Present: to give a gift to someone. This is the sense
in which the word present is used in this context.
However, I wonder how many people know that there is a
connection to this meaning of present and the temporal meaning, i.e. the
present time, as distinct from the past or the future.
The connection may not seem apparent. Let’s trace the
etymological roots of the two meanings.
To give the gift of a present literally means
to place an object in front of someone – in their presence. It comes
from pre meaning before or spatially in front of, and the
Latin esse meaning to be. Hence, we get the idea of something
being in front of,
Another way in which present can be thought is
that of one person being in the presence of another. That is, literally
standing before someone else, and in their immediate vicinity. When we think of
it this way it is possible to recognise this as being both in the immediate
vicinity spatially, as well as being present at the same time as the
other person.
How else would someone be in the presence of
another unless it was in the same location and at the same time?
When we consider all this then it is possible to
recognise the strong connection between giving a gift of a present and
that of the present time.
Perhaps the greatest present that we can offer
another person, and ourselves, at this time is the gift of being present
at this time, now, the present.
In a world that seems fixated on the future – whether
hopeful or expect of a better future, or anxious and fearful of what is to come
– living in and for the present is a sane way to life.
Let us present ourselves a present of
the present moment.
No comments:
Post a Comment
This blogsite is dedicated to positive dialoque and a respectful learning environment. Therefore, I retain the right to remove comments that are: profane, personal attacks, hateful, spam, offensive, irrelevant (off-topic) or detract in other ways from these principles.