Intimate with the Now

Sometimes, when we pause, we catch a glimpse of a world untouched by words.

In this piece, I explore the quiet intimacy of the present moment.

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What exists is simply the way things are right now.

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People tend to put their feelings and sensations into words. We wish to convey what we have felt, just as it is. But the very moment we attempt to do so, what we have felt has already changed its shape.

Before thinking, before separation, even before feeling arises, something is already open.

That is what I call the "pure state of now."

When we say "I see," there already exists both the one who sees and the thing seen. The phrase "I see the world" already implies a separation between subject and object. The pure state of now points to the moment before that split—a state where seeing and being seen are still one and the same.

Awakening is to realize this clearly.

Before distinctions are made, before names are given, there is only a continuous unfolding. There is no time, no boundaries, no separation between self and world.

From that undivided space, the "I" and the "world" quietly emerge—at first vaguely, then automatically taking on shapes and names. Eventually, we come to believe in those names as reality.

Yet behind them, there is a freshness that existed before any naming. Even if unseen, it cannot be erased. It is the experience of a newborn baby, who does not yet have a sense of self.

I had no choice but to entrust myself to that nameless presence.

The moment we put it into words, something is inevitably lost.

It points not to something experienced or someone experiencing, but to that which has not yet appeared as either.

Usually, we think of experience as "I experience something."But what I mean by "it" is that which exists before both "I" and "something" are born. It could even be called the negation of experience.

Before separation, before words became words, before the world gathered into a coherent form—there, right in the midst of it, just rest.

That is what it means to become intimate with the now.

Before I am divided from the world, there is a single resonance as a whole.

This experience is not something special. It is something anyone can sense in daily life.

For example, when you look up at a beautiful sky, or run down a hill with abandon, forgetting yourself entirely, becoming one with what is simply there.

It feels almost tangible, yet the moment you reach for it, it slips away—like water flowing through your fingers.

That is the "pure state of now."

Before thinking, before naming, you are already within it.

Simply become intimate with that quietness. There is no need to do anything. Just rest with it, as it is.

It is not something to be sought. It is not something to be gained through thought.

It is already quietly dwelling within your steps. It is not something to understand. It is simply something to notice—or not.

Just as you are, just as it is.

So, rest with the now.

That very silence is the "pure state of now."

Tags

#IntimateWithTheNow#TheWorldBeforeWords#PureStateOfNow#AsItIs#BeforeNaming#Presence#Silence#Stillness#Being#Awareness#BeyondWords#WordlessAwareness#SimplyBeing#Now

Words and Photo by K E I K O