Time

It seems that we are, in almost every way, captured and twisted by time. As we open our eyes in the morning, the first conscious thought that is raised is usually: "What's the time?" So often we are told to 'take time' or 'make time' as if it were a malleable thing and yet, more often than not, we lead our lives whilst feeling pressured by the immovability of time.

As I sit here and type, my trained mind tells me that I have been writing for about 5 minutes. But how much of this presumption is actually useful to me as a spiritual being upon this planet? Is there any way I can actually prove to you, or even myself, that it has been in fact five increments of a time measurement? So often I ask myself this kind of question and always find the evidence of the past exists solely to be found in one place: the present.

I would like to make a suggestion. Let us, for now, disregard the idea of time as a linear process. Let us stop considering what has been and what will be and focus on now. Please, I implore you deeply, to consider only now, right now.

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Could you do it?

Perhaps it's not as easy as we would wish it to be. We see so much, in our lives, that indicates to us that such a focus exercise is without value. It is natural, therefore, that we cannot easily disregard time altogether. Instead, shall we then not try to approach time from two separate perspectives. The traditional perspective of ticking hands and a perspective of slightly more depth.

Ticking clocks and our common perception of time serve their purpose well. Indeed, in the world of the family, we need them in order to not let our societies fall into chaos. I propose that though convenient, however, the idea that time is forever surging forward does not aid us in our internal lives.

Allow me to expand on the latter perspective. I feel that time has no distinct beginning or end. Instead of the flow from one moment to another usually conceived of, there is only one moment or one no moment (depending on how you want to look at it). Life simply consists of now. AND now is a constantly shifting and changing state of being that is in itself pure and real. It is like my son, playing on the bed. First he is near the pillow, then he crawls to the foot of the bed, after which he gets under the blankets. Would we say that he has significantly changed in each position? Of course not, but his perspective changed, I'm sure - for one moment the pillow was close and large and the next it was not, this is likewise for time.

This is my spiritual understanding of now. It is a beautifully subtle shift in perspective only, and where we are is only ever now.

This is important to me in my practise of becoming me, because so frequently I desire now to be something other than what it is:

I desire now to be yesterday when it was not raining.

I desire now to be 3 years ago when I was care-free.

I desire and I feel pain from this desire because, essentially, I am wishing that reality would change. What can be gained from the thought "I wish this wasn`t happening"...

It is not, however, impossible to act purely in this world and help your perspective to change, but it will not change the nature of now. So much unhappiness is derived from desiring that which cannot be.

It is in times such as those that I bring myself back to my intuitive understanding of time. Whether it be a falsehood or not is of no consequence to me. It arose out of my practise and it continues to allow me to not be overrun by circumstance.