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How awareness can balance thoughts of the past and the future and help us be in the present
The two arms, legs, eyes, and ears add to symmetry to the external appearance of the body. Such physical symmetry imparts a beautiful appearance to the body and has functional significance. For instance, legs work in tandem so we can walk efficiently, and two eyes create binocular vision. Furthermore, the workload gets evenly distributed on the two sides of the body held together by the spine in the center. An airplane cannot have wings of different shape and dimensions. The plane will not be able to fly. Similarly, if the body loses its inherent symmetry, it cannot function optimally. Just as the body is divided into two halves, the mind is divided into two parts, one representing the past and the other the future. Awareness is the ‘spine’ to which the two parts of the mind, past and the future, are attached. When we are centered on awareness, we can quite easily balance the pull of the past and the future.
The present moment is ‘whole’
Imagine if one half of the body outgrew the other half. Life would indeed be a tremendous challenge. We would not be able to walk, work as we usually do, and internal organs would be pulled in different directions. Similarly, the mind will not be able to function efficiently if we are continually dwelling on either the past or the…
