The ego and the paradox of time

Do you know that the dimension of time, as you know from the clock, is man-made? We should all be interested in time because we use time in math and science. We measure time in seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years. Also, we calculate distances in time, light years away and eons, etc. Time is used for cooking, traveling, growing, and accomplishing things. Everything we do has a time, even our bodies age with time. There is a time to be born and a time to die for all of us. Time consumes our thought and our whole being. There is a saying, “Time and tide wait for no one.” Our perception of time traps us in time from the moment we are born and from which there is no apparent escape. In time there is past, present and future, and there is always a beginning and an end.

However, in reality, there is no time. There is a timeless dimension that coexists with this time. It is as real as the time dimension that we have created. Everyone experiences it from time to time, but they don’t recognize it because we are too busy traveling in our time zone. Look around you, it’s there, but you can’t see or feel it. However, if you go into the bush, inside or on top of the mountain, away from any man-made structures, you will instantly feel their presence. The experience can leave you speechless when the observer in your mind and what is being observed become a phenomenon. It is a spontaneous event, since no act of will can make it happen. At that moment, you will realize that there is no time as you face eternity and discover that you are one with the universe. Words cannot describe what you see and experience. But the stupid ego in your mind will come up with a comment like “How beautiful this looks … etc.” And ruin the image. The moment you use words, you will revert to your safe time zone.

To understand the timeless dimension and discover it, you will have to understand your ego and how it is attached to time. As a true scientist, you will observe that most, if not all, of our activities are escapist activities that take us away from the present. Anything that distracts you from yourself and the present is escapism, for example, reading a book, watching television, playing sports, listening to music, dancing, etc. When you do this, you are not thinking of yourself. You are in a timeless zone. When you’ve spent, say, two hours having fun with your friends and suddenly realized that the two hours have passed, you were in that timeless zone. When you are happy, you are not even aware that you are happy. But once you realize that you are happy, you are no longer in the same state of mind.

As you can see, the ego instinctively feels that when it is not aware of time, it feels free, but it feels disharmony once it is aware of time. However, time also reminds us that we are mortal. Therefore death becomes anathema to the ego. Create our quest for immortality, love, happiness, and security as we conjure up various belief systems and philosophies to appease our subconscious minds. The words ‘spirit’ or ‘spiritual’ instantly create a world beyond our physical world where one can find comfort. We become time travelers using the hypnotic power of words like yesterday, today and tomorrow, to feel the past, the present and the future. Words shape our feelings and emotions. Without using words in our mind, only the present reality remains to face. It is the hypnotic power of words that brings the ego into existence in the conscious mind. The ego is a product of self-hypnosis when words activate the ego. You mistakenly fear that if you do not use words, it will disappear from your mind. Due to this false perception, the thought process continues like a squirrel in a cage in most people’s minds.

You may now wonder if there is no time or the future, how do we create our future? It is simple. The ego is a dreamer. If we want to build a house, for example, we dream and first plan where the kitchen, bedrooms, living room, etc. are going to be. However, if we continue dreaming and planning without acting, our present becomes our future; we have no home. It is still a dream. To create our future, therefore, we have to act in the present. We have to buy land, hire an architect, get a builder, etc. and finally we will have a house. The corollary of this is that if one takes an adverse action in the present, it will create a negative future. If you take a positive step in the present, you will create a positive future. It also follows that if you feel miserable and depressed now and take no action to get rid of that misery, your present will become your future, more suffering. Can you see now how you are creating your destiny?

To break free from this web of time, you must overcome the paradox of time. The paradox is that while time forces you to change your perceptions as you age, on the one hand, your perception of time, as you know from the clock, antagonistically prevents you from fundamentally transforming into the other. It’s because you don’t understand how hypnotic your thought process is. Hypnosis is about eliciting and manipulating a conditioned response to words in our subconscious mind. When you use words and sentences in your mind, you are hypnotizing yourself. When you verbalize your emotions and feelings, you are doing the same. Words shape our feelings and stick to time. If you did not use any words in your mind, you would discover that your thoughts and feelings have no substance. You will face the present timeless reality. A mind without words is not an empty mind. It is a peaceful mind where thought is not a distraction. Therefore, unless you change your perception of time, you will remain trapped in time to become a time traveler for the rest of your life, chasing your shadow like the dog chasing its tail.

As you can see, the ego uses the thought process to appear in the conscious mind. He uses the powerful hypnotic power of words to communicate and manipulate the world around him. Our thoughts and feelings have no substance without words. We could not travel through time without words. Since the ego lives and thrives on words, thinking becomes an obsession. It becomes a habit that you feel you cannot stop. Time travel can be exciting, but it becomes burdensome and tiring as time weighs like a millstone around the neck. The tortured mind full of words yearns for peace and quiet. So the intelligent ego uses various systems of meditation to quiet tormented minds. In all the above actions, one will observe that the ego never looks at itself. It remains intact as it creates a world of illusion. Every system and belief you create has its hallmark of hierarchical configuration. Science is supposed to free us from ignorance, but the ego now uses science to strengthen itself, not to understand itself. The result is what you see today: a chaotic, self-centered, self-centered and confused world in which there is no perception or understanding of how our mind works. Mental illness is on the rise everywhere as we disconnect from reality with distorted perceptions.

Meditation, of course, is the way to go to discover the timeless dimension. In my article “Meditation: a path to self-discovery”, I have shown how to find the timeless in the easiest way. But remember, meditation cannot be an exclusive process where you block everything and focus on something specific. That is a path to illusion. True meditation is a holistic process in which you become aware of your inner and outer worlds. You become aware of your thinking and how words and feelings affect you. When you understand the phenomenon of the observer and the observed becoming one, you will know what I am talking about. The only thing that separates you from the timeless is your perception. Perhaps our brilliant mathematicians and scientists should include the timeless dimension in their scientific calculations the next time they look at our vast expanding and contracting universe.