Living in the Now

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The beginning of a new year is an opportunity for improvement. It makes little difference what the past has been, for we are not to look back to see if the furrow be crooked.** What matters most is the sanctification of the now moment.** Time is so precious that God doles it out second by second. If life in the past has been evil, the new year is an opportunity for penance. In such a way is time redeemed. If life, however, has been virtuous, the new year is an opportunity for greater self-perfection.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (On Being Human)
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And so many think only people like Echart Tolle teach about being in the now.

So many wise teachings from the East are well rooted in Catholic Tradition. We merely have to be open to them.

Jim
 
Thank you for posting this! Do you have anything else about living in the now?
 
Thanks Jim!

Here’s a link to one of my favorite passages from one of my favorite spiritual books … Abandonment to Divine Providence (aka Sacrament of the Present Moment).

This particular passage wonderfully describes how intuition and spontaneity govern the lives of those who’ve learned to live in the here and now.

catholictreasury.info/books/abandon/ab40.php

Dave 🙂
 
PrayRosary said:
Thank you for posting this! Do you have anything else about living in the now?
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Not off hand, although I have read Echart Tolle. His stuff is good, but not Christian per se.

Also, when I read it, I said to myself, this isn’t spiritual, but physiology 101 and I remembered reading the same in Archbishop Sheen’s works.

Echart Tolle however gave some good advice about managing the ego.

The ego dwells on the past or the future, but is weakened in the present moment.

This is because the ego looks at mistakes in the past, which damaged the false self that it created. It then looks to the future on how to build up or create a new false image of self.

In the present, the ego has nothing to dwell on.

Also, keep in mind, God isn’t constricted by time as we here on earth are. He lives in the present, so being in the present is being with God.

Jim
 
Hail Mary full of grace,the Lord is with thee
blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,Jesus
Holy Mary,Mother of God,pray for us sinners,NOW and at the hour of our death.amen
 
So true! Now is all we have. Yet, I still spend way too much time relishing in or regretting the past, or planning for or fearing the future.

I have not read Tolle, but the Benedictines John Main and Laurence Freeman also devote a great deal of their writing to the idea of living in the present moment, and letting go of the vice-like grip of the ego. This idea of “death to self,” or perhaps better, “surrender to Other,” and living in the now, is indeed common to most all spiritual paths, and so it is no great surprise to me that Archbishop Fulton Sheen would have also acknowledged it in his own way.

I read a passage from Gerald May’s *Will and Spirit *this morning from the chapter entitled Fear: Self-image and Spirituality, which reminded me of this thread:
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“The Theologia Germanica, a deceptively simple guide to the spiritual life written in the fourteenth century, states emphatically, ‘Nothing burns in hell but self-will.’ It condemns anything and everything having to do with 'I, me, mine and the like.” Thomas a Kempis in his *Imitation of Christ *of the same period said, ‘Be assured of this, that you must live a dying life.’ Predictably, John of the Cross said, ‘He that knows how to die to all things will have life in all things.’ The Tao Te Ching says, ‘To die but not to perish is to be eternally present.’"
 
Just wanted to say thanks for sharing all these comments and resources. I have read Tolle, but none of the others. I just ordered Gerald Mat’s Will and Spirit. Plan to read it as soon as it arrives. God bless you all.
 
Hmm, Gerald May seems like an interesting character.

I just put his book, The Awakened Heart on my wish list.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Not off hand, although I have read Echart Tolle. His stuff is good, but not Christian per se.

Also, when I read it, I said to myself, this isn’t spiritual, but physiology 101 and I remembered reading the same in Archbishop Sheen’s works.

Echart Tolle however gave some good advice about managing the ego.

The ego dwells on the past or the future, but is weakened in the present moment.

This is because the ego looks at mistakes in the past, which damaged the false self that it created. It then looks to the future on how to build up or create a new false image of self.

In the present, the ego has nothing to dwell on.

Also, keep in mind, God isn’t constricted by time as we here on earth are. He lives in the present, so being in the present is being with God.

Jim
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much to think about, thanks for sharing
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Not off hand, although I have read Echart Tolle. His stuff is good, but not Christian per se.

Also, when I read it, I said to myself, this isn’t spiritual, but physiology 101 and I remembered reading the same in Archbishop Sheen’s works.

Echart Tolle however gave some good advice about managing the ego.

The ego dwells on the past or the future, but is weakened in the present moment.

This is because the ego looks at mistakes in the past, which damaged the false self that it created. It then looks to the future on how to build up or create a new false image of self.

In the present, the ego has nothing to dwell on.

Also, keep in mind, God isn’t constricted by time as we here on earth are. He lives in the present, so being in the present is being with God.

Jim
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This is good stuff man. What book is this called?
 
