Timelessness - Living in Awe

Recently I have been trying to remember when I first lost the sense of the concept of Time. I know when I read Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj and other teachers of Advaita, that they disregarded the concept of time, but I know my understanding in this regard goes back further than that.

I know this because, when I was still in the Church at Lincoln Cathedral, I used to hope for a chance to do a sermon, and that sermon was going to be about time. It seems like I have understood that time is a concept all along, but probably not. It is very funny to me that I can't remember, as remembering and time are intimately linked in the mind.

My sermon was going to be about the absence of time as a concept, and how the Crucifixion of Christ occurs outside of time and is an event in the "now ". I have no idea how those ideas got into my mind at that time, as this was before my "advaita " days.

Perhaps the concept of time is one of the most persistent and insidious to the spiritual seeker, as we are so used to living in a "linear" mind set. Time is the concept by which we organize thought. The "story " of our lives is told by the "progression " from child to young adult, to older adult and eventually elderly person. Words like progression and eventually themselves are created to expound on this concept of time.

We wake in the morning, and as soon as the sense of "I am " arises, we see a "new " day, but experience our selves as a progression of the same life; we are one day older. We watch the body "age ", and at some point resolve to the fact that eventually it will "die ".

The concept of time is the culprit here. Not that our bodies don't "change ". On the relative level bodies age, get hurt and die. These vehicles we take as our own are only a limited dream vehicle that wears out and runs out. They are held tightly in the grip of the concept of time. What is born in time, ages and dies in time. But what we are is beyond time.

Past, present and future all appear in the moment. The concept of "now " contains all three. The moment we recognize "the moment ", it is gone. The "now " is not an experience that we can recognize, for by the time it is re-cognized, it is a past event in memory. Those who say to "live in the now" are simply trading one concept (past, future) for the concept of "the now ". Everything happens at once. The concepts of past, present and future arise simultaneously in the mind, and the mind uses the concept of time to sort them out. As you read this, you are reading it as I write it. "We" are together at this moment, reading and writing as one. My writing and your reading are one movement in awareness, not two. If we always look at life as one piece, without parts, we can see this clearly.

It's the "separation " that is illusion, not the "objects ". The "objects " are expressions of the oneness playing with itself. There is loving, seeking, awareness, without lover or loved, seeker and sought, or aware or unaware persons. The objects come and go, but not in time. Time is only useful in the relative, and needs to be the first concept to go.

We are timeless. The "child ", "adult ", "elderly " categories are all just swimming in the concept of time. You may notice that many who we call "enlightened " live in that first categorization; the child. No matter how "old" we may be physically, living without time acknowledges that we are timeless. The "vehicle " we inhabit may age to our amusement, sometimes painfully. But being forever the simplicity and awe of the child is what we find. Life is awesome. When we experience nothing but awe, without words, we experience wonder. Once we grab it, conceptualize it, bring it into time, it is turned into a concept. Becoming as a little child, as Christ insisted was the only way into the kingdom of Heaven, means to live outside of time.

Understanding that we are timeless, even as the body fades and dies is an experience of fascination and exhilaration. Life as it is unfolding, timelessly and with perfection, is only available without concepts, particularly without the concept of time.

Peace

The Possibility of Possibility - The Unlimited Potential that You Are.

So much in non-duality is written by "advanced" teachers for "advanced" seekers, and is therefore written in the most "absolute" way. This is how we get the "no seeker", "no person", "nothing to do" points of view. And of course, we will once again say; yes, in the Absolute, these statements are true. But what must we cover with the "beginning" seeker? Telling him or her that they don't exist, and should stop seeking, might just be met with some resistance!

It is sufficient to suggest that the seeker look to see what can be found of "substance" in the ideas one has about oneself. Upon meditating on these questions, the uncovery of the lack of "substance" beyond the ideas themselves opens the possibility of possibility; that which is unlimited potential. That unlimited potential, is what I refer to as Love.

