The term ‘Now’ occupies a peculiarly dense intersection in the depth-psychology corpus, where phenomenological philosophy, contemplative traditions, clinical practice, and neuroscience each assign it a distinct yet overlapping weight. Heidegger’s analysis in Being and Time provides the philosophical ground: ‘now-time’ (Jetzt-Zeit) represents the levelled-off, ordinary conception of temporality, a succession of present-at-hand ‘nows’ that obscures Dasein’s primordial ecstatic temporality. Derrida, reading through Aristotle, presses this further, exposing the aporia of the now’s identity and alterity — the impossibility and necessity of its coexistence with other nows. Against this philosophical tradition, contemplative voices — Watts drawing on Zen, McGilchrist invoking Kierkegaard and Dōgen — rehabilitate the now as an ‘atom of eternity,’ simultaneously dimensionless and everlasting. In depth psychology proper, von Franz situates the now within the psyche’s dual residence in ordinary and aeonic time, while Jung’s autobiographical moment of self-recognition (‘now I am myself’) presents the now as the birth-point of individuation. Clinically, the here-and-now functions as the operative locus of group therapy (Yalom), of somatic tracking (Dana), and of ACT-based defusion (Harris). Lewis’s neuroscientific analysis adds a pathological register: ‘now appeal,’ the excessive present-orientation characteristic of addiction. Taken together, the corpus treats ‘now’ not as a simple temporal marker but as a site of ontological, psychological, and therapeutic contestation.
time shows itself as a sequence of “nows” which are constantly ‘present-at-hand’, simultaneously passing away and coming along. Time is understood as a succession, as a ‘flowing stream’ of “nows”
Heidegger defines the ordinary, levelled-off conception of time as a sequence of present-at-hand ‘nows,’ which he will subordinate to primordial ecstatic temporality.
, Being and Time, 1962thesis
The impossible—the co-existence of two nows—appears only in a synthesis… maintaining together several current nows [maintenants] which are said to be the one past and the other future.
Derrida exposes the constitutive aporia of the now: its identity and alterity must be maintained simultaneously, making the now’s self-presence structurally impossible yet unavoidable.
, Margins of Philosophy, 1982thesis
the now is not a part, time is not composed of nows, the unity and identity of the now are problematical.
Derrida, tracing Heidegger’s reading of Aristotle, demonstrates that the now’s unity and identity — the very basis of the vulgar concept of time — are fundamentally aporetic.
, Margins of Philosophy, 1982thesis
the now is not the point, since it does not arrest time, is neither time’s origin, end, or limit.
Derrida distinguishes the now from a geometric point, arguing that the now neither arrests time nor fixes its boundaries, undermining any simple spatial representation of temporal passage.
, Margins of Philosophy, 1982thesis
the moment is not properly an atom of time but an atom of eternity. It is the first reflection of eternity in time, its first attempt, as it were, at stopping time.
McGilchrist, citing Kierkegaard and Dōgen, argues that the now-moment is dimensionless yet everlasting, functioning as eternity’s intrusion into temporal sequence rather than as a mere chronological unit.
, The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World, 2021thesis
the ‘moment’ as referred to by Eastern sages such as Dōgen is entirely without dimensions, and is thus ‘simultaneously unmeasurably brief and everlasting, always present’.
McGilchrist draws on Dōgen to present the now as non-atomistic and non-dimensional, a quality of being rather than a measurable quantum of duration.
, The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World, 2021supporting
The Being of time is the “now”. Every “now”
Heidegger identifies the Being of time, in its ordinary conception, with the now, a formulation he subjects to ontological critique in favour of primordial temporality.
, Being and Time, 1962thesis
There is only this now. It does not come from anywhere; it is not going anywhere. It is not permanent, but it is not impermanent. Though moving, it is always still.
Watts articulates the Zen position that the now is the sole and irreducible locus of experience, transcending the dichotomies of permanence and impermanence, presence and absence.
, The Way of Zen, 1957thesis
I knew all at once: now I am myself! It was as if a wall of mist were at my back… Now I happened to myself. Now I knew: I am myself now, now I exist.
Jung’s autobiographical account presents the now as the decisive moment of individuation, the threshold at which selfhood and agency crystallise from undifferentiated existence.
, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, 1963thesis
Addicts are excessively now-oriented, more prone to delay discounting than the population average… now appeal becomes augmented—that is, immediate rewards become even more attractive—when the most advanced (dorsal) regions of the prefrontal cortex are disturbed.
Lewis identifies pathological ‘now appeal’ — excessive present-orientation with neurological correlates in disrupted prefrontal-striatal connectivity — as a key mechanism in addiction.
