How to Live in the Present Moment — Beyond the Clichés

"Be present." "Live in the now." "Practice mindfulness."

You've heard it all. Maybe you've tried meditation apps, breathwork sessions, yoga retreats. Maybe they helped. Maybe they felt like another task on your to-do list: Be present. ✓ Done. What's next?

The problem isn't the advice. The problem is that most approaches to presence treat it as a technique — something you do for twenty minutes a day, then go back to living on autopilot.

What if presence isn't a practice you add to your life, but a way of seeing that transforms everything you're already doing?

The Newborn Exercise

In his philosophical notes, Johannes offers one of the most striking approaches to presence you'll encounter:

When you look within and are present, you are without anything permanent. You are without possessions, without employment or enterprise, alone without family or friends. You are naked and completely vulnerable.

This isn't depressing. It's liberating.

Imagine yourself as a newborn. You have no history, no identity, no expectations. You see the world for the first time. You don't know what belongs to whom. You don't know what anything is for. You simply perceive.

You don't even have a future, nor the hope that something might change. Nothing ever changes because nothing has ever been before. All that exists now is only now.

Try this — not as a meditation, but as a way of looking. Right now. Look at the room around you as if you've never seen it. Look at your hands. Look at the person next to you.

What shifts?

You Don't Have to Give Anything Up

Here's where Johannes diverges from many spiritual traditions — and it matters:

You do not have to lose these things to be present. You do not have to give up your possessions, nor leave your job, nor abandon your family. Renunciation is not a shortcut to presence.

This is radical. Most teachings about presence carry an implicit message: your attachments are the problem. Let go of desire. Simplify. Detach.

Johannes says the opposite: be present WITH your life. Be present while owning things, knowing they're temporary. Be present at work, knowing it matters how you do it. Be present with your family, knowing you won't always have them.

Presence isn't about having less. It's about being fully here with whatever you have.

Why Presence Matters (The Simulation Perspective)

If our reality is a simulation we chose to enter, then presence takes on extraordinary significance.

The best way to live in a simulation is as if you were living in genuine reality, as if every choice were irreversible, being truly present in the moment.

We can't know our purpose here. We can't hack the system, peek behind the curtain, or skip to the end. The only access we have to whatever we came here to find is this moment, right now.

This moment is the only thing that is certainly true for us, whether we're in a simulation or base reality. Everything else — past, future, speculation about the nature of reality — exists only as thought. Only the present is direct experience.

This means presence isn't just nice. It's functional. It's how we find our way.

Presence in Action

Johannes doesn't leave this abstract. He gives specific, practical guidance:

Be present when you look at things you think you own. They may be yours now, but they won't always be. Not morbid — just true. Seeing this clearly makes you appreciate what you have instead of taking it for granted.

Be present when you do things. Once done, your actions can't be undone. How you do something matters. Rushed, distracted work creates a different reality than attentive, careful work.

Be present with people. This is the big one. You will not get any of them back, for they exist only here and now, and even your family is only temporary. Not as a source of anxiety — as a source of depth. When you truly see someone, knowing this moment together is unrepeatable, the quality of your attention transforms.

The Connection Between Presence and Purpose

There's a deeper reason presence matters: it is presence that brings us closer to our true self and gives us a better chance to feel our real purpose.

You can't think your way to purpose. You can't read enough books, take enough personality tests, or attend enough seminars. Purpose is felt, not figured out. And you can only feel it in the present moment — the only moment that exists.

People who feel driven by their purpose, who create and build with energy that seems to come from nowhere — they're not smarter or luckier. They're more present. They've learned to feel the signal beneath the noise.

The One-Word Instruction

Johannes ends his meditation on presence with a single word:

Awaken.

Not "relax." Not "let go." Not "accept." Awaken.

Presence isn't passive. It's the most alert, alive state you can be in. It's seeing reality with fresh eyes. It's meeting this moment — this one, right now — as if it's the first and last moment of your life.

Because in a way, it is.

Inspired by the philosophical notes of Johannes, who explores consciousness, reality, and the art of being present.