THE ILLUSION OF TIME

‘Now, can the mind be free of time? That is the real problem. Because, all creation takes place outside the field of time; all profound thinking, all deep feeling, is always timeless.’—J. Krishnamurti, Collected Works, vol. XI, 169.

Time is an illusion. It's not a real thing. That’s right! No, I haven't gone totally crazy, although some may beg to differ. Time is created by a combination of thought, memory and awareness of the so-called present moment ever renewing itself as the present moment over and over again. As we live we move through a succession of now-moments. The American spiritual psychologist and teacher Vernon Howard said, ‘Real life is a timeless renewal in the present moment.’ I like that.

Edward M Matthews [pictured right], a Liberal Catholic bishop, from whose writings and radio talks I’ve derived much benefit over the years, wrote:

… We cannot see [time] because we are immersed in it. It is like the air we breathe. We are not conscious of it except as a passing element. We notice time moving slowly, or faster according to the circumstance in which we are involved for the moment. When matters are pleasing it moves fast, often too fast. But when matters are irksome, we become aware of time and find that it moves slowly, often too slowly.

Time is the great illusion rather than the material of this world, as many suppose. The material is real enough for the time that it exists. The time factor is entirely dependent upon our awareness of the material. Therefore, the illusory effect is produced by the time during which we are aware of the material. (Collected Works of Edward M Matthews, vol I: The Printed Publications, San Diego CA: St Alban Press, 2007.)

Matthews is right. We cannot see time. We can watch a clock tick, and if the clock be the old-fashioned kind, we can see the hands on the clock move, but we cannot see time. Time is a relative construct. Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity shows that. In truth, it is nothing more than movement, which is life, but it is not a ‘thing’ in itself. We talk about ‘saving time’ but in truth it is impossible to save time. If time were a ‘thing’ we could weight it, boil or heat it, or freeze it. We can do none of those things. In a sense, it is a ‘no-thing’, for all we are capable of seeing is the effect of time, for example, an ageing body, a tree growing in size, and so on.

Yes, movement is the defining factor of time, and since life is movement—ceaseless movement and constant flux—so time must be of that nature. It is only when we are alive can we witness time. Julian Barbour [pictured left], a British physicist, describes time as ‘a succession of pictures, a succession of snapshots, changing continuously one into another.’ Barbour has made the point that change is real, but not time, the latter being only a reflection of time. ‘Isaac Newton,’ Barbour noted, ‘insisted that even if absolutely nothing at all happened, time would be passing, and that I believe is completely wrong.’ The truth is that without change we would have no notion of time at all.

The Indian spiritual teacher J. Krishnamurti often pointed out that there is a very close connection between thought and memory and the awareness of time. In a sense, thought and memory create time. Whenever we recall an incident from the so-called past, we have a sense of the effluxion of time, likewise when we project into the future. In truth, everything is contained within ‘the now.’ All duration—or time, if you will—is total and complete in the now. There is an eternal quality about the now. It is forever new. What we refer to as the present moment is simply the now experienced as such—that is, as a now-moment. The past, in the form of memories, is no more than the expression of a present reality, being a present ‘window link’ to the eternity of the now. It’s the same as respects the future; any ideas about or hopes for the future are present ideas and hopes. Yes, what we call the present is simply that which presents itself before us in the now, so the present embraces past, present and future.

The Christian existentialist theologian Paul Tillich [pictured right] says as much in his wonderful book The Eternal Now. Tillich writes:

The mystery of the future and the mystery of the past are united in the mystery of the present. Our time, the time we have, is the time in which we have ‘presence.’ ... Each of the modes of time has its peculiar mystery, each of them carries its peculiar anxiety. Each of them drives us to an ultimate question. There is one answer to these questions -- the eternal. There is one power that surpasses the all-consuming power of time -- the eternal ... . 

There is only now. In the now everything lives, moves and has its being. In the now everything appears, changes and disappears. That is the totality of life. Only the now is real.

Living mindfully means living in the now. It means being choicelessly aware of each now-moment as it both arises and morphs almost instantaneously into the next now-moment, and then the one after that, and so on into eternity. When your awareness is at-one with the object—internal or external—of your awareness, that is, when there is no separation (an unfortunate word in this context) between the two, you are living in the eternal now. It is only then that you have no sense of time, for your awareness is not interrupted and thus broken by thought, feeling or memory.

