{"id":408,"date":"2013-06-30T12:26:11","date_gmt":"2013-06-30T12:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/yourbestlifenow\/?p=408"},"modified":"2013-06-30T12:37:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-30T12:37:00","slug":"eternity-in-an-houron-the-meaning-of-mindfulness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2013\/06\/eternity-in-an-houron-the-meaning-of-mindfulness.html","title":{"rendered":"Eternity in an Hour\u2026On the Meaning of \u2018Mindfulness\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"conversation\"<\/a>\u201cTo see a world in a grain of sand,<\/p>\n

And a heaven in a wildflower;<\/p>\n

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,<\/p>\n

And eternity in an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

— Auguries of Innocence, William Blake<\/p>\n

You are the nearest to eternity when you\u2019re in\u2026fully in\u2026this present moment.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the point Blake is making; it\u2019s the conclusion to which I\u2019ve come after spending the last several years training myself to enter the \u201ceternity in an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the conclusion to which I\u2019ve come\u2026<\/p>\n

When we show up, whatever you may believe about life beyond\u2026God\u2026or, spiritual matters\u2026when you and I show up, we enter through the timeless now \u2013 our birth \u2013 and, then, spend the rest of our lives trying to figure out how to return to it.<\/p>\n

We eventually do. It\u2019s called death. Death, if it is anything at all, it is that single moment in life when we have successfully re-entered the timeless now. I am aware that you have not ever viewed your death in this way.\u00a0 Neither have I. But these are the thoughts I\u2019m having about “death” and “life” and “this present moment” today.<\/p>\n

As odd as it may sound, death is actually your birth or, you might say, re-birth into the timeless now.<\/p>\n

By saying this, I am not suggesting life beyond death. I happen to believe there is. I cannot prove it. No one else can either, although some of the most popular books are always about those who’ve gone “beyond and back.” We only seek proof because we’re scared and uncertain.<\/p>\n

I no longer even feel the need to argue in defense of an eternity. You only ever argue about those things you don\u2019t really know and fear may not be true. You might remember this the next time someone questions why you believe in life after death and, when they do, why you find yourself getting defensive and\/or argumentative.\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason you do and it has nothing to do with your questioner. Which is why, people\u2026and, I’m talking about religious people, too, who are always defending or trying to prove the existence of God using all kinds of theories of \u201cintelligent design,\u201d are no more \u201cproving\u201d the existence of God than those who believe in life on other planets prove anything by showing you some hazy picture of a UFO captured on film in the Mojave desert.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who try to prove God exists do so, not because they know God does, but because they\u2019re secretly afraid She doesn\u2019t\u201d (taken from my book The Enoch Factor: The Sacred Art of Knowing God<\/a><\/i>).<\/p>\n

Sorry for that brief excursion.<\/p>\n

What is it like when you and I experience the timeless now?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s rare.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s blissful, magical, full of joy and mystery.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the place of peace. Perfect peace. The peace the apostle said is “beyond all human understanding” (Phil. 4:7).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s timeless. It is \u201ceternity in an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve had such moments, rare though they are. \u00a0They usually surprise you. They’re hard to plan for but they are the moments that you remember most. And, seek over and over again.<\/p>\n

The conversation with a friend in a coffee shop that becomes, unexpectedly, timeless. Before you know it, they’re placing the chairs on top of the table, mopping the floors, and preparing to close. You lost all consciousness of time. And yet…and this is the mystery…you were more conscious than at almost any other time.<\/p>\n

Most of us spend the greater part of our lives living in life’s two polar opposites \u2013 either the past with its memories or the future with its endless anticipations.\u00a0 But, when you think about it, neither the past nor the future is really real. \u00a0They are illusory. You can only think about the past in the now. The future, whatever it is, will only ever appear in the now. The only thing that is really real\u2026even eternal\u2026is now.<\/p>\n

This is perhaps life\u2019s greatest mystery; it is also life\u2019s greatest challenge: To get out of one\u2019s head and into one\u2019s heart\u2026out of the past and the future and into the present.<\/p>\n

In the East, they speak of \u201cmindfulness.\u201d\u00a0 It is the same thing Jesus pointed toward when he said, \u201cTake no thought for tomorrow\u2026\u201d (Matt. 6:33-35) which was his way of saying, \u201cStay present\u2026remain mindful\u2026live in the now!\u201d<\/p>\n

Your task in life\u2026you might even say, your actual \u201csalvation\u201d is to learn how to get back to your eternal, timeless connection to \u2018now\u2019 \u2013 this is, in case you’re interested, the place where you meet Presence – the Presence I call God. \u00a0But, even if you are not a religious person, and many of my readers are not, this IS still your \u2018life\u2019 task\u2026your life objective.\u00a0 If you are a religious person, this is what it means to be \u201csaved.\u201d Salvation is not for the purpose of saving you from a horrible future but to reconnect you to the eternal now. Many religious people are still lost as they look for a place in some imaginary, future heaven. Salvation is to enable you to enter heaven now.<\/p>\n

