Long Ago and Far Away

"and in between what might have been and what has come to pass."   Long Ago and Far Away, by James Taylor

I think we all know at a rational and cognitive level that "what might have been" never existed and never will exist. And  yet we spend an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to conjure it up. We often actually try to live there.

The truth is, and we all know it very well, "what has come to pass" is the only past tense that is real.

But then the mystics tell us, and they are right about this, "what has come to pass" doesn't exist either. The memories of "what has come to pass" exist but "what has come to pass" does not exist. And it never will exist.

But even the memories of "what has come to pass" do not exist.  Our memories aren't perfect. We remember things the way we choose to remember them.  Some of us choose to only remember the good parts. Many of us choose to only remember the painful parts.  So which memory is the real "what has come to pass"? The good memories or the bad ones?  None of them.  You are not remembering "what has come to pass" the way it actually came to pass. You only remember certain parts of it. That then disqualifies you from saying truthfully "I remember what has come to pass."

So if there is no way possible to find "what might have been" and we can't even find "what has come to pass" then where does that leave us? Are we all hopelessly lost?

You know this too. It leaves us with the only possible reality --"here and now", the chair where we sit.

Life has always been and always will be in the present moment. Zoa, Jesus called it. The Tao, others call it. And still others The Eternal Now.

But you don't like the present moment? You don't like it here, where you are? Then learn to like it here or go somewhere else.  But I'll warn you. When you get there, you'll find it to be much like it is here. So you might as well just learn to like it here. Once you learn to like it here, you can like it anywhere. Just trust me on this.