Quaint, simple and innocent

Looking back over only the past ten years of my life, I realise how little the events that have taken me from one situation to another have had to do with my own determination, in spite of my day-to-day interpretation of my reality. Everything has unfolded according to some unseen guide and I have responded creatively (with responsibility). That does not mean that it has all been easy; on the contrary, it has often been painful and difficult – but that pain and difficulty has always led to new understanding, new realisations and greater wisdom, particularly the realisation of how unimportant it all was in the bigger scheme of worldly things. For example, overwhelmingly powerful romantic love turning to gentle compassion and acceptance.

One of Eckhart Tolle’s most liberating teachings is that the answer, the strength, the right action, the resource will always be there, not before, not after. In other words, only in the present. This is not just wishful thinking, it is a miraculous universal truth and learning to trust it brings peace. The kind of answers and right actions depend on our circumstances, always remembering, however, that we are not our circumstances and right action happens through us - we do not live our lives, life lives us.

My fascination with history, particularly the history of my own family and country, has become keener with age. When I made a speech at my daughter’s wedding recently, I realised wryly that what I was recalling for the guests was simply a little bit of history that sounded, in hindsight, quaintly simple and innocent. And that is what it was, is, and always will be – quaint, simple and innocent. The ego misinterprets the present, bestowing on circumstances an importance beyond reality. And because we bestow on circumstances this importance, we desperately need to qualify them by constantly referring to the past and the future, instead of allowing life to be all it ever can be - the now. And when the now becomes history you realise you could have enjoyed it for what it was all along – quaint, simple and innocent.