WHY MEDITATION IS IMPORTANT

It came to me this morning that meditation is important because it puts me in touch with the only power in the universe – the eternal present moment. All the other activities I could engage in, including reading books about meditation, involve gaining something, changing something, getting somewhere, being somebody different, improving myself – in other words, moving away from the present moment. Only meditation says, “This moment, right here right now, is perfect, so live in it and appreciate it.” I see more and more clearly that I have been trying to flee from the present moment for most of my life – obsessively throwing myself into pursuits that would take me anywhere but the present. The word “pursuit’ fits perfectly here, because it is, indeed, a chase – an attempt to catch some future moment instead of living in the all-powerful present. Even reading a book about meditation has to do with freeing myself from the present, becoming someone different – more educated, more spiritual – than who I am right now. Only meditation brings me face to face with the trouble-free, all-embracing, and unbounded present.