Time is an illusion of the mind

Past and future exist only in thoughts

Time is a projection of the mind. (Psychological time) It does not exist, it is only an illusion. Both the past and future are created by thoughts.  Only the present exists and the present is not part of time but part of eternity. Past and present are both non-existential because we cannot live in a past or the future other than in our thoughts. The past is only a memory and the future is only imagination. Both of them are constructs of the mind and are always being accessed from the present alone. The past is created because we cling to memory and the future is created because of desires to be fulfilled. The future is needed like a screen for the mind to project its desires. The truth is psychological time subordinates the present moment to the past or future by keeping us preoccupied to the memories of our past or to our plans for the future

The fact is that the mind needs the past and the future to survive. The more the time the mind has the more it can play around and make many desires and dreams and live in them. Time also helps the mind in another way – the pressure for change is lifted off as there is still time available for change. In this way the mind can remain the same. Postponing is the base for continuing in the same way. This is the deepest trick of the mind. The reason for postponing change is because you do not want to do it now. As long as time is available the possibility of postponing change is available and in the hope that what is difficult today will become easier tomorrow. But tomorrow never comes.

Timeless space of the Eternal Now

“A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts. So he loses touch with reality, and lives in a world of illusion” – Allan Watts. The thing that we have to realize is that the aim of the mind is always to keep us engaged with the past or the future. This results in us losing touch with reality.  Meditation is the way to disengage from the pull of the mind and to experience reality as it unfolds to us. Meditation is not about quieting, manipulating or focusing the mind. On the contrary it is to let the mind keep on doing its thing and instead of identifying with it to just be, knowingly, its awareness.

You are that through which thoughts are flowing. It doesn’t matter where it’s going or what they’re doing. They’re always doing one of two things: they are either going into the past or the future. Just let them go, let them make the journey, but you never take the journey with them. That is meditation, just to know yourself as this ever-present, imperturbable light of awareness. When we know this we enter the timeless space of the eternal now and  begin to experience our reality..

 

Beyond Time

Time is a projection of the mind. (Psychological time) It does not exist, it is only an illusion. Both the past and future are created by thoughts.  Only the present exists and the present is not part of time but part of eternity. Past and present are both non-existential because we cannot live in a past or the future other than in our thoughts. The past is only a memory and the future is only imagination, both of them are constructs of the mind and are always being accessed from the present alone. The past is created because we cling to memory and the future is created because of desires to be fulfilled. The future is needed like a screen for the mind to project its desires. The truth is psychological time subordinates the present moment to the past or future by keeping us preoccupied to the memories of our past or to our plans for the future

In the present the mind has to disappear. Only if there is time can the mind survive. The more the time the mind has the more it can play around and make many desires and dreams and live in them. Time also helps the mind in another way – the pressure for change is lifted off as there is still time available for change. In this way the mind can remain the same. Postponing is the base for continuing in the same way. This is the deepest trick of the mind. The reason for postponing change is because you do not want to do it now. As long as time is available the possibility of postponing change is available and in the hope that what is difficult today will become easier tomorrow. But tomorrow never comes.

“A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts. So he loses touch with reality, and lives in a world of illusion” – Allan Watts. The thing that we have to realize is that the aim of the mind is always to keep us engaged with the past or the future. This results in us losing touch with reality.  Meditation is the way to disengage from the pull of the mind and to experience reality as it unfolds to us. Meditation is not about quieting, manipulating or focusing the mind. On the contrary it is to let the mind keep on doing its thing and instead of identifying with it to just be, knowingly, its awareness.

Consider the mind just like a train that entered the station. Do not get involved with the train. Let the train go where it is going. Let the thoughts do what they are conditioned to do. But don’t board the train. Don’t get on, even if you get on,  just step off.  You don’t even have to step off.  Be more like the platform than the passenger. You are that through which the train is flowing. It doesn’t matter where it’s going. Doesn’t matter where your thoughts are going, what they’re doing. They’re always doing one of two things: they are either going into the past or the future. Just let them go, let them make the journey, but you never take the journey with them.

That is meditation, just to know yourself as this ever-present, imperturbable light of awareness. That’s it. Just abide as that. When we know this we enter the timeless space of the eternal now and  begin to experience our reality..

Ranji Varughis

 

Practice moment to moment non-judgemental awareness

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Why is non-judgment an important practice? Non-judgemental approach means to make a conscious effort not to be critical of the actions or thoughts of others. The practice of non-judgment is essential to purify and deprogram the mind just like by eating clean, healthy food, and avoiding alcohol and caffeine we can detoxify the physical body. There is a distinction between judgment and discernment. Discernment simply is perceiving the way things are. Judgment is what we add to discernment of how things or people are and how we think they ought to be. So, in judgment, there’s an element of dissatisfaction with the way things are and a desire to have things be the way we want them to be. Left to itself, the brain will automatically judge things as good or bad, right or wrong, fair or unfair, important or unimportant, urgent or non-urgent and so on. This happens so fast that our experiences are automatically colored right when we get to them. Practicing non-judgement is to silence the mind by stopping the constant flow of thoughts analysing and evaluating everything and everyone we meet, ourselves included. When the mind is clear, we can see new possibilities, transcend perceived limits, and live a life of greater ease, joy and love. The key here is to bring awareness to the moments of our lives. Be aware when the brain is automatically judging a situation or a person, and we can pause and get some perspective. In this way we create a sort of “space” between ourselves and the thought so that we’re not so caught up in it. Labeling judgements as judgements can be useful. When we notice ourselves judging we can just say the word “judging” quietly to ourselves. When we name our experience we again create a small gap that gives us a sense of freedom. Was this judgment just something that popped in my mind? Is there another way I can see this? A practice of non-judgment helps us to avoid a lot of the suffering we experience on a daily basis. Some kinds of judgment are both good and necessarily practical. What I have tried to highlight are those kinds of judgment that are founded on either hatred, prejudice, rigid categorization, unsubstantiated generalization, or any act of making a ‘final judgment’ that closes the heart to another living being. It is not easy to reserve judgement and no one is entirely able to do so, but it is something we can strive for and put into practise as diligently as possible.

 

Desire

The human mind disappears in the present. It lives in the future, in the hope, in the promise of the future; it moves through desire. Desire needs time, it cannot exist if there is no time. If suddenly you come to a moment where you realize that time has disappeared, that now there is no time, no tomorrow, what will happen to desire? – it cannot move, it disappears with time.

Basically time is not a physical phenomenon, it is psychological. Time is not there outside you, it is the very functioning of the mind that creates time. Jesus lived without time. That is why he said, don’t be bothered about what you will eat or what you will drink or what clothes you will wear. Be desireless and the gates of heaven are open to you. But to be desireless you have to be here and now by destroying the bridge facilitates the mind to exist in the future. Desire is the bridge.