Being present is simple, but it is not easy. If you try now to be present for thirty, or even ten seconds you see how hard it is. Each flash of presence is quickly swamped by a flood of random thoughts, emotions, and associations, called “imagination.”

When we are present this internal chatter is silenced and our Higher Self briefly appears, looking through our eyes and hearing with our ears. Our ordinary lower self views this as a hostile invasion, and it immediately generates imagination to once again veil the Higher Self.

The lower self within us, and within the eight billion people who surround us, continually exalts the external: doing and making, planning and avoiding. Yet over time we see that our greatest challenge is the invisible internal battle—the battle inside the moment to value the objective, wordless state of presence over our habitual thoughts and emotions, our sense of “I”.

To place our identity within silent presence, rather than within our recurring opinions, feelings, and habits—this is the most radical change a human being can experience.