PrayRosary said:
This is good stuff man. What book is this called?
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Echart Tolle, “A New Earth: Awakening Your Life Purpose.” Note, this is not Catholic and some see it it as new age. However, you’ll find what he says in many Catholic Publications. It’s pretty much basic psychology, which is what Fulton Sheen used in teaching on it.

Fulton Sheen, I’m not exactly sure which book, but I know some of it is in
" From the Angel’s Blackboard." Just about any book by Fulton Sheen is excellent.

This is a collection of teachings by the late Archbishop Sheen, from his TV broadcast.

When was doing his show, he would write an instruction on the black board, then turn to the camera to explain it. As he changed the subject, he’d return to the blackboard and it was cleaned and he always jokingly said that the angel had cleaned it.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
And so many think only people like Echart Tolle teach about being in the now.

So many wise teachings from the East are well rooted in Catholic Tradition. We merely have to be open to them.

Jim
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Echart Tolle is German and is not associated with any Eastern religion. He was also influenced by Eastern and Western philosophers alike. I do not see how his teachings can be pegged as Eastern. 🤷
 
Zekariya said:
Echart Tolle is German and is not associated with any Eastern religion. He was also influenced by Eastern and Western philosophers alike. I do not see how his teachings can be pegged as Eastern. 🤷
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I never said Tolle was associated with any Eastern religion. He’s not, nor is he associated with any Christian religion.

However, he often quotes Eastern religious teachings.

He also quotes Christian teachers as well, including Scripture.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
I never said Tolle was associated with any Eastern religion. He’s not, nor is he associated with any Christian religion.

However, he often quotes Eastern religious teachings.

He also quotes Christian teachers as well, including Scripture.

Jim
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I see. Thanks for clarifying. 🙂
 
Now here is something I read this morning from Esther de Waal’s *Seeking God; The Way *of St. Benedict, which also addresses another aspect of living in the Now: our resistance to, in the face of the inevitability of, change :

"My difficulty is that on the whole I am not very good at change, I cling to the safe and the known. Caught up in the miseries and the confusions of what I am losing, I find I am unwilling to believe that new life is really anything more than a distant promise and that the resurrection is not something deferred, but instead is present now as the key to what is happening in my day-to-day living… I must live in this moment, not looking either forward or back, or to right or left, but realizing that unless I am what I am there cannot be any growth. If I promise myself that life will be better, that I shall be a more agreeable person, that I shall be closer to God on the next stage along the way, then I am failing to live as I am called to live because I go on dreaming of that ideal which does not exist. The past has brought me to this moment and if I begin today anew I can also begin tomorrow anew and the day after that, and so I shall be truly open to change."

Good stuff for dreamers and procrastinators like myself!

“Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2Cor 6:2
 
christofirst said:
Now here is something I read this morning from Esther de Waal’s *Seeking God; The Way *of St. Benedict, which also addresses another aspect of living in the Now: our resistance to, in the face of the inevitability of, change :

"My difficulty is that on the whole I am not very good at change, I cling to the safe and the known. Caught up in the miseries and the confusions of what I am losing, I find I am unwilling to believe that new life is really anything more than a distant promise and that the resurrection is not something deferred, but instead is present now as the key to what is happening in my day-to-day living… I must live in this moment, not looking either forward or back, or to right or left, but realizing that unless I am what I am there cannot be any growth. If I promise myself that life will be better, that I shall be a more agreeable person, that I shall be closer to God on the next stage along the way, then I am failing to live as I am called to live because I go on dreaming of that ideal which does not exist. The past has brought me to this moment and if I begin today anew I can also begin tomorrow anew and the day after that, and so I shall be truly open to change."

Good stuff for dreamers and procrastinators like myself!

“Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2Cor 6:2
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Excellent quote.

The teaching is so rooted in Catholic spirituality, that if we didn’t post them, we’d get flack that the concept of living in the now is New Age and to be avoided.

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, in other words, it’s in the now.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Excellent quote.

The teaching is so rooted in Catholic spirituality, that if we didn’t post them, we’d get flack that the concept of living in the now is New Age and to be avoided.

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, in other words, it’s in the now.

Jim
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As Christians we are always advised to tests the spirits to see if they are from God. Anyone who denies Jesus Christ,no matter how he presents his teachings is leading people astray.
 
Michael_Mayo said:
Adrain Van Kaam is good also adn I think under appreciated.

amazon.com/Tell-Me-Who-I-Am/dp/0871930005/ref=sr_1_17?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389990926&sr=1-17

amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&field-author=Adrian%20Van%20Kaam&page=1&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AAdrian%20Van%20Kaam#/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AAdrian+Van+Kaam&ie=UTF8&qid=1389990955
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In other words Tolle is leading people away from God and into a pantheistic pagan view of God, more in line with Gnosticism,something the early church fathers fought valiantly against. Mary at Lasalette and also to Catherine Laboure stated that toward the end MANY heretical books will appear,causing many to fall away into apostasy.
 
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