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©A.Rutherford
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the Present - the period of time now occurring
There's one or two in every class or crowd . . . invariably at the beginning of the school year, whenever I would call the class roll for the first time, amongst the consecutive chorus of "Here!" responses, there would always be one or two students who answered "Present!" It would always seem to evoke a response of a few giggles or chuckles from the rest of the class, but I would always give an attentive look of inspection to that student or students because usually I found these were the students who would indeed prove to be "present" in the class, not merely "here." They attended to the class, in the old sense of attend . . . pay attention to . . . they were very much "present" in the class. They paid attention to its (and my as their teacher's) presence in their lives . . . they lent their full presence to the class with their attention and participation.
Through the years by the examples provided by my students, I too learned important lessons about the value of being present to one's experiences. The ones who were truly and fully "present" in class were the ones who had the most success and who enjoyed the process of their education the most, and who took the most from it of lasting value.
I always want to be the one who can answer "Present!" to even the most mundane experiences of my daily life and find the value and Joy in them. But of course, being Present to the moment must be practiced as a discipline.
Thinking about this sort of attentiveness made me remember a very old Celtic legend about the Fianna, an ancient Celtic group of people who lived apart from society.
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Once, as the Fianna were sitting around resting, a debate arose among them as to what was the finest music in the world.
"Tell us that," said Fionn, turning to Oisin.
"The cuckoo call from the tree that is highest in the hedge," cried his merry son.
"Indeed, that is a good sound," said Fionn. "And you, Oscar," he asked, "What is to your mind the finest of music?"
"Ah, the best of music is the ring of a spear on a shield," cried the stout lad.
"It is a good sound," said Fionn.
And the other champions told their delight: the bellowing of a stag across water, the baying of a tuneful pack heard in the distance, the song of a lark, the laughter of a gleeful girl, or the whisper of a loved one.
"They are good sounds all," said Fionn.
"Tell us, chief," one ventured, "what do you think?"
"The music of what happens," said great Fionn, "that is the finest music in the world."
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I suppose this is a metaphor for the way we view the world and our life in it. As musicians of the everyday, we would be more attentive to the ways of nature and of our own emotions. We would bring a musician's or an artist's sensitivity to all issues of daily living. We would always try to cultivate a sense of the beautiful or the harmonic in everything we do.
. . . . makes me want to tune my heart to the music of what happens . . .
"If you cannot find joy and peace in these very moments of sitting...
you will be incapable of living the future when it has become the present.
Joy and peace are the joy and peace present in this very hour of sitting.
If you cannot find it here, you won't find it anywhere.
Don't chase after your thoughts as a shadow runs after its object....
Find the joy and peace in this very moment."
-Thich Nhat Hanh
And finally a bit of wisdom from a source which always straightens my head and my heart out:
"Yet he has not left himself without testimony:
He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy."
- Acts 14:17
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