Saying 'Yes' to the present moment is the key to inner peace and the doorway to the experience of God, according to Eckhart Tolle. He says that we have to learn to accept the present moment fully, and to see it as our friend.
St. Porphyrios says:
We should regard Christ as a friend. He is our friend. He asserts this himself when he says, ‘you are my friends’... Christ stands outside the door of our soul and knocks for us to open to Him, but he doesn’t enter. He doesn’t want to violate the freedom which he himself gave us... If we open to Him, He will enter and give us everything – Himself – secretly and silently.
According to Tolle, we should see the present moment as our friend. According to Saint Porphyrios, we should see Christ as our friend. Does this mean that Christ is the present moment? Or is always and for ever (νυν και αεί) within the present moment? It's not deductive logic (just because two people both have a friend, that does not necessarily mean that the friend is the same person), but it could be the case.
It would also explain why Zen meditation is primarily concerned with letting go of thoughts and coming to rest in present moment awareness.
watashi-wa in the snow 