Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, December 3, 2008


Exhaust the little moment.
Soon it dies. And be it gash or gold
it will not come
Again in this identical guise.

- Gwendolyn Brooks, poet, died on
this day, 2000. First African-American
woman to win the Pulitzer prize


Many have given the advice to “live in the present moment”. The Bible has a wonderful saying (which I was brought up to think frivolous) - Eat, drink, and be merry – for tomorrow you die. Frivolous it isn’t. It’s very profound. It isn’t encouraging us to be shallow, or drunks, or fools. It’s simply reminding us that Life happens in the present moment. If we don’t live the present moment to its full - and that’s ALL of it, including the “bad” - the past, even its memory, is empty and the future is destined to be meaningless and disappointing.

I have a lesson to learn here. There is a core part of me that is wanting to live the moment as passionately as possible. But there is another part of me – where did I learn this? – that has a tyrant schedule ruling my Life. Time to go. Time to leave this event, this person. Time to stop listening or being concerned or fascinated by another. The future calls, commitments have been made. Having “retired”, I find it a real struggle not to get kidnapped by a sense that there are “other things to do”. So, the other day, I was birding at Lake Cachuma. It got to be 2pm. After three hours, I hadn’t seen the Greater White-fronted Goose!! But in my head was a voice: “You have this to do, and that; time to leave”. I almost did. Then the Moment broke in: “Relax. The World won’t end.” I stayed, sat down on the shore in the lovely afternoon sun. And the Greater White-fronted Goose finally sailed in like a galleon.

The theme of Advent is “Be Aware, Awake”. It is in the Moment that the Mystery of God and of Self reveals itself. Only Life in the Present provides a past and a future of any truth and power.

Brian+