Right Now The Best
In his 2022 album American Heartbreak, Zach Bryan (an American multi-award-winning country/rock singer-songwriter) presents a compelling critique of the prevalent ‘what is next’ culture. A culture that is focused on the future and is never satisfied with the present. In this context, people are always looking to and striving for the next thing, whether that be in a person’s career, personal life, social life, or material possessions. Bryan delves into the societal emphasis on the future, revealing how it comes at the expense of the present moment. This is one of the most honest songs that gets at one of the most corrosive effects of the current culture. Bryan (2022) writes, “This whole world is always waiting on tomorrow. Itching, fiending for whatever happens next. But what if I told you they are all lying. And I love you for who you are right now, the best”. This revolutionary idea challenges both religious dogma, which is often obsessed with yesterday to get to a desired tomorrow, and capitalistic common sense that is constantly selling tomorrow. It urges us to acknowledge that our only gift is the present, and it offers us a view of the present as the best.
First, let’s explore this fixation on yesterday through religious dogma. In the Christian tradition, a view of divine love emerges that is conditional on obedience. Theologians call this the Deuteronomistic formula, central to the biblical canon in Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. This conditional love is based on the formula that obedience to God’s commands leads to blessings, and disobedience leads to curses (Rad, 2001). When one experiences curses, it becomes imperative to figure out what one did yesterday that led to them. The same is true for when one experiences blessings; the focus is on yesterday, and one is trying to repeat what one did to receive those blessings.
Theologians like Shults (2003, 2014) have criticized this anthropocentric view of God. Shults has argued that this formula reflects a human projection of the divine, which results in an obsession with the human subject. This obsession is particularly concerned with what humans have or have not done. This view makes human action the most important thing that controls divine love. Humans become the ones who control when, where, and how God’s love is shared. Divine action is no longer central, but is replaced by human action at the core.
An elementary review of the dominant view of divine love in modern American theology would reveal a heavy dose of the Deuteronomistic formula. It’s a challenge to find American theology where divine love is unconditional. As a result, yesterday plays a central role in one’s experience. The now is lost in the American religious experience because of this fixation on yesterday to get to the desired tomorrow. The ultimate tomorrow is to secure one’s place in eternal heaven. In this religious experience, the now serves as the container to reflect on one’s actions yesterday to reach a desired tomorrow. It should be noted that with a deeper and fuller reading of the Christian canon, divine love is not conditioned on what was done but is a gift in the now. Divine love is unconditional and not anthropocentric, but willing flows from a loving God onto all creation.
This religious distraction from the present is not the only factor that makes Bryan’s statement so revolutionary. Modern consumer capitalism is fixated on tomorrow. The now is only experienced as a waiting room for what is to come, and what is to come is much better than what one is currently experiencing. This manufacturing of consumers with an unsatisfactory appetite for what one does not have becomes very profitable for the manufacturers of goods. They are always selling the next best thing, which makes the person unsatisfied with their now, for the now is never enough. It creates in the consumer a deep longing for the future.
One result of this consumer capitalism is what sociologists describe as social acceleration (Rosa, 2013). With social acceleration, there is an ever-increasing pace of life, with tools designed to do more in less time, like a variety of communication apps and same-day delivery options. Despite these tools, we live in a paradox where we do more in less time and yet feel we have less time (Rosa, 2005). We do more in less time to get what we don’t have. All with the hope of securing a desired future.
In this social acceleration, the now is primarily experienced as a means to an end. It is meant to deliver a better or perceived better future. The formula goes that the more productive we are now, the better tomorrow will be. Again, we are back to a formula, and the now is a means to get the formula right. Neither formula presents the now as the best; it is only a means to something better.
In this context, where religious and capitalistic formulas have been exulted, Bryan (2022) dares to declare, “… I love you for who you are right now, the best.” The best is not contingent on what you did yesterday or what you will experience tomorrow. Right now, just as you are in the moment, with no additions and no subtractions, you are the best, and this moment is the best. Out of my experience of being tormented by these formulas, below are a few reflections (written to myself) on living into this revolutionary idea.
Yesterday is gone. It’s not coming back, no matter how much you bag; it just is not coming back. How long will it take you to get that through your thick head? You might want a redo, but there are no redos. Yesterday is gone. You might think that going back and changing yesterday will make today better and ensure that tomorrow will be good. Even if you have some tangible proof of this equation, it is not possible because yesterday is gone and will never be seen again. You can only touch yesterday through your memories, which will not change yesterday.