That is the first thing to teach; Love is the Unlimited Potential that YOU ARE ! You are not a person, you are not the Other. You are not even God. You are the Pure Spirit of God, with no God being necessary, the idea of God coming only as an afterthought in Time. And here is the second point to teach; time is simply a way the mind uses to organize ideas into a sequence.

So much emphasis is placed in "new age" thought on the "now ". But the "now " most think of, is a "middle " place in "time ", falling in between "past " and "future ". I just like to say "everything 'happens' at once". For if you conceder it, "past " and "future " are all in the mind, and thoughts occur in the "now ", even thoughts of "past " and "future ". In fact, thoughts of the "present "; the "now ", are also thoughts, once they have "happened " and been considered. Only unconscious awareness, "happening" is Love; unlimited potential. Earnestness in understanding, without knowledge, thatyou are the movement of Love itself, and the constant removal of time as an ultimate reality, are the places to start.

This earnestness; a word often used by Nisargadatta Maharaj, is really the key to the door of Awareness. Seek and ye shall find. So much emphasis is placed on humor in the West, that any Guru who wants a good following, feels it necessary to be a bit of a comedian. While humor has a place in Spirituality, humor often becomes more important to the followers of a "feel good " Guru, than his "earnestness." Earnestness is defined in the dictionary as "seriousness". It does not mean for this to be in contrast to "humorousness", simply that "earnestness" is not unlike "devotion", even "worship". This is why an "attitude" toward "Bhakti" , is necessary for a beginning "seeker". For only with a single minded, single hearted concentration, can one "become Love", and live "outside of time".

Time and "The Now"

Time is a difficult, but fascinating concept. I have often used it in my writing about "past" Spiritual events; to point out the way everything kind of "happens at once."

This was an idea that occurred to me many years ago when I became aware that time has no reality apart from that we endow it with. I became aware that the Eucharist I was attending was commemorating, participating in an event that was happening "right now". This was a stunning revelation.

In Non-Dual Spirituality, we spend much time thinking about Time. These days of "New Age" spirituality, or so called "Neo-Advaita", we hear much about "living in The Now". This is an interesting concept that I often think is not really carried to it's ultimate conclusion. We dismiss the "past" as living only in memory. We dismiss the "future", as living only in imagination. But we love "The Now". Let's examine this.

Past, "Now", and future exist in the mind only. We cherish the "Now" because we recognize that "we" are in it. The "I AM" exists in the "Now" only. The "Now" is the quite place. The safe place. The lasting place. But what of "Past" and "Future"?

The Past lives in memory. The future in imagination. Most of us agree on this. But does this not mean that the past and future are illusions? And if only the "Now" is "real", and past and future appear in the "Now" as illusions, what substance do they have, if any? The "Now", in this context, becomes part of Time.

Most of us read Scriptures that are hundreds, even thousands of years old. They are old, written in the past; the world of memory. We do not dismiss these books for being from the past, but cherish them. Why? Are they not from the memory? If memory is of the mind, how can books, no matter how noble or holy, possibly be of any value? The concept of Time here becomes the all important factor. Without the concept of Time, the reality is uncovered; everything unfolds at once. The Scripture is written now, you read the Scripture now, the Scripture is absorbed into the life that created it now. There is no need for Time. The writing, reading, absorbing are a single act that appear in time only because the mind needs to understand the "progress".

The future is made of imagination. We are intuitively aware of the unfolding potential, but the mind fears the lack of definite "plans" and creates "possibilities" and structures to "make" those possibilities we like "happen". This too "happens" in the "Now".

This understanding that the "Now" can not be part of Time, but must be something out of time, and eternal, gave me a better understanding of the "real" meaning of "The Now". In my meditations, I could see that Christ is being crucified right now. Not an "incident" from the "past", but unfolding right now. The "Now" is the unfolding, not a part of "Time". When all is One, all is Love. The "Now" is the Love. The "Now is the unfolding life we see, feel, and are.

The sufferings of the world, as well as it's joys, are all "happening" right now. Past "happenings", and "future" potential all "happen" in the ever present "Now". Not a "Now" that exists in Time, as a sort of "middle ground" between past and future, but an unfolding of the universe. Ever opening, ever Loving.