Time isn’t your enemy. It’s an illusion. A construct of the ego. Yet, we utter our laments against time like a mantra; “I just haven’t got time!” or “Where does the time go?” The unrelenting trap of time, however, causes us to be entangled like a spider’s prey, wriggling and writhing in a web of entropy, decrepitude, and death.
To escape the march of time, the ego longs for bliss. It wants to escape what is happening right here and now – the toil of work, the pain of facing what we’ve become, while our soul knows the Truth of who we are, the trappings of materialism, greed, fear, and romantic longing. Ironically bliss is ours for the taking not by escaping into another time, but by being here, now.
We strive to escape into a better “time,” but this striving is the true evil which keeps us trapped in the pain of suffering. Time is nothing more than a series of “now” moments strung together.
Is it any wonder that artists, musicians, inventors, athletes, or anyone else that is thoroughly engaged in a singular moment of creation or striving, rapt, toward a goal, describes this experience as a religious one?
This observation is key to understanding how to treat “time,” in our lives – to put it into its proper perspective – to more each day – realize that time is indeed a laughable matter, not a serious one. One of those hilarious paradoxes of Nature.
Look at evolution. It is not entropic at its source. It is benevolently ordered. Even the most chaotic environment has order at its foundation – the beautiful, forgiving, blissful truth that the Infinite Intelligence always has a plan.
When dinosaurs were wired clean form the surface of the earth, due to an inability to adapt to environmental changes, streaming meteors, volcanic activity, and choking ash in the air, nature made way for mammals. Its organizing structure amid the seeming Armageddon, always pushing toward a more realized being. We’ve grown from a tiny single-celled organism to one that can ponder the greater mysteries of creation – to ponder itself as a reflection of the Divine. This is not entropy at its core, but expansion. Entropy exists only to push us toward an altruistically motivated transformation.
So, how do we realize this magic in our midst on a daily basis when the ego forever pulls our attention away from the miraculous present moment? How do we reprogram ourselves out of living in the past or the future?
First, we practice being mindful – as this is only the development of a state of awareness which allows the present to unfold without our convoluted memories of the past, and our insidious striving for the future.
This practice is infinitely simple. It can start with allowing the mind to focus on the breath – a Universal heartbeat connecting us to the infinite moment. Each breath arises, and then dissipates, forever tying us to the moment we are in. As we focus on the breath, like waves gently crashing into a sun-kissed shore, we eliminate time – or the illusion thereof.
We can meditate, or we can simply remind ourselves, even in the most hectic moments, that we can slow down, and be present – what a gift to give the heart and mind!
Or, we can engage in more meaningful actions so that time becomes a secondary concern, or even lost to us completely. How many things do we do in our days that are unnecessary? Are we living out our creative impetus, or are we automatons marching towards oblivion? Can you reorganize your priorities to do things that fill your soul, instead of annihilate it? That book you’ve been longing to read, or that painting class that’s on your bucket list – they are calls to be present, and to express your true self, not the self which is still acting from programmed beliefs and limited constructs of the past.
We have escaped the harshest actions of destruction and entropy; we can arise anew in each moment. Time is not just relative, it is a tool of the ego, and when we learn to use it to our advantage, it becomes irrelevant. You become free in the NOW.