Shakyamuni Buddha advised us to observe and watch closely—that is, mindfully—whatever is occurring in the here-and-now from one now-moment to the next. Not only watch but, as the Buddha went on to say, ‘firmly and steadily pierce it.’ Yes, pierce the reality of the content of each now-moment experience. Only then can you truly say you are alive and no longer living in time.

Start living in the eternal—right this very now-moment! It is the best way to live.

Note. On Sunday, April 7, 1940, Edward Murray Matthews, then still a priest, began a series of radio talks on KFAC in Los Angeles. This series of talks, later broadcast on radio station KNCR, would continue for several decades. Here is a link to some audio files of taped radio shows of Bishop (later Archbishop) Matthews. The talks are well worth listening to. He spoke so very well, and was a very learned man. 

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HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR ME TO BECOME ENLIGHTENED?

A young man approached his master and asked, 'How long is it likely to take me to attain enlightenment?'

'Ten years,' replied the master.

'That long?' exclaimed the young man.

'No, that was a mistake on my part,' said the master. 'It will take you twenty years.'

'Why did you just double the figure?' asked the young man.

'Alright, in your case it will probably take you thirty years,' replied the master.

 Seeking enlightenment on Mount Takao (Takaosan)
Photo taken by the author in Meiji-no-mori Takao Quasi-National Park, Japan

Never ask ‘how’ or ‘why’ questions, at least not when it comes to matters spiritual. Worse still, never ask ‘how long’ questions, because when you do you are still thinking in terms of time. Enlightenment---true wisdom---is not of time. It is timeless. It is eternal. And eternity is now---the eternal now. Enlightenment is above time and has no opposite. The state that is eternal is---right now! We live in both time and eternity right now. However, thought (‘how’, ‘why’, ‘how long’) is time itself. We think in time, but thought can never understand ‘something’ that is above and beyond time. That something is wisdom or enlightenment. It can be experienced, but never known or grasped or arrived at.

What, then, is enlightenment? It means waking up---not just once, but staying awake from moment to moment. As such, enlightenment is not so much a destination but the journey. It is also the means of travel. Yes, it is the means and the end.

Enlightenment is not a ‘thing-in-itself’. Indeed, it is actually a ‘no-thing’---no-thing-ness. It is the complete absence of thought, conditioning, materialism and all other limitations of time and space. It is living with choiceless, unadorned awareness. Yes, enlightenment is mindful living. In that regard, I am reminded of what Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, and founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, had to say about mindfulness. He said, ‘Mindfulness is about falling awake rather than asleep.’ Falling awake. Yes, and also staying awake. That is mindfulness. And that is enlightenment.

A disciple once asked his master, ‘What is the path?’ The Zen master replied, ‘Walk on!’ Yes, the ‘meaning’ of life lies in the living---that is, the ‘walking’---of life from one moment to the next. Enlightenment is staying awake while you are walking your path. 

So, don’t ask ‘how long’. Instead, ask yourself this question, ‘What is standing in the way of my waking up and experiencing enlightenment right now?’

A NEW YEAR OF TIMELESS RENEWAL---THROUGH THE PORTHOLE

I call it the ‘porthole experience’ or ‘porthole effect.’

Have you ever been in a cabin on a ship and looked through one of those traditionally circular portholes on the hull of the ship? At any moment in time you see in and through the porthole just a small fragment---and a moving one at that---of reality. Not only that, but what you see at any particular moment in time very quickly disappears from view, and becomes the past, only to be replaced by a new and different fragment of reality. And on it goes.

The porthole experience or effect illustrates that life is constant flux and constant movement. In that regard, it was the American spiritual psychologist Vernon Howard who said, ‘Real life is a timeless renewal in the present moment.’ That’s a great description of the porthole experience. In addition, the porthole experience illustrates that we experience life fragmentally, that is, in and through successive ‘portholes,’ metaphorically speaking.

