The Power of Now

I'm reading Eckhart Tolle's cornerstone book and thinking about why we don't just stay in the present moment, since it's so great.

So far, I've come up with the following reasons we get out of Now:

• we entertain ourselves by going into future worries and past regrets
• we forget and remember and then forget the present moment
  
• being in the present makes us feel less substantial and therefore threatened by the idea of ceasing to exist
• we think that we can't accomplish anything unless we think

Tolle says that we don't stay in the now because, "The mind, to ensure that it remains in control, seeks continuously to cover up the present moment with past and future..." This seems too simple an answer, a conspiracy theory of me against myself ...which is probably just my mind's way of ensuring that it stays in control. I'm not so sure about that, since my mind seems to be very much in agreement with what Tolle is saying, and I am comfortable with shutting down thinking (just ask my friends).

There must be some reward for getting out of the Now, something that we perceive as more valuable than peace and well-being, or we would stay there (here.)