Being Present

I was studying last night the Sefer Leshem Shvo V'Achlamah (coincidentally written by the grandfather of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliyashuv who passed away today) as he introduces the name of God. He explains that the essential meaning of יהוה (the Tetragrammaton) is "The one who is always in the present."

Reading this led me to think of something written by the Baal HaSulam. He writes that when we conduct ourselves in a manner that is Godlike we find a sense of satisfaction in our behavior. When we are acting in an unGodly manner we feel unsettled. I have written of this concept in the past on this blog and have found it to be a principal that can explain many aspects of the human condition.

Combining these two concepts I realized that this is why we live our fullest as human being when we are living in the present. Not when we are lost in the past or fretting about the future. But, like God, living only in the here and now.