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Excerpt One The mental condition of “living in time”, of relentlessly running from yesterday and of frantically chasing tomorrow without rest or peace, is the predicament that The Presence Process addresses and soothes. By assisting us to understand how we individually arrived in this predicament, it simultaneously gives us the methodical procedure and perceptual tools that empower us to begin finding our way out of this illusion. It throws a rope of awareness to us and empowers us to pull ourselves out of the pit of our distractions with the past and the future so that we may return to the only ground that is solid, safe, and peaceful: the present moment. The Presence Process accomplishes this by bringing awareness to the authentic Presence that we really are in a way that encourages us to consciously begin dismantling the inauthentic pretence that we made to shield ourselves from our fear, anger, and grief. It demonstrates that the only way we can authentically change our world experience is by liberating ourselves from the perceptual virus of time and that liberating ourselves from this mental disease is therefore the greatest act of service we can perform right now. We are not the experiences that we manufactured to feel safe and accepted in this world. And no matter what the future may promise, the only moment that can be real for us has nothing to do with yesterday or what may happen tomorrow. While we continue to react unconsciously to the events of our life, we are not even seeing what is right in front of us; we are in a mentally-driven nightmare, recoiling from ghosts of the past and projected phantoms from the future. This is no way to live. This is not life. What life really is cannot enter time. This time-based experience is a perceptual hell guarded by the bars of our unresolved fear, anger, and grief. It does not take us anywhere; it never did, and it never will. In time, nothing happens, we only think it does. Excerpt Two Present moment awareness is not a concept; it is an experience. It is an effortless way of Being that is the birthright of every human in this world. Entering it now is an inevitable consequence of our accelerating evolution. Its invitation is here, now, for all willing to receive its blessings. It calls to every one of us in a silent voice that says, “Stop! There is nowhere to go and nothing to do, but there is everything to be.” This is the invitation, this is the journey, and this is the gift The Presence Process makes possible. So what is present moment awareness? It is a state of Being in which
we effortlessly integrate the authentic and Divine Presence that we are
with each God-given moment that we are in so that we are able to respond
consciously to every experience we are having. By accomplishing this,
our response is always the same: gratitude – a flow of gratitude
that washes us of all our illusions. Entering such a state may sound
hard and complicated when we are living in time. It is, however, effortless
and completely natural because present moment awareness is our birthright.
It is the kingdom of awareness through whose gates the prodigal children
return. The hard part has been attempting to find what we did not know
we had lost. The best part is realizing that we have been looking for
something that has already found us. Excerpt Three The Presence Process is not about changing who or what we are. This is impossible. Instead, it is about releasing our attachment to our manufactured identity so that we may gently return to an awareness of our authentic Presence. It is about moving from pretence to Presence. It is about consciously connecting with that aspect of our Being that always remains constant. It is about honoring that aspect of our Being that is always present. It is not about becoming something or somebody else. It is about remembering and experiencing who and what we really are and have always been. The Presence Process is not about changing the nature of what the stars have marked on our forehead, hands, and feet. It is about waking into the fullest potential of each moment that is already destined. It is about responding to our life as it is unfolding right now and not reacting to it as if something else was supposed to be happening. The Presence Process intends to reveal to us that our mistaken desire to change what is happening to us in any given moment is usually born out of an inability to show up and fully enjoy the wonder of our life experience as it is right now. The Presence Process awakens within us the awareness that it is in the nature of our interaction with what is happening to us right now that we sow the seeds for what is to come beyond the borders of this life experience. It assists us to see that the quality of the seeds that we sow in any given moment is very different depending on whether we choose to react or to respond to our experiences. Reacting to our experience means that we are making our decisions based on what we think happened to us yesterday and what we think may happen to us tomorrow. We are only responding to our experience when we make choices based on what is happening to us right here, right now. It is only possible to respond to our experiences when we unlearn the behaviors and belief systems that lead us into reaction. This “unlearning” is what The Presence Process assists us to accomplish. There are no failures in The Presence Process, as it is an individual journey driven by commitment, curiosity, and intention. It cannot be experienced for someone else or because of someone else. Activating present moment awareness is an individual responsibility. It is therefore an experience that is by nature immune to comparison or judgment. The Presence Process is not an end
to anything; it is the continuation of a lifelong journey that we have
already been making into the heart
of our own present moment awareness. |