Past and Future

          I do not like reading and writing. English is not my first language. When I am reading or writing, I need to convert English and another language in my mind. It will take me more time because both require a lot of vocabularies, which gives me a headache. Especially for writing, because writing often requires me to combine my experience to write, I think my life is very boring. Therefore, I don’t have many interesting things to share. Many people say that life is a movie, and I can tell you that if my life was a movie, it wouldn’t be a popular one.

I rarely read English novels. I need to spend twice as much time reading a novel with English. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle is a novel about psychological enlightenment. This novel is mostly like a journey of discovery. When I was reading this book, I found that the characters in the book have something common parts similar with me. I was surprised to find that everything we do and think which is under the control of the brain and mind. We lived under the anxiety of time, which prevented us from getting rid of our inner pain. In fact, we can only live in the present, live at this moment. Everything is happening at this moment, the past and the future are the words represent the concept of time. Only by surrendering to the present, we find a peaceful exit in our hearts. Only when we live in the present, we can really feel happy and not be in anxiety about time.

The most memorable part of the book is the introduction. To express his role, the author begins with a beggar’s story: “a beggar has been sitting by the roadside for more than 30 years. One day, when a stranger passes by, the beggar asks, ‘Give me something?’ The stranger said, ‘I have nothing to give you.’ Then he asked, ‘what are you sitting on?’ The beggar said, ‘Nothing. It’s just an old box. I’ve been sitting on it since the last time I remember it.’ The stranger asked the beggar to open the box, but the box was full of gold.” In the book, the author is the “stranger”, and those people who do not find their own real wealth are “beggars”. Even if they have a lot of material wealth, they are empty inside, looking for achievement, security, or the joy and satisfaction of love. But they do not know that they already have these things, and have something more precious than that.

For the character of the novel. He has already possessed his wealth, but he is still looking for it. Even if he already get this material wealth, he does not have his true wealth. He has been troubled by wealth for almost 40 years, he found that he already had these things he wanted to have in the end. He was not happy for the material wealth, but happiness is the most important. People really live to be bound by time, they think back to their past and find that they have nothing to do. They want to make up for it in the future. No moment is happy and free, I am no exception, I am like the beggar from the novel. Like the cockroach in the middle, he didn’t try to open the box he had been sitting on.

Compare to the beggar in the book. I did not want to face reading and writing. In fact, I also have my “box”, although my English is not very good, I have the basis for English, I have to accept them. I do not need to think about why I didn’t study well in the past, and I don’t have to worry about what happens after I read and write. What I have to do now is to learn how to read and how to improve my writing. However, I still spend my time thinking about what I want to do and forget this embarrassing story. At this time, I have to calm down and think about it, because the problem at the moment is that I have to face writing, I need to write. I want to madly hint at myself, I want to concentrate my thoughts on writing. As the book says, we need to live for this moment. That is actually right. When I am reading or writing, concentrating my attention makes it easier to improve my efficiency. If I spend my time considering how to do, there is nothing would happen. My actions are controlled by my brain and my brain fills with too many thoughts. The happiest time of my childhood. We laugh and cry whenever we want. There is nothing bothering us. I do not have to face my writing and reading. And it is opposite situation now.

This novel is a spiritual enlightenment novel in the true sense. It taught me not to worry about what has happened and what has not happened. This kind of behavior has no meaning. This novel also makes me dare to face writing and reading. Even if my writing and reading level is not good, I still try to read and write. I believe this should be a starting.