Here’s a truth. So-called ‘time’ and ‘space,’ which are really one (‘space-time,’ they call it), are all so very relative. They are no more than mediums---more correctly, a single medium---in which all things exist and have their being, and are not 'things' in themselves. Life, however, is ceaseless movement and is essentially timeless and spaceless. Life is whatever happens at any point in time in the medium of spacetime. Here’s another truth. Everything---and I do mean every thing---is contained within ‘the now.’ All duration or time is total and complete in the now. There is an ‘eternal’ quality about the now. It is forever new. And what of the so-called present, past, and future? Are they separate and distinct? Not really. Let me explain.

The so-called present moment has its unfolding in and as the now. The so-called past, in the form of memories, inherited characteristics and tendencies, the so-called karmic consequences of past actions---all that is no more than the expression of a present reality, being a present ‘window link’ to the eternity of the now. It’s the same as respects the so-called future---that is, any ideas about or hopes for the future are present ideas and hopes. 

The omnipresent and ever-present present---what we call the present moment or the now---is simply that which presents itself before us, in and through successive ‘porthole’ experiences, as the now---the Eternal Now, to use a popular expression. So, the present embraces past, present and future. The Christian theologian Paul Tillich says as much in his book The Eternal Now. Tillich writes, 'The mystery of the future and the mystery of the past are united in the mystery of the present. Our time, the time we have, is the time in which we have "presence."' 

The now is the only moment we truly have. The now is the portal---the porthole, if you like---through which we experience the present moment, indeed every moment … but only one moment at a time. Each and every new moment of the day---every day---is a ‘new year,’ so to speak, and it’s a porthole through which we experience the ceaseless flow of life … moment by moment. One porthole experience after the other … then another … and so on. The ‘secret’ of life is to focus your undivided attention and awareness on only the content of the particular porthole. All too often we strain to look back on what was just a moment or so ago the content of our porthole, or we strain to look forward to what is yet to come into view in our porthole. That is not the way to live mindfully. It is living … yes, mindlessly. Life---the experience of the moment---dies on us if we look back or look forward.

To live mindfully means to constantly ‘die’ and ‘rise again’ into newness of life … one porthole experience after another. Most of us tend to drift through life mindlessly, but it need not be like that. We need to be alive to each new ‘porthole’ experience of the present moment.

Happy New Year, everyone!

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MINDFULNESS---THIS IS THE REFRESHING!

‘To whom [God] said, This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest;
and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.’ (Isaiah 28:12)
[King James Bible/Cambridge edition]

‘This is the refreshing.’ The renowned pastor, lecturer and author Norman Vincent Peale wrote, ‘These few words remind us of a spring of cool water because of their renewing quality.’

Each new day---indeed, each new moment in the eternal now---is, or at least can be experienced as, a ‘refreshing,’ for that is what it truly is. Each new moment is a renewal. The moment is so brief---as I write these words, many such moments have come and gone----it is virtually timeless. Time is simply a medium in which all things live, move and have their being. So, what we call ‘life’---or reality, truth or God---is nothing other than a timeless renewal in the present moment. Each new moment is a re-creation---or a refreshing.

The only power that can be ours is that which is found in the reality of the present moment that is ever-before us ‘in’ the now. That is the only ‘place’---for want of a better word---in which we can find ‘refreshment.’ Indeed, it is a refreshing. That is the only ‘place’ wherein we can find help in time of trouble, for if we seek that help in the past or in the future we look in vain. Indeed, trouble really only occurs when we allow ourselves to dwell in either the past or the future. True peace and acceptance can only be found in the calm acknowledgment of the omnipresent reality of the present moment. I have said as much on so many occasions. Not only peace and acceptance, but inner transformation as well. In one of his many classes the spiritual philosopher and teacher Vernon Howard, whose ideas about life have had a big impact on my life and thinking, said this:

‘Truth exists at this very present moment. Truth, which is the great power, the only power, therefore exists right now by man-made time, about a quarter after nine, exists for anyone in this room who is no longer living in man-made time, that is in his acquired sense of self, developed from experiences of past and hopes of the future.’

