where would you rather be right now?

a few days ago

i took a little trip

over to my former blog

Living Presence Now

looking for some Valentine posts

which i found

along with some delight

while looking and reading

just like opening a box that has been packed away

and the contents forgotten

opening-a-christmas present feeling

much joy

and somehow that space

has stayed in my conscious awareness

over the last couple of days

and specifically a piece of writing

that came some years ago

which i posted there

in June 2007

and went to find this morning

i've noticed this theme coming up for a few recently

here's the original post

and a little tweaked below

Where would you rather be right Now?!

Yes, ok, it's a trick question! 

Many of you will have caught this. Where would I rather be?? Huh? There is only here, there is no where else. What a silly question.

The unawakened thinking mind can always come up with some apparently better place of where it would rather be, any place but here. It thinks that it can always improve upon what's here. It knows best. It can imagine a better Now. The Now needs improvement! This is true unless, of course, its story of what should be happening is being fulfilled. If it agrees with what's happening, then all is well, for the moment, until it starts disagreeing. 

Remember those old bumper stickers that read, "I'd rather be sailing" or "I'd rather be in Molokai"? All of those "I'd rather be ___". Fill in the blank with some exotic or wonderful place or activity. Some of the blanks were even quite clever and amusing. 

That question of where would you rather be is even asked on email surveys that are intended to help others get to know you better (on the level of form). What are the top three places that you'd rather be right now? Someone sent a survey like that recently and when I got to that question there was just laughter! Kidding, right?! Something other than This? Missing out on This?

What a great pointer this is! Where would you rather be? I remember the early days of being with Eckhart when the top of my list always was, well, I'd rather be with him. I didn't want to be where I was. And it didn't matter where I was or what I was doing or who I was with, it was never goodenough. "I" was never enough. All I wanted to do was be with Eckhart.

What an incredible amount of suffering came from that! Plus, an incredible waste of time, a very sneaky postponement strategy of the unawakened mind. And yet, it served a great purpose, it brought me here. 

Anything but here right Now. That was the story. And since it was a spiritual want, the being with Eckhart, it didn't really count, right?! Wanting to be somewhere else, not here, with someone else, with him, doing something else, not this.

The workings of the unawakened thinking mind completely de-value what is, which is All That Is right now. It misses the beauty of This that's here, This which we are, and tries to come up with its own better version. The new and improved Now! It places value somewhere else, on some other perceived better circumstance or event or person or state of consciousness, on some illusion. It dismisses reality in favor of an illusion, in favor of something that doesn't exist.

A great source of suffering and unhappiness is the wanting of this that is to be different than it is.

At some point, with a little help from our friends (!), we truly get that This is it. This that's here right Now is enough. In fact, it's perfect. It's all there is. This one and only Now is it, not its outer appearance, but the formlessness that it Is, the depth and vastness and spaciousness and aliveness. It can only ever be Now! Where else is there to be?

And when This is realized, this that Is, always here, the essence of who we are, the suffering ends, the unhappiness ends. The beauty and perfection of Is is recognized. The gratitude for Is arises. The love of Is arises. 

So, where would you rather be right Now?! 

p.s. Awhile ago I saw a bumper sticker in Vancouver that read, "I'd rather be here now"!

some additions:

~ who would I rather be right now?
~ who would i rather be with right now?

~ what would I rather be doing right now?

~ what would I rather have happening right now?

~ I would rather have this _____ done, finished, completed.

~ I'd rather be free to _____.

~ I'd rather be fully enlightened, living fully and radiantly, so that I can _____.

you get it

ask a brilliant question, and see what comes
"know the Truth and the Truth will set you free"

especially when we want the Truth above all else!