What is the meaning of している in this sentence?


I know from looking at the title many of you are thinking "Frey, you should
KNOW THIS by now." And to be honest I should, its just a matter of the more
research I did only served to further confuse me.

Dialogue with **sentence in question** :

> 「たしかに今までは、そんな自分に気づかなかったでしょうね。平穏な暮らしをしている限りはわからないわ。身の危険が迫った時にだけ発現する能力だか」

My Genki I book says the following on ている

> A verbal "te-form" when followed by the helping verb いる, means either of the
> following:
>
> (a) an action in progress, or
>
> (b) a past event that is connected with the present.
>
> Which of these two senses a given verb is used in is to a large extend
> determined by the semantic characteristics of the verb. The verbs we have
> learned so far can be roughly divided into three groups based on their
> semantics.
>
> (1) verbs that describe continuous _states_
>
> (2) verbs that describe _activities_ that last for some time
>
> (3) verbs that describe _changes_ that are more or less instantaneous

At first, I thought the している was being used as (b) _a past event that is
connected with the present_. Considering how [in
context](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rv11_3d2_bQSZs5vn9XfB98_pk7TGdShLgQlKdBTaSg/edit#heading=h.41rue9tc3lf2)
the past event was 平穏な暮らし, I thought option (b) was the correct choice as far
as to what している meant in the above sentence and context.

[My research](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/510907/which-one-of-
my-possible-translations-for-this-sentence-best-reflects-the-time-c) to find a
way to show the ている time construct through the usage of specific tenses in my
native language, American-English - which I never formally studied the tenses
of - has led to an extreme doubt in the accuracy of the ている being used as (b).

Looking around JSE Q&A for information on which of the above numbered options
would work for する lead me to [this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1532/26406) and
[this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/2297/26406) answer, the later of
which has the following excerpt:

> So as a verb it means "to act in a way that accomplishes [objective]"
>
> And for ～をする since を marks the direct object, it means "do ～" (Because it's
> a direct object, doing ～ directly accomplishes ～)
>
> する can also be used for describing some attribute:
>
> 私は長い足をしている to mean "I have long legs"（stative resultant ている form of する)
>
> To accomplish "long legs", the simplest way is to simply "have" it.

Further research into the ている construct led me
[here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/45251/%E3%81%95%E3%82%8C%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B-vs-%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B-for-
certain-objective-verbs), and [to this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/43190/the-use-
of-%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B). Questioning the particle usage of を in the
above was what might have led me to [the
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1532/26406) containing the
above except in the first place. After all this research, I still have no clue
whether する is a transitive/intransitive verb in the above, which according to
my Genki II book will affect how the ている affects the verb, [among other
things](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/3122/when-
is-v%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B-the-continuation-of-action-and-when-is-it-the-
continuation-of-state/3140#3140).

As you can see I'm confused because of over-research into figuring out what
the している is if its not option (b) from the above Genki I excerpt. If the
correct option was in fact (b), please answer the following translation
question:

As a native Japanese would read している and recognize that the 平穏な暮らしthat
occurred far in the past is being connected to the present via している, **what
specific tense** would work for describing 平穏な暮らしをしている限りは so that a English
reader will have the same (or as close as possible) experience reading the
translation as a native reader would when reading the original?




> 平穏な暮らしをしている限りはわからないわ。  
>  You won't notice it (=the ability) as long as you are leading an uneventful
> life.

This する is "to do". Although "to do an uneventful life" makes little sense in
English, 平穏な暮らしをする makes perfect sense in Japanese. Basic "light verbs" like
する, やる, かける, とる, ひく and so on have lots of unpredictable usages, and you have
to remember which noun is used with which verb. See: [What does する mean
here?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/39591/5010) And of course this する
is transitive. You should be able to tell it just by looking at を after 暮らし. A
suru-verb like 勉強する is a different topic.

Next, this ている describes **(a)** , an action in progress. Note that the
previous sentence is about his past (気づかなかっ **た** ) but the main predicate of
the sentence in question is in the **present** tense (わからない). This means this
sentence is about a generic fact; it's about how an ability-owner is leading
their life _now_ , not how the protagonist has lived his life so far. In other
words, she is saying "In general, anyone with the ability can notice their
ability whenever they starts living a dangerous life".

Finally, this sentence has nothing to do with historical present. A general
fact like "The earth is round" is described in the present tense both in
English and in Japanese.

