The Undivided

Many years ago, while reading P.D.Ouspensky’s book “In search of the Miraculous”, (on pages 124-128), I learned of a highly effective technique for “living in the moment”. In fact, if you do it properly (and it’s very difficult to do it properly) it will be all but impossible to do anything BUT “live in the moment”.  Ouspensky calls the technique “remembering oneself”. He noted that we humans tend to forget to remember ourselves but it is only in remembering ourselves that we remember anything at all. I would sum up the whole process like this. See all that you can see. Hear all that you can hear. Smell all that you can smell. Taste all that you can taste. Feel all that you can feel and do it all at once with the intention of remembering it ALL. It’s amazing how much of our senses are tuned out in any given moment. We live the majority of our lives in a quasi-comotose robotic like state with minimal awareness of the true world that surrounds us. As you practice remembering yourself, you begin to tune it all back in. Ouspensky notes that we occasionally do “wake up”…as for instance while in the midst of crashing in a car or some other novel situation. In those moments, all the senses awaken and time slows to a crawl. If you practice “remembering yourself”, you may enter that state without needing a car crash to achieve it and the boundaries of time itself may become blurred. As an example, I used this technique of “remembering myself ” while walking through the streets of Charleston, South Carolina one evening over  thirteen years ago. The details of that walk have for me never really moved far into the past. They seem more like yesterday than thirteen years ago. I recall clearly the gestures people were making as I passed them in the street. The flickering of lantern lights against the brick walls. The feel  of the warm night air, and of my feet walking along cobblestone roads. The beating of my heart in my chest.The smells of restaurants, old buildings, horse carriages, etc. that I encountered along the way. The sound of music playing and horses hooves clicking on the roadways.People talking and laughing and so on and so forth. Practice remembering yourself and you will begin to awaken. Many are they who await your awakening. 🙂