Inner  Frontier
Fourth Way Spiritual Practice

 

Inner Work


For the week of February 5, 2007


Evening Presence

On most days, typically in the evening, we enter a period of relative leisure. Our duties for the day complete, we can just relax. Perhaps we read, listen to music, watch TV, engage with friends or family, or take up some other favored activity or inactivity. This is the perfect time for relaxed presence.

Whenever we can fully relax in our outer life, we take as our practice to also relax inwardly, into an easy presence. We rest simply in awareness of bodily sensation, in awareness of being here. From this easy presence, we can enjoy the company of other people or whatever we are doing. This background ease can enable us to live in presence for longer periods than otherwise possible, perhaps even for most of the evening.

Even if our evening calls for fulfilling certain responsibilities, like commuting home from work, shopping, cooking, washing dishes, or caring for our children, we have the possibility of doing it all in ease and presence. To a remarkable degree, presence adds wholeness and fulfillment to the evening, to our interactions with others, to our leisure pursuits, to performing our evening chores, to simply being in our life. All this acquires a much more satisfying dimension if done in presence.

Presence is simple and, although it has degrees, distinct from non-presence, from living in a programmed way. Presence is whole and complete; non-presence is partial and contingent. Presence is cognizant of this moment; non-presence lets it slip by unnoticed. Presence thinks by intention; non-presence thinks by associative stream. Presence is the context; non-presence blows in the wind. Presence does; non-presence reacts. Presence is; non-presence needs.

For this week, live your evenings in presence, intentionally and knowingly being here, relaxing into awareness of your body, into awareness of the moment, into kindness, and into being the one who does what you do.


     

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