, The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease, 2015thesis
Thy years stand together, because they do stand… Thy To-day, is Eternity; therefore didst Thou beget The Coeternal.
Augustine contrasts God’s eternal ‘Today’ — in which all times stand simultaneously — with the passing nows of creaturely existence, establishing the theological distinction between eternity and temporal succession.
, Confessions, 397thesis
“It is now such and such an hour and so many minutes; now is the time for . . .” or “there is still time enough now until . . .”
Heidegger analyses how Dasein’s everyday time-reckoning expresses itself through the datable ‘now,’ linking clock-time to the deeper structure of care and ecstatic temporality.
, Being and Time, 1962supporting
The horizons which belong to the ‘now’, the ‘then’, and the ‘on that former occasion’, all have their source of ecstatical temporality.
Heidegger grounds the now’s horizonal structure — its datability as ‘today, when …’ — in ecstatic temporality, showing that even ordinary now-talk discloses primordial time.
, Being and Time, 1962supporting
The deictic ‘now’ offers a good starting point for this demonstration, since the assimilation of the act of language to a fact was also a result of characterizing the utterance as an event, or an instance of discourse.
Ricoeur employs the deictic ‘now’ as the paradigm case for analysing how utterance, self-reference, and temporal indexicality are intertwined in the philosophy of language.
, Oneself as Another, 1992supporting
the majority of group therapists understand that their emphasis must be on the here-and-now… over 60 percent of interpretations focused on the here-and-now.
Yalom establishes the here-and-now as the clinically dominant temporal focus in group psychotherapy, supported by systematic survey data on interpretive practice.
, The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy, Fifth Edition, 2008supporting
The ego is moving in time from the past to the future. The dream comes up toward it from the unconscious, like a wave containing a cluster of images… being hit by the present, and then seeing ahead the solution.
Von Franz presents the dreaming ego’s encounter with the present moment as the decisive ‘hit’ from the unconscious, a dynamic intersection of past and future within the living now.
, Psyche and Matter, 2014supporting
How one can exist both in ordinary time and in aeonic time together can best be illustrated by the story of the death of the great Zen Master Ma.
Von Franz uses the Zen account of Ma’s death to illustrate how the psyche inhabits both ordinary sequential time and aeonic time simultaneously, a duality whose fulcrum is the present moment.
, Psyche and Matter, 2014supporting
firewood stays at the position of firewood… the peculiar stillness and self-sufficiency of the succeeding instants when the mind is, as it were, going along with them and not trying to arrest them.
Watts reads Dōgen’s doctrine of positional time to articulate the Zen sense of each moment’s self-sufficient ‘nowness,’ independent of linear narrative causality.
, The Way of Zen, 1957supporting
notice how much are you missing out on right now? How disconnected and disengaged are you from the people and things that matter?
Harris deploys the experiential immediacy of ‘right now’ as a clinical tool in ACT, making present-moment disconnection palpable so that defusion from unhelpful thoughts becomes motivationally salient.
, ACT Made Simple: An Easy-To-Read Primer on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, 2009supporting
It is the tie between truth and presence that must be thought, in a thought that henceforth may no longer need to be either true or present.
Derrida critiques the metaphysics of presence as rooted in the vulgar concept of now-time, arguing that both Hegelian dialectic and traditional philosophy remain captive to the equation of truth with presence.
, Margins of Philosophy, 1982supporting
before Dasein does any thematical research, it ‘reckons with time’ and regulates itself according to it.
Heidegger establishes that Dasein’s pre-theoretical reckoning with time — its orientation by the now — is the existential basis from which the ordinary concept of time, and its misunderstandings, arise.
, Being and Time, 1962supporting
“How does it feel right now?” I wondered. Estelle said, “It feels good.”
Yalom’s clinical vignette illustrates the therapeutic activation of the here-and-now through direct interrogation of the patient’s immediate experience within the group.
, The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy, Fifth Edition, 2008aside
The Western mind has trouble stopping its clock. It conceives its inmost life as a biological clock and its heart as a ticker.
Hillman critiques Western culture’s chronic time-boundedness, suggesting that the domination of sequential now-time forecloses the imaginal perception of destiny and soul.
, The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling, 1996aside
Now my autonomic state is… Now my autonomic state is a bit more dorsal and I am feeling some disconnection.
Dana’s polyvagal tracking protocol uses repeated ‘now’ markers to build moment-to-moment awareness of autonomic state shifts, grounding therapeutic work in present somatic experience.
, Polyvagal Exercises for Safety and Connection A Guide for, 2018aside