If a man has the option to choose between climbing up a vine to be faced by a tiger that had previously been chasing him or fall to be met by an alternate tiger waiting for him down below, what would be the most satisfying choice for him? It is apparent that neither choice is the path to happiness. Now let’s say that there are two mice, one black and one white, gnawing at the vine that the man is currently attached to. A decision has to be made: return to the past or proceed to the future. This is the story of A Parable. Something seems to be missing, though. The present isn’t an option, why is that? Many people, just like this man faced with problems of life or death, are far too preoccupied with the past and the future to the point where
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This is mainly because objectives can only be completed in the present. It is easier to understand the idea that “the future holds the answers,” if the future is actually the present that has yet to come. Answers can only exist in the present, for if it were in the past or the future it would not be in existence (or the present). A man cannot fully appreciate the present if he is too worried about what happened or what is going to happen, rather than what is happening right now. Linda Ferguson explains that the benefits of the present can only be reaped if someone begins “embracing ‘What Is’ as a precious gift” (16). It is understood that sometimes the present is “unacceptable, unpleasant, or awful,” as Eckhart Tolle describes it (29). By effectively focusing on the present, anybody is capable of living completely free of troubles. This is exactly how the parable that was mentioned before had concluded. The man was caught in a predicament in which he was forced to choose between death by the past and death by the future. The man did not choose either. Instead, he opened his eyes to the Now. He was faced with imminent death, and the only thing he was occupied with was reaching for a strawberry. The parable ended with his exclamation of how sweet it tasted. In relation to how this story ends, Tolle has stated that “when you act out of present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love – even the most simple action” (56). It seems highly unlikely, but it may only seem unlikely to someone who is caught in the clutch of the past or the grasp of the
This is mainly because objectives can only be completed in the present. It is easier to understand the idea that “the future holds the answers,” if the future is actually the present that has yet to come. Answers can only exist in the present, for if it were in the past or the future it would not be in existence (or the present). A man cannot fully appreciate the present if he is too worried about what happened or what is going to happen, rather than what is happening right now. Linda Ferguson explains that the benefits of the present can only be reaped if someone begins “embracing ‘What Is’ as a precious gift” (16). It is understood that sometimes the present is “unacceptable, unpleasant, or awful,” as Eckhart Tolle describes it (29). By effectively focusing on the present, anybody is capable of living completely free of troubles. This is exactly how the parable that was mentioned before had concluded. The man was caught in a predicament in which he was forced to choose between death by the past and death by the future. The man did not choose either. Instead, he opened his eyes to the Now. He was faced with imminent death, and the only thing he was occupied with was reaching for a strawberry. The parable ended with his exclamation of how sweet it tasted. In relation to how this story ends, Tolle has stated that “when you act out of present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love – even the most simple action” (56). It seems highly unlikely, but it may only seem unlikely to someone who is caught in the clutch of the past or the grasp of the