Chapter 1
Learn to Experience Every Moment...Literally.
In every moment lies intricate truths...keys, openings, doorways...
passages that enable us to become all we can be by learning to see more than the obvious.
Contrary to what you may have always believed, every new moment counts because the next moment in your life you are about to experience is not about the continuation of the building process that all the other moments in your life have led you to this point; rather, it is about the new moment’s ability to correct the failings of every other moment that has come before. Each new moment allows the opportunity for a perspective change that can only be described as having the significance of a full paradigm shift of perspective in one’s life that can change everything for that person and everyone else.
This first chapter is of utmost importance because it presents a framework for what you will find in this book. Your ability to perceive and benefit from what we will be sharing is being determined by yourself at this exact moment. If your mind and spirit are ready to receive each new moment that occurs in your life by using the tools we’re going to help you develop minus previous mental blocks that may have inhibited your growth before, then you will see that each new moment holds the potential for a new start which will lead to real positive growth. If there was one thing from this book we hope people incorporate into their lives, it would be what this first chapter is all about. It is the jumping off point, the springboard, the catalyst to living a more meaningful and useful life. To those of you who are already understanding these concepts, you are ahead of the game. But from our experience, most people simply are not able to grasp these concepts and don’t even possess the ability to understand what they need to succeed. It is our opinion that these concepts are both simple and complex at the same time. You do not have to be brilliant to grasp these concepts, but willing. If you are reading this book, you already have a leg up. You are desirous of finding meaning in the world around you and thus lead a more meaningful life. Bravo. You are on the first step towards that goal.
It is perplexing that so few people have spent their lives in search of deeper meaning. We will and always will be on our journey. However, it is our goal, and we believe our divine purpose, to share these thoughts and ideas with others. We, the authors of this book, have spent our lives trying to understand ourselves and the world around us. During that time, we have walked an often lonely road by ourselves as we have found few people that have been able to aid us along the way. Rather than see this as a limitation, we’ve come to rely on our own unique perspective as a powerful tool, and guiding structure, to effectively allow us to perceive the benefits derived from the simplest and purest truths that are right in front of us. This has enabled us to tap into a deeper understanding of all things and build our foundation on a more valid basis than we may have found had we merely followed others unqualified to lead towards consciousness. So, that’s our story. Now, you might be asking yourself how does one go about deciding what questions to ask? If you were unable to find what you need from others, what makes you think I would benefit from what you have to say? The answer lies in the fact that we will not be offering a truth in this book; rather, we offer tools to help you evaluate for yourself the future choices that you may find on your path as to whether they have positive or negative influence toward the next moment and the choices that it will bring. Once you can achieve this, you will act independently on your own and your truth will present itself to you. So where do we start?
Live Every Single Moment in Conscious Thought.
It is a simple realisation, really...Live Every Single Moment in Conscious Thought. Once you’ve read it, and not just read it but ABSORBED it, you will be amazed at the simplicity of it. Yet, most people spend relatively few moments of their day if any in truly conscious thought. And when they do, it is usually time set aside for that purpose. They are not living in conscious thought every moment, but rather reflecting on moments already passed. Hey, that’s something. We’re not knocking it. Most people don’t even make time for that. But we’re talking about actually having conscious thought about every moment as you’re living it. Thomas Jefferson said, “Discontent is the necessary indgredient of progress.” You’ve heard the expression, “The glass is either half empty or half full.” While Living Every Single Moment in Conscious Thought, consider your willingness to proceed as an acceptance that more can be added to what is already a part of your glass’s contents. Regardless of content or lack of content in your glass, you know that you are not content with it. Whether you see your glass as half empty or half full, anticipation of what you will be adding to the glass will serve as an inspiration throughout the process. We are not suggesting that you toss out what you currently possess in your glass, but use it instead as an instrument that not only can help you evaluate your past choices but also shape your future ones at the same time. This is the process that we have found brings forth unprecedented growth.
People, for the most part, are shrouded in darkness on a daily basis. Many religions call this state of being sin. Sin results as a manifestation of man’s limits of his own perceptions, including fully comprehending the idea of an infinite and all-powerful God. Whether you read the news every morning, converse with your family at the dinner table, are social with co-workers, stay up-to-date with current events, are a politician, a teacher, a homemaker....most people are so caught up in their day-to-day activities that their minds are clouded with information that doesn't make room for more insightful thought. This is how our perspective remains limited, and thus unhelpful. How many times have you gone to bed and not had a single thought during the day beyond getting your kids off to school, taking care of career and family responsibilities...and find yourself exhausted in mind, body and spirit by the end of the day...not wanting to do anything more than flop in front of the television and watch some mindless comedy or other form of entertainment to unwind? Then, you start the whole vicious cycle over again the next day and find yourself exhausted of all energy at the end of the day, needing mindless entertainment and sleep to propel you into doing the same thing the next day, and over and over again.
People are so caught up in their daily lives, that they have no time, or rather do not make time, to even allow more complex thought to be able to grow. Their fields are not ripe to receive bounty from what would result if they made their life about this process. They've planted their crops full of food and materials to take care of their needs on a physical basis, but they've left no room in their fields for anything else to grow. They have put a higher priority on the physical aspects of life than on the spiritual aspect of life. We are not suggesting that you make time or additional room for conscious thought; rather, we are suggesting that you make it prevalent in all things that you do. In other words, you don’t grow it in your garden, it is your garden.
