There is a lot of talk about presence these days. We come upon this word in all sorts of places.  Our collective consciousness seems to be moving in the direction of presence, as if in response to some deep and urgent need.

What does it mean to really embody the meaning of this word, and why is it so important to us at this time? 

To be fully present is to rest in the state of being. Right now our whole world has been swept up into a frenzy of doing, getting, and achieving. We are all participating in this global trance. Everyone talks about wanting to slow down, but most of us just keep running, hoping that if we run fast enough, sometime soon we’ll find the time to rest. 

According to the research of Raine Eisler, the woman who wrote “The Chalice and the Blade,” human beings were living in a state of presence up until about 8000 years ago. At that time we switched to what she calls a ‘domination society,’ a way of living based on control, fear, blame and punishment.  It looks like our 8000 year experiment with this way of life has shown us quite conclusively what the results are. We have lost touch with each other, with nature, and with the basic goodness at our core. Feeling the fragmentation, violence and loneliness that surround us, our hearts cry out for relief. This relief comes to us only when we return to authentic presence. 

A return to presence is a return to being, and it asks from us a willingness to welcome whatever the moment brings us. As long as we are resisting, fighting and denying what is going on inside or outside, we cannot even begin to be fully present. So at the beginning of this return we need to look at our whole relationship to life. How would we live if we really trusted in life and in our selves? What would it feel like to stop struggling, to rest finally in a sense of gratitude for everything life has brought us? These are big questions, and the way to inquire into them is to be willing to wait without an immediate answer. 

We are living in the middle of a great mystery. We are not in control of our lives. We have no idea what will happen to us tomorrow. This truth has never been more obvious than in today’s world. Hurricanes and tsunamis, power outages and oil shortages have brought us all to the edge of an old way of life. What waits for us on the other side is not certain. The only certainty is that the old way is not working. 

Human beings tend to resist change and transformation. We are hard-wired on the level of our genetic structures to survive by clinging to what is comfortable, secure and already known. The challenge we are facing today is truly a collective one-how do we move forward when our conditioning holds us back in fear and mistrust?

The journey to presence happens when we are called there, in spite of all our resistance. When we see that all our doing has not really helped, then we find ourselves standing in the center of this moment, disarmed and unguarded. Many people have told me how long it took for them to let go and just be fully here, and how surprised they were to find that this moment is the only safe place to be. 

When we are present we live in our body, and we are able to listen, with deep respect and passionate curiosity, to the voice of our heart. The nature of this inner guidance is very different from the way that our mind functions. Our heart speaks to us quietly, gently, without force or coercion. We are totally free to listen or not. Paul Pearsall in ‘The Heart’s Code,’ talks about this vast and tender intelligence of the heart. The nature of the heart’s intelligence is that it is ‘non-local.’ It functions from a place of complete interconnectedness with everyone and everything. It knows things the mind has never dreamt of.

The only thing we need in order to be fully present, the only thing we need in order to begin listening to the voice of our own heart, is willingness, readiness. As William Shakespeare said, “Ripeness is all.”

When we realize that we can no longer live an authentic human life without our own presence, something opens up inside us- a deep longing, a willingness to learn what is necessary, even if it is challenging or painful. 

Because we are not really separate at all, when one of us decides to open in this way, to begin to question, to listen, and to feel deeply, the effect of that movement from the heart is much greater than we know. It’s like a ripple that spreads out from the center, touching friends, colleagues and acquaintances, often without having to say a word. 

We are aware of each other deeply all the time, even when we are not conscious of it. When someone connects with their own being, we feel it, we sense something different about them. They are carrying the fragrance of wonder, openness, and courage. They have stopped to pay attention to what has heart and meaning. And that makes all the difference. 

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