Stop. Please stop trying to change yesterday by repeatedly reliving it in your mind. Reliving it will not change a damn thing. The past is gone, and no amount of effort in your mind can change what has happened. That which has been done is done. Let yourself embrace that truth. Free yourself from trying to change yesterday and instead enjoy the goodness of the love that you experienced yesterday. In all of your trying to change what has happened and striving to redo the past, you are losing the goodness that yesterday is offering you. The goodness of the love that you did experience, the goodness of the joy that touched you to your core, and the goodness of the laughter that you felt in your belly. I know that the past holds pain and regret, but it also holds this goodness. In your trying to redo the painful things you are losing that goodness. Embrace the past for what it is and receive the goodness that it holds. Let go of trying to change the past and instead receive the gift waiting to be enjoyed. By letting go of trying to change the past, you will be freed to enjoy the gift of love in the present. Peace is only found in the now (Tolle, 1999).
Moreover, you do not have tomorrow. All your striving today to orchestrate tomorrow to be some utopia is a fool’s errand. Tomorrow will never come. It is always just out of reach. When you think you have a grasp on it, you realize it is just beyond your reach. Let go of that deep, terrorizing fear that you hold of the future.
Nhat Hanh (2010) reminds us that life is only accessible in the here and now. Those who don’t understand this truth live life as zombies consumed by the past and terrified of the future. When will you get that through your goddamn mind? I know that it is hard to hear because the manufacturers of consciousness feed off your striving and longing for tomorrow. They have monetized that striving for their own profits. They have socialized you to be a creature built for tomorrow, but the reality is that it is all a mirage. You are never going to get there. That will be very unsettling once it finally sets in, but you must face this reality to live. There is no living as long as you always work for something that will never come. This obsession with the future only robs you of the peace that is being offered in the now (Tolle, 1999). To love and to live, you must be HERE. Join in the great Buddhist practice of daily saying I AM HERE (Nhat Hanh, 2010). Let go of that which you will never have, you will never experience it, it will never satisfy, it is nothing, so release the nothing into the nothing from which it came and boldly take up your presence in the Now.
You are not the only one who has been trapped by the future. The Stoics created the practice of memento mori (remember you will die) (Holiday & Hanselman, 2016). It is through this daily reminder that the now comes into full color and the fear and anxiety of the future fade away. In light of our death, which will come, we are freed to experience the Now by cultivating a deep appreciation for life and a focus on what matters. So much of the bullshit that manufacturers of consciousness sell us fades into the background, and we become alive in the moment to that which really matters.
What you have, and all you will ever have, is NOW, the present. Did you even know that you have it? There is nothing to do but enjoy and be raptured in its presence. The sooner you embrace this truth, the more you will be able to enjoy this precious gift. There is a time when now will be gone, while it is still here, reach out, open your heart, and experience the Now, for it is all you have and will ever have. Join the Buddha and his monks, who, when asked what they practiced, replied, “We sit, we walk, we eat.” When confronted with the observation that everyone does that, they replied, “When we sit, we know we are sitting. When we walk, we know we are walking. When we eat, we know we are eating” (Nhat Hanh, 1995, p.14). Know that right now is the best.
References
Bryan, Z. (2022). Right Now the Best [Song]. On American Heartbreak [Album]. Belting
Bronco Records; Warner Records Inc
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Nhất Hạnh, T., & Kotler, A. (1991). Peace is every step: the path of mindfulness in everyday life. Bantam Books.
Rad, G. v. (2001). Old Testament Theology, Volume I: A Commentary. United States: Presbyterian Publishing Corporation.
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Tolle, E. (1999). The power of now: A guide to spiritual enlightenment. New World Library.
© Tanden L. Brekken, 2025.
This work is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
Cover Image: Spring Flowers, by Khristina Sergeychik on Unsplash.
Rev. Dr. Tanden L. Brekke is a Justice and Peace Studies Clinical Faculty at the University of St. Thomas. He received his Ed.D. in Higher Education Leadership and a master’s in Theological Studies. He is a Reverand in the Fellowship of Christian Ministries. Tanden teaches courses on community engagement, social justice, leadership development, critical consciousness, and critical whiteness studies. His research has resulted in published articles and presentations focusing on liberatory pedagogical practices. Tanden has extensive experience in leading place-based partnerships between universities and community partners. These partnerships are committed to building mutually beneficial collaborations based on trust, accountability, and reciprocity. Tanden has directed faculty to develop social justice pedagogical spaces and build collaborative relationships with grassroots community organizations and students.
