Traveling as much as I have been recently, I meet a lot of interesting people. Recently I met and spent time with someone I’ll call “Emily”. The amazing thing to me about Emily, is that due to a life threatening accident and head trauma, she lives her life almost completely In the Now.
Emily is a lovely person, full of life and gratitude. But what struck me about her when we first met, is that she seemed to lack passion–about anything. When I asked her about where she lives or her work, the answers were all perfectly fine–but they were also without emotion. It was like she could take or leave anything without really caring one way or another.
For me, this represents a state of being In the Now. When I am able to achieve that state, I know that whatever experience I am having is perfect for that moment. And if I feel fear or dislike, it’s because my awareness has left the Now and traveled to some projection I’ve made up in my mind. I have noted over many decades of studying myself that when I allow my brain to wander into stories and projections of the future, it is almost without exception Not Good, not pleasant, it’s a bad picture of what the future can bring.
And I’ve also thought a lot about why my brain–and from what I am told by people I ask–everyone’ brain tends to paint negative pictures of the future when left to wander. The answer is, so that we can prepare ourselves to avoid danger and not feel pain.
But to Emily, this idea is a foreign one. Her brain doesn’t wander into the dark future and make up stories about future pain which needs to be avoided. She just goes from experience to experience, taking in what comes. We have talked about this at length, and she confirmed (as best she could given she just doesn’t feel fear) that my theory was correct.
But there was a downside to her In the Now way of being in the world. I also noticed she doesn’t dream. She doesn’t have dreams of a different life or of things she wants to accomplish. And so being completely In the Now, while keeping us from living a fearful existence, also might keep us from having dreams. And to me, the dreams of conscious beings are the creative force behind why the Universe is expanding. So no dreams, no expansion. Here’s to helping Emily dream again!
