Rich Beyond Measure

London Retreat in July

Hi Folks,

I’ll be coming to London in July and offering a two-day retreat, July 5th and 6th. It will be held at the Philadelphia Association (4 Marty’s Yard, 17 Hampstead High St, London NW3 1QW), 10 am to 4 pm both days. Cost is $100 for the two days ($50 for one day). No one will be turned away for lack of funds. If interested in registering or for more info, email me at: john@johnastin.com.

RICH BEYOND MEASURE

The past and future exist as mere dreams. What is truly alive is only ever this flash instant, this tiny, yet infinite sliver of “now,” a now that need not be practiced or cultivated for it is always and forever the only thing that could ever exist. There is no need to cultivate or practice “being present.” Instead, we can simply notice that presence is all there is for even the supposed absence of it would simply be another present moment! What we experience and call a sense of lack, the feeling that something is somehow missing, is actually the most astounding presence. And so, lack (of presence or anything else) isn’t merely lack but is in fact, complete fullness, the fullness of life itself, existence appearing as the experience we call, “lack.”

Meditation, prayer, yoga—we can practice such things if we find them enjoyable. But they are not actually needed to bring about presence for presence is already here, effortlessly and spontaneously, as this very instant that’s appearing, this ordinary moment shining forth. Fear is presence. Sadness is presence. Joy is presence. Pleasure is presence. Pain is presence. Harmony is presence. Discord is presence. Whether we label what is arising experientially as good or bad, positive or negative, desired or dreaded, whatever arises is presence itself for there is only ever presence, the presence of what is. From this vantage, it doesn’t actually matter what we’re experiencing in terms of its described content for everything is the miracle of presence, life arising and then disappearing and then arising again as the next instant, the next flashing forth of existence, the next appearance of God. We can never be separated from this miraculous presence because there is nothing but.

What I am pointing to here has nothing to do with belief or philosophy. It’s just a simple fact, the fact of presence itself and the reality that this that is present is in the end, simply not conceivable. By its very nature, whatever is here radically transcends any and all attempts at labeling, categorizing, or describing it. But this transcendental, indescribable reality (call it God if you like), shining forth as every instant, is not some grey, bland, empty nothingness. It is an unthinkably rich lusciousness, immeasurable in its fullness and completeness. It is really love itself, the radical inclusivity that rejects nothing because all that appears is none other than itself.

This is the sense I make out of the biblical injunction to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” For me, these words are not so much a spiritual prescription or practice we must take up but a statement about the way reality actually is, the vast sky-like spaciousness of this moment that is loving anything and everything that appears within it because it none other than whatever appears. There really are no parts to this world any more than there are parts to the sea. There is just this seamless continuum of being, the ocean of existence loving and savoring itself in all its many wave-like forms and expressions.

Mind you, I’m not suggesting that because we can never be apart from this presence that we should somehow not continue to seek out and try to maximize whatever we find pleasurable while avoiding (as much as we find ourselves able) those experiences and circumstances we find uncomfortable or otherwise not to our liking. Of course, we can and likely will continue to do this, probably until we take our final breaths. We can continue to seek out those people, places and things that are resonant with our particular dispositions, interests and passions.

But even as we do this, we can also come to see that regardless of how experience may be described, experiencing itself is always present, always here, always available. And this ever-present presence of experiencing is none other than the primal reality itself, a reality that can never be lost because it is what we are and everything is, fundamentally, an ever-present fullness and richness beyond measure.