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126
Hermann Kuhn
We forget that only the present can give us access to everything. We neglect that behind its characteristic fleetingness we also perceive all the 'invisible' influences that led to the manifestation of a specific event or form in the first place.
In this fourth step we therefore examine how an object or event manifests in our present and how this actual manifestation mirrors its underlying 'durable' and comprehensive reality.
EXAMPLE: We purchase a telephone and talk to friends, relatives and other people who live far away.
We notice that this makes it easy to coordinate future events with others, that we receive information very fast, etc. We eventually observe that the possibility of fast and easy communication (by telephone) changes our life significantly. We recognize that the machine has an influence on us that extends far beyond the content of any individual telephone call - as important as it may be to us.
'What do we really experience now?'
We are not interested in theoretical knowledge that may influence us in some future time, but only in the real effect we experience in the present - but this in all its depth.60
ond. Yet how often do we feel 'I will continue to be unhappy in all future' though we do not know the future and though all our cir
cumstances could change at any moment. 60 Only the very present is able to connect us to the foundation of an
event. Only the immediate present gives us access to the entire reality an experience is made up of.
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