THE ETERNAL PRESENCE
Presence is another name for love. Not the love that reaches or claims, but the love that stays. The love that does not move toward anything because it has already arrived. When you are fully here—without agenda, without defense, without grasping—nothing is missing. Nothing needs improvement.
In that quiet fullness, love is no longer a feeling. It is the atmosphere. Presence is love after it has forgotten how to leave.
Presence does not contain things the way a box contains objects. Presence is the field in which all things are allowed to appear. Presence contains everything without holding anything.
Thoughts arise. Sensations arise. Emotions arise. Fear arises. Love arises. Presence does not grasp them, manage them, or prioritize them. It allows. Like the sky does not store clouds—it permits weather.
Presence contains no preference. Presence does not favor: calm over agitation clarity over confusion holiness over ordinariness This is why it feels safe. Nothing needs to be improved before it can appear.
Presence contains time without being bound by it. Memories arise in presence. Anticipation arises in presence. The sense of “now” arises in presence.
Yet presence itself does not age. This is why it can be felt at: birth - crisis - death -deep - stillness. What comes and goes does so within something that does not.
The self appears in presence. The story appears in presence. The role appears in presence. But presence is not constructed from them.When identity softens—presence remains. When identity dissolves—presence remains.
Presence contains love without sentiment. Love appears in presence not as emotion first, but as non-resistance. The willingness for what is, to be. This is why presence often feels like love before love has a story.
Presence is another name for God. Not the God of belief or doctrine, but the God that remains when belief falls away. Presence is what is here before the mind reaches for meaning, before the heart asks for reassurance.
It does not arrive. It does not leave. It does not need to be earned. When fear softens, presence is there. When joy appears, presence is there. When nothing can be named, presence is still there. This is why presence feels trustworthy. It does not require agreement—only openness.
Whatever word we use, we are pointing to the same quiet fact: something is here, holding nothing, refusing nothing, and allowing everything.
Nigel Lott teaandzen.org
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