Truth not only exists at this present moment; it is this present moment---at least when we are mindfully aware of what is going on. That's a refreshing thought. Mindfulness, itself, is a refreshing, for it is the choiceless awareness of awareness itself. If we stay fixed and focused, and fully grounded, in the reality of the eternal mow---that is, if our minds are fully and mindfully engaged in what is taking place in and around us now---we will experience a refreshing, no matter what happens.

If you really want to come alive, start to experience each new moment as a refreshing. However, this can only be done from one moment to the next. It cannot be done ‘in’ the moment itself---despite the omnipresent reality of the present moment---simply because the so-called ‘moment’ is so brief, so ephemeral, that no sooner has it arrived, it's gone. It's the past. One cannot experience or live ‘in’ the moment because the moment, although ever-present, is always changing ... into the next moment ... and the next ... and then the next!

This is where mindfulness comes into its own. You see, mindfulness is awareness---in a deliberate and purposeful but ‘soft focus’, gentle and kind sort of way---from one moment to the next. Got that? Mindfulness is concerned with being fully present, and living with awareness, from moment to moment. Mindful living is living receptively with choiceless awareness from moment to moment---that is, being aware step by step, breath by breath, thought by thought, feeling by feeling, memory by memory, sensation by sensation, and so forth. Such is the flow of life, for what is life but the ongoing moment-to-moment livingness of living things and beings living out their livingness from one moment to the next.

Now, that is the refreshing.

NOTES.
1. The photos were taken by the author during a trip to Japan in June 2011. 
2. For those who are interested in the writings and ideas of Dr Peale, I have compiled and edited a book entitled The Norman Vincent Peale Book of Quotations.

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It was the spiritual psychologist and teacher Vernon Howard who said, ‘Real life is a timeless renewal in the present moment.’ I like that.

I think so-called ‘time’ and ‘space’ – which are really one – are no more than mediums in which all things exist. Life is movement---ceaseless movement--- and life itself is timeless and spaceless. That much is clear. Another thing is clear---everything is contained within ‘the Now.’ All duration – or time – is total and complete in the Now. There is an ‘eternal’ quality about the Now. It is forever new. The present moment has its unfolding in the Now. The past, in the form of memories, inherited characteristics and tendencies, the karmic consequences of past actions---all that is no more than the expression of a ‘present’ reality, being a present ‘window link’ to the eternity of the Now. It’s the same as respects the future---any ideas about or hopes for the future are present ideas and hopes. Yes, the present is simply that which presents itself before us in the Now---so the present embraces past, present and future. Amazing!

My favourite Christian theologian Paul Tillich says as much in his wonderful book The Eternal Now. Tillich writes, 'The mystery of the future and the mystery of the past are united in the mystery of the present. Our time, the time we have, is the time in which we have "presence." ... Each of the modes of time has its peculiar mystery, each of them carries its peculiar anxiety. Each of them drives us to an ultimate question. There is one answer to these questions -- the eternal. There is one power that surpasses the all-consuming power of time -- the eternal ... .' 

Here are some other words I like. They really resonate with me. The words come from the influential New Thought minister, lecturer and writer Dr Emmet Fox (pictured below left), who had this to say about the 'Now':

Has it ever occurred to you that the only time you ever have is the present moment? We have all heard this said many times but probably few of us realize, even slightly, all that it implies.

It means that you can only live in the present. It means that you can only act in the present. It means that you can only experience in the present.

Above all, it means that the only thing you have to heal is the present thought. Get that right and the whole picture will change into one of harmony and joy. When some students hear this statement they may think, ‘Oh yes, I know that. I have known it for years’; but the chances are that they have not yet understood it thoroughly.

When they do, remarkable results will follow. All that you can know is your present thought, and all that you can experience is the outer expression of all the thoughts and beliefs that you are holding at the present time.

What you call the past can only be your memory of the past. The seeming consequences of past events, be they good or bad, are still but the expression of your present state of mind (including, of course, the subconscious). What are all the future things that you may be planning, or things that you may be dreading - all this is still but a present state of mind. This is the real meaning of the traditional phrase, The Eternal Now.

The only joy you can experience is the joy you experience now. A happy memory is a present joy. The only pain you can experience is the pain of the present moment. Sad memories are present pain. Get the present moment right. Realize peace, harmony, joy, good will, in the present moment. By dwelling upon these things and claiming them-and forgetting during the treatment, all other things-the past and future problems alike will take care of themselves.

