It clarified for me why our society, in emphasizing "living in the moment", is still highly anxious about the present. The connection to the future presented in "The Uncertain Present" and how it impacts our ability to "live in the moment" in peace and harmony rather than anxiety was striking to me. I see these insights as complementary to Tolle's observations and furthering, in a good way, his search for "mental quietude".
For many the assured future is that which allows them to live in the present without anxiety. Yet what if that future wasn't assured... Could they still in the present without anxiety? Or must we require certain eschaton for live in stillness?
Well, we apparently know the answer to your question already (can we have peace without eschatological hope?), and it is "no". The point made in the New High Church piece is that we as a society ARE currently living without any trust or hope in the future while trying to live in the present without anxiety and we are, statistically speaking, failing to "make that work". That might tell us something about human nature in relation to the statistical necessity of eschatological hope of some kind. That is, of course, why Marx called religion the opium of the masses. The elites medicate with opium, the masses allegedly medicate with religion. Interestingly, our society is currently well progressed down the path of exchanging religion for substance use, which is providing us with, among other things, the Fentanyl crisis.
Increasingly, it appears to be empirically verified that humans are, by nature, homo adorans and to deny that produces high levels of anxiety. As an example of scholarship on this concept popularized by Fr. Alexander Schmemann: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/690963/pdf
Again, I think Tolle would likely agree largely with Schmemann on this and these points ultimately supplement Tolle rather than contradict him.
There is much insight here from Tolle. I also had come across my inbox today another Substack also dealing with the "Present": https://www.newhighchurch.com/p/the-uncertain-present
It clarified for me why our society, in emphasizing "living in the moment", is still highly anxious about the present. The connection to the future presented in "The Uncertain Present" and how it impacts our ability to "live in the moment" in peace and harmony rather than anxiety was striking to me. I see these insights as complementary to Tolle's observations and furthering, in a good way, his search for "mental quietude".
For many the assured future is that which allows them to live in the present without anxiety. Yet what if that future wasn't assured... Could they still in the present without anxiety? Or must we require certain eschaton for live in stillness?
Well, we apparently know the answer to your question already (can we have peace without eschatological hope?), and it is "no". The point made in the New High Church piece is that we as a society ARE currently living without any trust or hope in the future while trying to live in the present without anxiety and we are, statistically speaking, failing to "make that work". That might tell us something about human nature in relation to the statistical necessity of eschatological hope of some kind. That is, of course, why Marx called religion the opium of the masses. The elites medicate with opium, the masses allegedly medicate with religion. Interestingly, our society is currently well progressed down the path of exchanging religion for substance use, which is providing us with, among other things, the Fentanyl crisis.
Increasingly, it appears to be empirically verified that humans are, by nature, homo adorans and to deny that produces high levels of anxiety. As an example of scholarship on this concept popularized by Fr. Alexander Schmemann: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/690963/pdf
Again, I think Tolle would likely agree largely with Schmemann on this and these points ultimately supplement Tolle rather than contradict him.
For sure, there's a hole in the human heart that only the infinite and transcendental can fill