Solving the “Hard Problem” Now

Let’s do a thought experiment.

Imagine you are sitting alone in a quiet park. You will be unbothered and you have no worries to attend to.

In front of you a beautiful waterfall is cascading.

You’re mind remains focused outward, never turning inward.

You are aware: “I am here watching the waterfall now”.

Be there. Be here.

Hold onto this as long as you can, outwardly focused, watching the waterfall, in the “now”.

Be here now. Be present now.

As you hold this space, deeply ponder these questions and keep coming back to now:

Question #1
Assuming you had infinite focus and concentration, for how long would it be “now”?

Question #2
When would it not be now?

Question #3
What is the duration of the “now”?

If we allow ourselves to ponder these questions deeply, some fundamental truths of the universe arise.

The first is that it’s always NOW. Always. It is never not now.

The question of duration actually has two answers.

In one sense, the "now” moment is eternal, in that it apparently always exists. And as far as we can observe with our senses, it always has and always will.

But in another sense, as we observe how small now is, noticing the smallest change in the waterfall that we can observe, we realize that the now moment is exceedingly, exceedingly “thin”. It’s fast. It’s short. It’s quick. At it’s true smallest size where now actually unfolds it is beyond our ability to comprehend or sense. If we imagine an egg falling toward the floor, and then smashing into a mess, the moment of transition, the moment of change for the egg, though “instantaneous” is actually a much longer duration than the actual “now” moment of the universe.

The key insight that I want us to have, is that the “real universe” is always in a transitory “now” state. And that the transition is exceedingly short, beyond our perception.

But most of the time, when we are “in our heads”, in our thoughts, planning and thinking and going about the day, we forget or aren’t exactly clearly aware of the true nature of the now moment, the true nature of the universe. We mentally exist in minutes and hours and weeks and months and years. We remember the past, we plan for the future, and all of this seems real and normal to us. But it’s not quite. All of that activity, our consciousness, is occuring, unfolding in the “now” moment of the actual universe.

That’s what our consciousness is. That’s what I want us to understand.