If you are reading this, you are alive---although it is necessarily the case that some people are more alive than others. (Sorry, the motivational preacher in me gets carried away at times.) Also, where you are right now is where you are---right now. (Deep stuff, all this.) These things must be taken to be axiomatic. Further, we can never escape the Now, so why not live fully---and mindfully---'in' it ... now! We do not truly live in the Now when our minds are on other things. Unless we are mindfully present, from one moment to the next, we are not truly alive. Our attention---which must be choiceless and non-discriminating---has to be right here---right in the here-and-now. In addition, if we are to find any meaning or purpose in life we must find it in the eternity of the Now. The Now is omnipresence itself. No wonder mystics and holy ones have referred to God as the ‘Eternal Now’ or the ‘Eternal Presence.’ God eternally subsists and expresses Itself in Its own Being---in the Eternity of the Now---in all things and as all things.

Scott Shaw, a Zen master and teacher, has written, 'Time is a scale we created in order to measure our worldly accomplishments.' Ha! Very Zen. Yes, time – as we ordinarily understand it – is a somewhat ‘relative’ construct, but I still think it is ‘real.’ The truth is we live both in time and eternity. Now, eternity is not something we enter when we die. No, eternity is ‘something’ we are in---right now! You are part of life’s Self-expression, and life cannot die. Your body will die, and, I think, also your mind, but the life in you---well, that’s an entirely different matter. Stop identifying with your body and your mind---they are not you. Stop identifying yourself with time, for the less you think about time, and the less you concern yourself with time, the freer you will be. You can't see time. Even if you watch the hands of a clock move, you are seeing just that---movement. You are not seeing time. The fact is that if you live entirely in time, you will be afraid of death. If, however, you live fully and mindfully in the abundance of the Eternal Now, you will know that you live forever! There’s a big difference.

The disciple asked the master, ‘What is the path?’ The Zen master replied, ‘Walk on!’ Yes, the ‘meaning’ of life lies in the living---the ‘walking’---of life. Life is endless movement, and so we must walk---from one moment to the next. Any ‘meaning’ we find must and will be found in the moment-to-moment experience of the Now. Eternity is not the present time plus all the past and all the future, nor (as already mentioned) is it a postmortem experience. It is a present---indeed, ever-present---reality. In truth, there is no time after time after time. No, eternity transcends time altogether---and is despite time! The mystics and holy ones have known this for centuries---there is an ‘eternal’ element to life which moves us beyond spacetime to ‘something’ which is the very ground of our being---indeed, Being itself. No wonder Jesus exclaimed, 'Before Abraham was, I am' (Jn 8:58). He didn't say, 'I was before Abraham was.' No, he said---altering the order of the words---'I am before Abraham was.' He understood his essential and existential pre-existence, and I do not believe he was claiming that fact uniquely and exclusively for himself. No, he never did that! That was not his way. He never asserted a fact about himself which was not also applicable to---you and me! Never forget that.

Vernon Howard was right. The Eternal Now is that ‘present’ which is forever renewing itself in and as each new moment. Yes, this Eternity supersedes time itself. To understand the ‘eternity’ of the Now, you need to know that there is a ‘present’ in the present as well as a ‘present’ beyond the ‘present,’ but if you try to 'chase' the next present you will fail. Don't even bother---there is no need. This concept needs to be experienced as a present reality. Intellectual understanding only takes you so far. In a very real sense, the Eternal Now and the so-called temporal now are---one and the same! Everything is---here now! Life is eternal, and we are alive in eternity---now! What Life---God, if you like---offers us is the Eternal Now, which is anything but a time on the clock.

H P Blavatsky (pictured left), in the first volume of Isis Unveiled, said it all when she wrote, ‘The human spirit, being of the Divine, immortal Spirit, appreciates neither past nor future, but sees all things as in the present.’

No wonder the New Testament says, ‘Exhort one another daily, while it is called today’ (Heb 3:11). We live for so long as it is still---today!


NOTE. For those who may be interested, I have compiled and published online a collection of some 2012 retreat talks of mine, the volume being entitled Walking in the Eternal Now.

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