“…one of two things are possible – either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness or…there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another…if you suppose that there is no consciousness, but a sleep like the sleep of the one who is undisturbed even by dreams, death will be an unspeakable gain…But if death is the journey to another place, and there…all the dead abide, what good…can be greater than this?” Socrates – the Apology (Plato Dialogues)
Life finds us where we are. This is the inescapable simple but concrete truth. Descarte said, “I think, therefore I am.’…and so we think, and so we are. What happens in the future, what our fate or loss or salvation is, is yet ahead and unknown. So we find ourselves alive today, in circumstances often over which we have little control, trying to simply figure out the moment.
In the stream of our lives we live in the narrowest of time. Dickens said, “It was the best of times and it was the worst of times,” but in fact it is only the ‘breath of time’ in which we live. It is only this moment, the moment in which these words are being written or read that truly has meaning. Yesterday, the accumulation of ‘breath of times’ is recorded with the exhalation of every breath. It is the unchangeable record of a life lived. Consciousness of that record is intended to guide our action during the breath, but often is revisited again and again in ways that do not promote the moment.
There is only one ‘time’ that can be taken from us, and that is now. Yesterday is over and cannot be retrieved or altered; tomorrow, no matter how well planned, is the unknown and cannot with assurance be predicted. While this seems to be a simple thing to consider, it is everything in the shaping of our lives.
The scripture says, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness goodness and faith. This is a concise collection of words that form a focus both for our action in the moment, and reflect the true hunger that we all have as human creatures – the seeking of ‘No Time!’
While we are bound by the dimension in which we live, we all seek its escape. We do that in a passive or active ways.
We might listen to music, watch a film, read a book…how often have we heard the expression that the experience was over almost before it got started? Some of us seek ‘no time’ in an active way. Our work might be inspiring, seeking others with whom we find resonance, a hobby that we find interesting, a journey to a new place with new experiences.
We were transcended into a different world through the sounds, the images or the words or activity. This is something we naturally seek. We have a hunger to escape the world in which we live into another world we hope will bring us love or joy or peace or longsuffering or….Our desire to escape this time is one of the hints we have in our lives in our search for NO TIME.
So what is this ‘No Time?’ – this place that all of us seek? It is the place toward which all of our human activity is really directed – the great escape into a place where the boundaries of the dimensional world in which we live cannot hold us.
For example, all of us have had the experience of revisiting an old friend – someone who we possibly have not seen in many years. How long does it seem that we have been separated? How quickly does it take for the bridge to be reconnected? The answer is ‘no time’…it happens in no time AND it feels good.
How often have you found yourself occupied with a project that so consumed you, before you knew it hours had passed? Maybe you were building something, playing a game, focused on a particular project…the event or object of your attention isn’t really the key here. You have, in fact, found yourself in ‘no time.’
If you have been in love and found yourself in the presence of the person or people for whom you have great affection, how is time measured? It is not measured, because this place has ‘no time.’
Maybe you have taken an anticipated trip or looked forward to a particular event. The waiting for the date seemed to last forever, but the event, the experience – if fullfiling – was over almost before it began…You had found yourself in ‘no time.’
No time is the place of transcendence all human creatures seek. It is the desire to fulfill the curiosity of the ‘next moment,’ the anticipation of elevating oneself free from the confines of the three-dimensional world in which we live.
Many books have been written about ‘no time.’ It could be argued that every inspirational writing, every uplifting book or piece of music or event, relates to the escape from this world and our lives and is about ‘no time.’
Think of the holy writings of the great religions, the legion of self-help books that promise freedom from our lives if we only follow the authors’ 10 steps, 7 habits, certain foods, special exercises…Why do we meditate on their teachings, buy their work, listen to their authors, watch their films, entertain their music? It is because all of it – all of it feeds the hunger to transcend or surpass the lives we live.
Like the salmon who return to the river of their birth after a journey of thousands of miles, the drive to return home, the hunger to once again touch and embrace the intimately familiar…we seek, I dare say are drawn to the place of ‘no time.’
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