The Present

I am standing in a dark underground lake.

The Three Norns are before me, on a cliff in the center of the black lake.

They are The Three, an archetypal force. Norns for me, in my Nordic context. For the Greeks, they were the Three Fates.

The weavers of our fates who hold the red threads in their hands.

One to weave the strands.

Another to measure the length.

And the third to cut the pieces, giving everyone the life they’re due.

They are Maiden, Mother, Crone.

Yet also one and the same.

The Norns are figures of my unconscious that often call on me with reminders about the value of life.

This time, they called me down to their lake because they have a present for me

(for you)

(for us.)

The present is, fittingly, about

The Present.

Meaning, this present moment.

Now.

The Norns remind me (you, us) that this is the truest present (gift) of all.

Being present.

And you can ever only be present in the Now

in the present of an ever-present Now.

Yet, we all know these are the words of a trickster, because

What is Now if not simply a sliver of infinity?

(if infinity can even be sliced apart).

There is nothing but the Now

and yet all of time is Now

And Now that you might be contemplating presents (gifts to give), consider this:

How might you give the present of the present moment?

You can share a moment with someone, if you want to.

But perhaps, better yet, give the gift to yourself first.

We so seldom give this present to ourselves. It feels like heresy, like selfishness, like it’s worth less when it’s not shared with another (at least the way I was taught to live).

But can something truly be given away, or shared, if it wasn’t even ours to begin with?

How can anyone hold time at all?

How can we hold the present of the present?

It can only be held in the moment when we’re aware of it.

And sometimes we need to take some space

Just for ourselves.

In these last few months, I've disconnected from these digital platforms because I observed them taking me away from The Present.

Thanks to this disconnection, I have been able to reconnect with myself, and be present enough in my life, to receive this present of the present from the Norns.

But of course this present is not really “from the Norns”, because it’s a gift we all have access to, in being alive.

We just need to be reminded.

So now, in this moment

It's my turn to remind you.

I have the present of the present

And it’s all mine

(And yours)

(And ours)

.

Leave a comment

Share