A few years ago when I was studying religious studies and theology at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York I was conversing with a friend who said something that I will never forget. As we were chatting I asked her how her day was and she said, "Today is a good day. Every day is a good day when your feet hit the floor in the morning." After thinking about this I made it a habit to literally say a thanksgiving prayer each morning when my eyes opened, being consciously aware and grateful for a new day. This is just one small example of the positive nature of the mind and why it is so vital to be aware of the moment and one's thoughts because in doing so life will be all more joyous and fill our spirits with God's love.
After speaking to my friend and literally awakening to this truth and fact that today was a good day and every day for that matter because it was a gift from God, my conscious self started to come into being. Now that I am years removed from college and have read a number of texts on the conscious self and living in the NOW by Eckhart Tolle, this truth has become even more powerful and important to my life and the experiences I am blessed to share with others.
We truly can create a "new earth" for ourselves and our human kind when we take control of our minds and attaching ourselves only to the positive thoughts and good things that come in, while allowing the negative and bad to leave. After reading Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now and realizing that time is a physiological concept that causes great pain and suffering as well as fear, not to mention causing humanity to miss the present moment over and over, this is more fully evident.
As a Christian, let us go back over 20 centuries ago when St. Paul wrote his letter to the Romans and focus on his works in chapters 12 & 13. This man who was spiritually blind and dead, slaying Christians and murdering those who were professing the faith experienced a literal awakening on the road to Tarsus as Paul, then Saul, was struck by God, blinded and then converted. He later went on to write more than half of the New Testament including some of the most powerful works on the conscious self and importance of controlling one's mind to experience life to the fullest and receive God's joy! The first scripture to examine is Romans 12:2 which states, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." Here Paul urges us as Christians to not be sucked into the things that this world has to offer whether those be material goods, the ideas that people profess that are not beneficial, the world's desire to focus on the self, and also the addictive way that people concentrate too much on how things used to be or what they want in the future. Instead we must concentrate on the NOW, the one moment and day at a time that we have been blessed with. By being fully aware and fully there, we experience life in a new way and experience God in our living by simply BEING at one with life. In addition, Paul says we must be "transformed by the renewing of (our) mind. Our minds are renewed by being aware of what we are doing and how we are doing it, concentrating on this moment and not projecting into the future only to miss the now, and by living in a state of consciousness by controlling our mind. Thoughts will undoubtedly come and go, both positive and negative. However, when we go with those thoughts this is where the renewing of our mind comes in. We have a choice to "hate what is evil, hold on to what is good" (Romans 12:9). This involves a conscious choice and will truly renew our minds and lives. After doing so we will be able to understand and comprehend what God's will is because we will be enlightened and aware, fully present to what the Lord calls us to be and do since a new sense of clarity will come our way. Distractions and negativity will not be in the forefront of our minds, but a focus on the presence of life and BEING will.
Furthermore, St. Paul goes on to say in Romans chapter 13 to live in love and consciousness so that love and God's spirit may be within us. Specifically, let us look at and examine Romans 13:11 which states, "And do this, knowing the time, that NOW it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed." So what does this mean for us? Well, Paul seems to be stating that today, this moment-The NOW is "high time" because it is a gift given to us and we must not wait for tomorrow, which may not come. Why put off today what we can do now, especially when it involves our faith and walk with Jesus Christ. Our relationship with God and discerning our purpose is after all what we are called to as disciples to live fully in love...that must not be put off! Second, Paul understood exactly what was going on, people then and still today are ASLEEP. Humans must be awakened, to be enlightened to the full conscious self so they can be fully alive and experience God in and through all things. This awakening will come when we are aware and conscious of life and our thoughts, the present moment, and concentrating on what really matters our relationship with Christ and experiencing salvation in the now. Finally, St. Paul urges us to recognize that our salvation is at hand. Jesus himself said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is among men, but they refuse to see it." Paul is suggesting that Christ came and died for us, he opened the gates of Heaven, but why wait until we die to experience the fullness of God and the joy of salvation...this can and must be done now in the day to day beauty and mysteries of life.
The last scripture I would like to examine from Paul's letter to the Romans is in Chapter 14. In this chapter Paul is speaking about doing everything for the Lord. He states, "If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living." (Romans 14:8-9) Jesus Christ came so that we might live and live for the Lord. God sent his Holy Spirit to fill us and empower us that we might be fully alive and do all things for Christ so we might be filled with great joy! As Paul stated, whether we "live or die we belong to the Lord." During our lifetime let us live and be fully alive in Christ that we might have great joy through his love and spirit that is within us. As we aspire to live this way each day we will be truly alive and be able to do the will of God, not by our own accord, but by God who is in us. This BEING and living totally in the Now will allow us to experience the pure beauty of life, the joy, and fullness of God's salvation here on earth and then in the world to come. Remember that, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)
In closing, by renewing our mind and controlling our thoughts and what we concentrate on we have the ability to change our lives and as Eckhart Tolle so emphatically states, "be awakened to the true self that is within us already." In doing so we as Christians are liberated and can experience the kingdom of Heaven here on Earth and the salvation that was won for us as Christ poured out the gift of grace by dying on the cross and rising to new life. May we too experience this new life NOW and be transformed by the renewing of our minds. May we then use our life as an example and witness to bring about the Kingdom of God here on Earth for all men and women to see and enjoy! "This is why it is said, 'Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.'" (Ephesians 5:14)
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