THINKING  ACTS  LIKE  A  VEIL

Look at a flower. We see it now. We behold its form now. We are aware of the flower, right here, right now; but suppose we think about something else while looking at the flower. Think about that big bill that is past due and worry a little. What seems to happen to the awareness of the flower? We are not as aware of it as before, are we? We are looking at it with eyes that hardly see. It seems fuzzy, hardly noticed, but the same rose is there; the same beauty, the same form, the same grace and magnificent delicacy is right before us to be beheld and enjoyed, but we hardly see it. We are too busy worrying about the bill. We are too busy thinking.

The bill is not now. All that is now is the awareness of the rose. The rose in all its loveliness is now. The bill is nothing more than a memory that is not in this now-awareness unless we choose to put it there.

We see that thinking is like a a film spread over the eyes; like a mist that covers the whole face of the land; like a veil; like looking at the flower – and everything else – through a glass darkly.

NOW  IS  ALWAYS  ALL  RIGHT !

We view the rose again. It is here, within Awareness which is aware now. The time of Awareness is always now. Right now, Awareness includes a rose. Look at it closely. See it with rapt and undivided attention. behold with enthusiasm! This is beauty here and now! While so aware, can we be aware of worry, fear or grief in the same now? Are we? Absolutely not! the "return" to "now" is an automatic departure from the not-now, past and future.

As we shall point out in the coming pages, now is always all right! it is filled with beauty, grace and magnificence, containing no sight, sound nor sensation that is not absolutely harmless and altogether perfect. You shall very soon see and understand – even before you finish this volume – now is filled with peace, serenity, sassy and sparkling happiness. It is filled to running over with everything one thinks he needs.

So, as we turn from the memory of the past and dreams of the future – as we turn from thinking – we are neither ignoring Reality [as the world contends] nor burying our heads in the sand to escape the "press of circumstances". Contrariwise, we find ourselves returning to the perfection at hand, to discover anew that now is all that is real and all we ever need to be concerned with!
Here "troubles" are not ignored, nor is a home or business neglected. Here we see with the clarity with which the rose is seen when we are not weighted down with fear and with consternation. here we see things as they are, and accordingly, know better what to do.

Have you heard these words?: "Behold, now! Now is the time. Now is the day of salvation. Now I am with you always. The kingdom is here and now. You can tell the signs in the sky but you do not know to test this now. Now are we the sons of God. Now! Now! Here and now! I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Reader, this now, here and now, is a basic fact of Isness, God, Reality. There is no need to be over-concerned with a past or future when the transcendent NOW exists to enjoy and be.

" BUT  WHAT  IF . . . ? "

Those who have just begun to hear about and ponder the transcendent nature of now are ever anxious to create hypothetical situations and present them to us in the gravest tones to see how "this new way of looking at things" will take care of it. "But, what if such and so...?" they ask, picturing something they think most awful. "Suppose you should see this or that horrible mess, what would you do then?" they ask, to see how we will rationalise or explain away a situation that is not even a part of this now in the first place – except as a harmless dream!

Over-concern with the not-now is a portion of the farcical foolishness that has us in the habit of overlooking the beauty, wonder and perfection of the moment. Jesus admonished those who questioned Him along these lines to "look on the living One [the now-awareness] as long as you live ..." He likened their concern about the not-now to a corpse.

Reader, before I found Tranquility, I had to concede honestly that I was ever concerned with the present now-awareness, alone and only. I had to see that all speculation about a not-now was a silly waste, tending to hide the beauty of the moment. It is the business of dreaming, wondering and worrying, so to speak, that appears to present a confused now in need of correction. To stick to the now is to find it perfect, without need of perfection – and containing nothing to fear!

When these hypothetical situations are tossed into my lap, I can only ask where is any of it happening in this here-and-now? To those who persist in struggling with the not-now, I say again as it was said before, "You have dismissed the living One-Now that is before you and have spoken about a corpse." [Thomas, Log. 52]