There is a lot of discussion on what spirituality is. Everyone knows people who claim to lead a spiritual life. This might be your aunt and uncle who go to Bible Study every Wednesday night and church service every Sunday and attend all the social functions of their congregation. It might be your neighbor who unflinchingly makes time three days a week to attend her yoga class. Or it might be the counselor at the homeless shelter or a friend who is always willing to help others in need. Making time for spiritual growth makes us feel good. We feel we should make time for it. Very few people, however, look at their spiritual growth as being derived from their everyday life. Many people apply their spirituality to their everyday life (sometimes), but rarely does their life, and the moments in it, affect their spiritual journey. When something positive is perceived, it is usually found in everyday life moments that already support or reflect what they believe spiritually. So, in other words, if people look hard enough for signs and results, the law of probability states that they will find examples. But rather than these examples being considered strong enough in a person’s life, to be considered foundational, they’re just intermittent and don’t constitute any real significance. The person unknowingly elevates the few examples such as these that they can find to higher levels of significance than they ought to. This is what creates feelings that they’re on the right path and that something positive is happening without any real direction except the one that fate is dealing them. This is where the awakening of consciousness beckons to offer you your reward because with it you’ll be leading where you go and be able to honestly count on that.
People that the general populace would normally see as leading spiritual lives are not the people I’m talking about when I refer to those that seek to live every moment in conscious thought. Rather, and this is an important idea to grasp,
I'm talking about people who on a daily basis have a drive to search for answers
so intrinsically that almost every second of their lives is spent helping to shape their ideas about the world, but on a conscious level, not a subconscious one.
We all absorb on a subconscious level what happens to us throughout our day and subconsciously apply it and let it shape our view of the world and our place in it. But how many of us do that on a conscious level?
Thinking on a conscious level every moment is like having the blinders taken off. All of your senses are working at the maximum capacity. Your awareness of yourself and the world around you is finely tuned and ready to absorb what it sees, hears, and feels. Our observation senses are on heightened alert. These things when properly guiding a consciousness, do not require effort at that point but happen naturally. We notice things we normally would not notice or give any significance to had we not been in tune on a conscious level. While we are going about our everyday life, we are constantly taking in every moment, every experience and consciously tweaking and shaping our life view. And then, ironically, what was once conscious starts to work on its own and then once again becomes subconscious. But how many people do you know who understand this and implement it? We know relatively few. That is why we feel the need to share what we’re sharing.
Most people need to set aside “alone” time to meditate to achieve the kind of concentration of thought that we experience every moment of our lives. And even then, they are not incorporating the everyday moments into their conscious thought. Rather, they are reflecting back on key moments in their daily life, albeit on a conscious level, but it is just not as effective in the same way at that point. They passed without interaction, thus fell flat both in their effect on the world and their effect on us. Imagine all the key moments they are missing! Forever forgotten and given no importance or significance because they were filtered out on a subconscious level throughout their day. Even if you remember them and reflect back, they possess no power within the realm of their potential because you wasted them. Now they serve as only shadows or reminders of opportunities lost. Only moments that stood out, that made it through the subconscious filter will ever be utilized and only in the future, and thus on a weaker level. There is a phrase that we know that will illustrate the level of effectiveness that involvement on various levels will bring. “Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Involve me and I will understand.” When you are tuned into your conscious thought, you will be involved and you will understand. Anything less is coming up short. You may say, “Do I really want to trust my subconscious to act as a filter for my conscious thought? How can I trust my own management of these things?” The thought of this cycle running on simultaneously while you’re living your life is mind-boggling: how can your subconscious self be the best teacher for your conscious self? It can’t if your conscious self is on shelf most of the time. How is your subconcious being trained to know what is important information and what can be filtered out? This is where foundation comes in. But what do we find valuable enough and strong enough to build that foundation on? The suitable building sights are as varied as the vast barrage of ideas that man has formulated throughout all time. This starting point in and of itself before you apply it to your daily life can seem mind-boggling. As children we are guided, and worse, told where to build our foundations. The strength of that initial start is only as strong as the random blind luck of who you find yourself being guided by. So what you must do is unlearn all that you have learned and been told and relearn it with a discerning eye, mind and heart. By doing this you will be formulating a consciousness that you can trust which will later guide your subconscious.
Living our lives the way most of us do, on a subconscious level, is just not all a person is capable of. You will never reach your maximum, your ultimate capability, your absolute worth. The shame of this is that not only will you live a life that is not all it can be, but you will not be offering your best to others or the world which continues all the negatives that you’ve encountered and insures they’ll be there to trouble everyone else in similar ways. This will continue to make the world in its totality less than it can be by being a sum of its individual parts, namely the people and the consciouses in it. Therefore, it is only logical to conclude that we were put in this world to make a difference and be all that we can be if we are to expect the same positive qualities to be given us from the world. This is a complete reflection of the real validity and logic of doing unto others as you would have them done unto you.
Thinking Every Single Moment on a Conscious Level might seem impossible to you. It might even seem undesirable if your goal is to merely live your earthly life as easily and as uncomplicated as you can. Implementation of a reliable system of self-governing will only be as useful as the tools that you yourself invent and incorporate into the building of the framework that will house your consciousness. This will become clearer and more apparent as you read through the many chapters in this book. I assure you that when these processes are incorporated into your consciousness, they will run themselves without effort.
The idea of Thinking Every Single Moment on a Conscious Level is actually an achievable goal. It should be your first and most important goal. It will open the door to more meaningful, rich and complex thought. Consider the phrase, “The world is your oyster.” The world really is your oyster. It is your learning ground. Our everyday life, made up of precious moments, contains the keys to unlocking the meaning of the world around us and our place in it. But most importantly, every new moment is another chance for a fresh perspective that you never had before and the opportunity contained therein. Furthermore, the importance of understanding that each new moment could be your last cannot possibly be understated.