It is true that philosophers and spiritual leaders teach us that there is only the present moment. If you examine it for yourself, you will also see that this teaching is true. You may decide, for example, to think about something that happened yesterday. Then ask yourself: when am I thinking about yesterday? The answer is, of course, today. Can you go back to yesterday and live there? That is impossible. What makes it impossible? It is impossible because yesterday doesn’t exist in reality. It only exists in your mind.
The same thing is true for tomorrow, next week, and next year. Can you actually exist in such a time as the future? You can’t, because it doesn’t really exist. The future is only an idea in your mind.
The only reality we have is the present moment.
That might sound like it contradicts what we said earlier about having had to act in the past to create an enjoyable present. If you look at it a little more closely, it really isn’t a contradiction at all.
Life consists of one present moment at a time: now-now-now-now-now-now…
What you do in one “now moment” carries over into the next. What you do in the next “now moment” carries over into the one that comes after that.
In that way, although there is no real time as past or future, it is still possible to build a life. Your life will have continuity. This continuity will limit and define the options that are available to you.
How does this work?
It’s very simple, really. It just means that one situation arises from the other. For example, if you decide to study French in school, it may make you eligible to apply for a summer study program in France offered by your college. Once there, you may discover the French institution has more of the type of academic program you want than your American school does. The education they offer may be free or less expensive than in the States. You may make friends with a French student, who offers to share his or her apartment with you. Soon you find yourself living and studying abroad.
Would any of this have happened had you not originally chosen to study French? Would it have come about if you had taken up Spanish or Russian instead? Would it have come about if you had taken a different program which didn’t require any foreign language study at all? Would it have come about if you never went to college in the first place and had dropped out of high school at age sixteen?
In this situation, you made not one, but a number of choices that led to you being able to live abroad. First, you chose to study a particular foreign language. Second, you chose to work hard in order to learn it well. Third, you chose to apply your knowledge by applying for the study abroad program. Fourth, you made the choice to be fearless and not return with your class, but remain in a foreign country.
This is an example of how your life has continuity. Particular choices lead to particular situations, which in turn, lead to other choices.
