May I choose the here and now over the then and there

Being born, coming into this particular body, these particular parents, and in such a place, and what we call external circumstances… form a unity and are as it were spun together—Plotinus: The Enneads

For in being it is impossible to unthink The fact of what is and what must be Without clinging fast to what is and what must be

For things far away are firmly present And their constant presence Creates the illusion of absence

For these things that you pursue Though they appear to be at hand Flee more quickly than can be pursued

And when you seem to have reached them Only transmute themselves in the distance ahead Which ceaselessly grows and extends

What is needed of you is To notice the unbroken continuity of being For everything, everywhere is Bound to be whole, unmoving

To see that where you are Is always at the centre of your thoughts The edges of which circumscribe your reality

To pause in your pursuit of all things To look back at the country you have crossed And seeing it as new for the first time

To realise that all things Like countless vivid, vibrant colours That seek to thrill and excite you are but culled From a single spectrum of ordinary light