Living in the Now: Abandonment to Divine Providence

Many of you may have heard of the contemporary speaker and writer, Eckhart Tolle? He wrote a phenomenally popular book, The Power of Now, and then just recently a follow-up entitled, A New Earth. Tolle's subject is the nature of the self, and he proposes that the way to all the things we truly desire in life is to stop the insanity of our ego-- that we might gradually wake up to a new, more free and loving way of being. While initially a little skeptical, I have come to appreciate his ideas and his very simple way of expressing himself. And I have begun to recognize traces of his thought in many spiritual writers from a number of traditions, many of them going back several thousand years. Of course, this should not be so surprising... throughout history, ordinary human beings have been experiencing insight and enlightenment, waking up to the true nature of the authentic self.

One of those forebearers is an 18th century French Jesuit by the name of Jean Pierre de Caussade, who wrote a classic little book of spirituality called, Abandonment to Divine Providence. In it, he introduces the perennially wise notion of living fully in the moment... not dwelling in the past, nor fretting about the future. He called the experience of living fully in the now the "sacrament of the present moment," wherein we meet the Divine and are presented with an opportunity to cooperate in the unfolding will of God.

Since this job of mine is about as engaging and absorbing as you might imagine, and I need to be reminded to take a breath and return to the moment, trusting fully in God's presence even in the midst of action... I am going to spend the foreseeable future sharing excerpts from this classic little text and offering brief commentary. How does that work for you?

Peace be upon you this moment and always...