First Post--about This Presence

This Presence is always here. It is that part of us that is most particular and personal to each of us yet universal at the same time. It is the deepest paradox I know of and the most fertile. My own contact with the Presence occurs when I am honest and empty of stories and narratives I've chosen to follow only in the internal sense so that my perceptions become more acute and deepen as I gaze out into the world first through my own "identity" (personal history) and then into my family, community, culture and so on. Mostly though I lose focus and I am not Present and lurch from one thing to another distracted by the buzzing variety all around me.

I could find somewhere quiet and just sit but I've found that to be as noisy and full of distractions as anything else. I could just contemplate ideas but they turn into movies. The real movie is this world we live in. To be Present and fully in the now is to be in this world with all its craziness and distractions yet not loosing the thread of being.

This blog will focus on contemporary events and social/political issues in terms of the truth of the Presence (always rooted in this moment). Or, perhaps this is easier to understand, this blog focused on social/political issues from the point of view of pursuing spiritual practices that bring us to some form of Kaivalya or liberation. You may ask: "liberation from what?” In the various forms of spiritual philosophies liberation means liberation from all the illusions we live under. So, for me, the illusions we have that cloud or own being are similar to the collective illusions that cloud our view of the society we live in. My view is that just working on spiritual practices, at this point in history, is inadequate and certainly just working in the social sphere is clearly inadequate since, without spiritual practice to sharpen perception, ones actions are based on potentially dangerous ignorance.