Passing the time
Part 2: Experience is timeless – but some say it is death that makes life meaningful
The first thing that strikes me, as I consider it, is that the experience of the present moment is, in fact, timeless. Although we understand that each passing moment is just that: passing away to be succeeded by the next, our experience of the present moment is as though it exists in a timeless eternity. So, as I sat in the sun this morning, although I am able to analyse that this present moment exists for a fraction of a second – and then it is gone – to be replaced by the next fragment of a second, and although I understand that this is a continuous process so that the experience of the present moment is almost illusory, and certainly elusive, for the moment the present moment exists it is already on the point of passing away, nevertheless, my experience of the present moment is of timeless bliss. As I accept the reality of the passing of time, but do not allow the focus of my attention to rest on the passing away nature of time, but, instead, focus my attention on my experience, then, in practice, my experience is not of passing away, but of a vibrant, radiant present. In practice, because although everything is always changing it does not change so quickly as to snatch away the present moment (as though, for example, you catch a glimpse of a beautiful lake through a gap in trees as you speed along in a car, such that the moment you realise there is a beautiful sight available it is taken from you) we experience the present moment as present to us with a tangible fullness of substance. We enter into the experience of the moment and are held in it, or we experience it in a fully committed relationship whereby the experience is complete. There is, in fact, no sense of it passing away; it is fully present to us, and – most significantly I think – it has a timeless quality to it. We know full well that the flux of time is ongoing, but in particular moments of awareness, this is not what we experience, but instead it is as though existence itself is present to us. Albeit this is communicated to us through some particular experience: the sun rising in the sky, the stillness of the garden, the beauty of flowers in bloom, our experience is not of the particular, but of wholeness and completeness. In our experience, time is not, in fact, passing away but fully present to us as though there is no time, and it is always ours.
I feel sure that I am describing a true experience of the present moment, but now I’d like to explore further by bringing in two important ideas: the limitation of our time through the human lifespan and the concept of eternal bliss in heaven.
Through Derren Brown’s book, “Happy” I have picked up the important idea that it is essential for our lives to be limited by death in order to give them meaning. He posits the idea that, if we lived forever, rather than being delighted by the prospect of endless opportunities to experience the wonders of life, we would find that all our experiences become hollowed out of significance because nothing is that important if we literally have eternity to try out all experiences over and over again, such that, sooner rather than later, we simply become bored with everything we do. It is the trajectory of our lives – with its ending in death – that provides both the zest of life and the meaningful storyline to our lives. A circle without a circumference is not a circle and life without the limitation of death is not a life worth living.
This makes good sense and I would like to explore it further.
Spiritual Devotion 