The Law of Moderation: Can You Have Too Much and Too Little of Everything? Can You Be Present Too Much?

The questions that started the contemplation of writing: Can you be present too much? If the past and future aren’t real and the happiest people are the most present, why should I ever use them?

For a forewarning: As of now, I am a very spiritual person, not exactly religious, however. I currently believe in a higher being/ state of consciousness that something created everything. So when I mention God or Jesus, this is my current understanding of them. As always, what I know now will soon change as I continue to evolve and grow.

Dec 24 2022

Dear Jack,

As my journey of learning a path to a life of peace and long-lasting happiness continues, the present has always seemed to end up being one of the final answers after meditating on unsolvable problems. The present is what makes everything real. Thoughts can only be conceived in the present moment. This then translates to no past or future without the present. The past and future then be just thoughts, not real moments in time. Past and future cease to exist without the present. The only real moments in existence are the present. Which would then make time timeless. Time is just a continuous flow of the present. There are only many many, “nows.” Which is a healthier form of a relationship with time for us humans. It’s not something we, “spend,” or should stress about maximizing. If the only time there is, is the moment of now, then there is nothing to spend because you never have time in the first place. Time isn’t money. Because if we think of time as money, that means we live a life without death as a concept. If we think spending our time is guaranteed then we are walking around as immortal. When we walk around as immortal, our quality of life significantly decreases. (Not having death as a constant thought is how most people live) If we never died, then truly nothing would matter. Because this would then translate to our understanding we could always do whatever we want at a later time. The only thing you have is the continuous flow of the present moment.

 But, how can you give yourself a sense of direction without planning for the future? Or learning from the past? How can we become the best version of ourselves if we only use the present? Will we truly be happier if we completely eliminate the past and future? This is a very hard question for me to wrap my head around. Is it possible to be present too much? This leads me again to the concept of choosing between a better version of ourselves or happiness. But isn’t that what the best version of ourselves suppose to offer? Are these different forms of happiness? From my previous meditation, I chose to not choose. Believing everything applies to the law of moderation. If the present is the only thing real and the key to our peace and happiness, why isn’t that all I continue to focus on? My new concept on the law of moderation states that you can have too much or too little of anything we can conceptualize in this world. Does the law of moderation truly apply to everything, however? I would like to believe this to be the same as the law of impermanence that states everything we can conceptualize in this world will pass. But is what I want clouding my judgment? I still have not found this law to be non-truth. I still continue to search for something outside the law of impermanence. Likely whatever lies outside these laws, is something we can’t conceptualize. For example: God. Which is why this is where all true meaning lies?  The creator of existence that lies within all of us? So what truly matters in this life is what lies outside the law of impermanence and the law of moderation? But if I can’t conceptualize this, how will ever get closer to the answer? I am getting a little off track here, but I will try to remember these meditations for a future date.

So if present is something we can conceptualize, this would then mean it does apply to the law of moderation? Experience is where all learning lies. We learn more from reflection on the past. So maybe if we are aware that this form of learning in the past is a present thought itself, we are still technically present? So being too present would not be possible? This then means you would in turn have to be mindful every waking moment. Is this possible for a human to achieve? Do monks even reach this point? We can conceptualize mindfulness, so can we be mindful too much? As you can see, I am quite stuck here. Not sure what to do or think of as an answer. As of now, I believe mindfulness paired with the contemplation of time lying outside the present is the closest answer. Being aware that the thought of your past and future aren’t real in the first place while contemplating the concepts. But then the true answer would lie in if we can be mindful too much? Is being lost in thought needed in the moderation of mindfulness? This seems to be the deeper question to answer. An unsolvable meditation for another time…

From,

Yourself