. They have memories and know that things will happen later, but their attention is on what's happening immediately around them. Why? Because what's happening now is informing them about themselves, others, and the world. Developing children have an insatiable appetite for learning who they are, how they are perceived, how to perceive others, what they can do, what they cannot yet do, and what the significant people in their lives think of them and their abilities.
Young children are tasked with fitting together their interpersonal and physical world. Every instant, they yearn to see what they can learn or practice what they have already learned. This inquiry is necessary to negotiate the world around them. But they do not have to work at being present — it comes naturally. They (we) were born in the present and remain there until the ego takes over. Instead of being in the now, when the ego comes to dominate, it distracts us from being here and now. In our ego, we worry, strategize, plan, avoid, and devise ways of dealing with the demands, desires, fears, and stressors of living.
The soul child is our most qualified teacher of presence. And the most qualified soul child we know is our own. Once revived, our soul child teaches us how to live in total presence. By embodying our soul child, we self-remember the natural ability to be present. Then we are not practicing, and we are home. We revive the soul child by igniting an insatiable soul desire to learn the qualities of our souls and the souls of others, to understand what spiritual gifts and fruits we have and those of others. We lean into the soul's desire to participate in sacred kinship, benevolence, action, wisdom, creativity, power, loving peace, and righteousness (alignment with the Divine). All these arise in every present moment. In soul, we see the souls of everyone else.
Spiritual practice: Look at an early childhood photo of yourself. Study your soul child's face and body. Now, become that little person again in your imagination. Feel the absence of struggle, weight, and worry. Feel the lightness and spaciousness of fun and curiosity. Self-remember and re-embody your carefree ability to be fully you. Notice how everything goes in slower motion and that you are in the now. Stay in presence. As you gently emerge from this exercise and, in real-time, continue to live in your presence as your soul child allows you to re-experience.
Self-inquiry: How do I know if my soul child wants to reconnect with me?
Dear God,
Please grant me the gift of reaching back in time and becoming the person who was fully connected to you and to the moment. Amen
