We must force this insatiable desire within us, which is always oriented towards outward things and has its domain in an imaginary future, to close in on itself and bring its main thrust round to the present.

Simone Weil

Apart from its primary goal (which is to succeed in recognizing the Source whence he originally emerged and into which he shall return at the time of his death), meditation also helps the seeker to live in the present.

During his attempts to remain conscious and awake within, he cannot fail to notice that when he manages to maintain the feeling of himself in a “continual now,” he leaves time and by doing so starts to be liberated from the regrets and pain of the past, as well as from his worries about the future, and that as soon as he loses this unusual feeling of himself (that is the feeling of “being” in a “continual now”), the upset and regret of the past, as well as torment about the future immediately regain the upper hand; he is then once again dragged into the movement of implacable time, into a future without respite. In this way, he finds himself dissipated in extremely fragmented inner states where, from one instant to another, he is never the same !

Edward Salim Michael : The fruits of the way to awakening