This is what Jesus meant when he explained, \u201cI have come that you might have life\u2026and, life abundant\u201d (Jn 10:10). By \u201cabundant\u201d he did not mean, \u201cI\u2019ve come that you might have the \u2018American Dream\u2019,\u201d a three thousand square foot home in suburbia America\u2026children growing up in the best schools with the best opportunities\u2026and you driving around in a BMW while vacationing annually in the Bahamas.<\/p>\n

Somebody should tell that to Benny Hinn and a host of other charlatans who don the contemporary religious landscape.<\/p>\n

Jesus was talking about \u2018mindful\u2019 living in the timeless now. This is life abundant. When you have this, it doesn’t take the Bahamas to award you with life’s grandest blessings.<\/p>\n

So, what does it mean to be ‘mindful’? \u00a0To be in the timeless now?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the answer and, ironically, not from where you might expect.<\/p>\n

Martin Seligman is the father of what is now regarded as the science of positive psychology.\u00a0 In his bestselling book, Authentic Happiness<\/a><\/i>, he tells of a novice monk who arrives at the home of his teacher. He enters the house, bursting with ideas about metaphysics and Buddhism and all he\u2019s learned.<\/p>\n

In other words, he is certain he is ready…he is positive he has attained to enlightenment and is ready to prove himself to his master teacher.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have but one question for you,\u201d his instructor intones.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am ready, master,\u201d he replies. “Sincerely ready.”<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the doorway, as you entered,” continued his master, “were the flowers to the left or to the right of the umbrella?\u201d<\/p>\n

The novice was noticeably speechless. He had not noticed.<\/p>\n

The novice, knowing he had much yet to learn, got up, walked out of the house and returned for three more years of study.<\/p>\n

Get this, my friend, and you are beginning to understand life\u2019s greatest mystery\u2026the mystery hidden in every moment.<\/p>\n

It is your happiness.<\/p>\n

It is your salvation.<\/p>\n

It is \u201ceternity in an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Your Best Life Now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cTo see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wildflower; Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour.\u201d — Auguries of Innocence, William Blake You are the nearest to eternity when you\u2019re in\u2026fully in\u2026this present moment. That\u2019s the point Blake is making; it\u2019s the conclusion…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":551,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[681],"tags":[685,698,706,21,707,688,684,696,700,694,42,693,705,699,683,682,697,183,701,464,690,708,692,40,704,703,41,687,691,702,695,686,689],"class_list":["post-408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mindfulness","tag-auguries-of-innocence","tag-authentic-happiness","tag-benny-hinn","tag-buddhism-2","tag-charlatans","tag-death","tag-eternity-in-an-hour","tag-existence-of-god","tag-full-of-joy","tag-intelligent-design","tag-knowing-god-2","tag-life-beyond-death","tag-lifes-greatest-challenge","tag-martin-seligman","tag-mindful","tag-mindfulness-2","tag-mojave-desert","tag-mystery","tag-peace","tag-positive-psychology","tag-re-birth","tag-religious-landscape","tag-seek-proof","tag-the-enoch-factor-2","tag-the-future","tag-the-past","tag-the-sacred-art","tag-this-present-moment","tag-timeless-now","tag-two-polar-opposites","tag-ufo","tag-william-blake","tag-your-birth"],"yoast_head":"\nEternity in an Hour\u2026On the Meaning of \u2018Mindfulness\u2019 - Your Best Life Now<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2013\/06\/eternity-in-an-houron-the-meaning-of-mindfulness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eternity in an Hour\u2026On the Meaning of \u2018Mindfulness\u2019 - Your Best Life Now\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cTo see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wildflower; Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour.\u201d — Auguries of Innocence, William Blake You are the nearest to eternity when you\u2019re in\u2026fully in\u2026this present moment. 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Leadership Coach... Counsel to Non-Profits, Faith-based Organizations and Congregations... Adjunct Professor of Communication at the University of Kentucky... Spiritual Teacher... Inspirational and Motivational Speaker. But not always in this order. On the university campus, I teach students the Art of Communication. In my public talks, however, I teach leaders the Art of Leading; I teach everyone the Art of Living...so that... when you come to the end... and, you will come to the end... You're able to look back on life feeling... Fulfilled... Accomplished... Content, Peaceful, and Happy, too... Knowing your brief but important journey has made this world a more... Conscious... Compassionate, and... Charitable place. 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