The Ego and The Paradox of Time
Do you know that the time dimension, as you know by the clock, is man-made? We should be all interested in time because we use time in mathematics 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, travelling, growing and achieving things. Everything we do has a time attached to it-even our bodies age with time. There is time to be born and time to die for all of us. Time consumes our thinking and our whole being. There is a saying, “Time and tide wait for no man”. Our perception of time traps us in time from the moment we are born and from which there is no apparent escape. With time there is a past, present and future, and there is always a beginning and an end.
Yet, in reality, there is no such thing as time. There is a timeless dimension that co-exists with this time. It is just as real as the time dimension we have created. Everyone experiences it from time to time but fails to recognise it because we are too occupied travelling in our time zone. Look around you, it is there, but you cannot see it or feel it. However, if you go out into the bush, outback or on the mountain top, away from any man-made structures, you will instantly feel its presence. The experience can leave you speechless when the observer in your mind and what is being observed become one phenomenon. It is a spontaneous occurrence, as no act of will can make it happen. At that moment, you will realise that there is no such thing as time as you confront 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 in with a remark like “How beautiful this looks… etc.” And ruin the picture. The moment you use words, you will revert to your secure time zone.
To understand the timeless dimension and discover it, you will have to understand your ego and how you are attached to time. As a true scientist, you will observe that most of our activities, if not all, are escapist activities that take us away from the present. Anything that takes your mind away from yourself and the present is escapism – for example, reading a book, watching TV, playing sports, listening to music, dancing etc. When you are doing this, you are not thinking about yourself. You are in a timeless zone. When you have spent, say, two hours enjoying yourself with your friends and suddenly realise the two hours have gone, you were in that timeless zone. When you are happy, you are not even aware that you are happy. But once you become aware you are happy, you are no longer in the same state of mind.
So you see, the ego instinctively feels that when it is not conscious of time, it feels free, but it feels disharmony once it becomes aware of time. However, time also reminds us that we are mortal. Thus death becomes an anathema to the ego. It creates our pursuit of immortality, love, happiness and security as we conjure various belief systems and philosophies to appease our subconscious mind. The words’ spirit’ or ‘spiritual’ instantly create a world beyond our physical world where one could find comfort. We become time-travellers by using the hypnotic power of words like yesterday, today and tomorrow, to feel the past, present and future. Words give form to our feelings and emotions. Without using words in our minds, there is only the present reality to confront. 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 as the words activate the ego. It mistakenly fears that if it does not use words, it might disappear from the mind. Because of this false perception, the thinking process goes on like a squirrel in a cage in most people’s minds.
You may now wonder that if there is no such thing as time or 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 plan first where the kitchen, bedrooms, lounge etc., are going to be. However, if we keep dreaming and planning without taking action, our present becomes our future; we have no house. It remains a dream. To create our future, therefore, we have to take action in the present. We have to buy a block of land, hire an architect, get a builder etc., and eventually, we will have a house. The corollary to this is that if one takes adverse action in the present, one will create a negative future. If one takes a positive step in the present, one will create a positive future. It also follows that if you are miserable and depressed now and do not take any action to get rid of that misery, your present will become your future, more suffering. Can you now see how you are creating your destiny?
To free yourself from this web of time, you have to overcome the paradox of time. The paradox is that while time forces you to change your perceptions as you grow older, on the one hand, your perception of time, as you know by the clock, antagonistically stops you from transforming yourself fundamentally on the other. It is because you do not understand how hypnotic your thinking process is. Hypnosis is all about eliciting and manipulating a conditioned response to words in our subconscious mind. When you use words and sentences in your mind, you are hypnotising yourself. When you verbalise your emotions and feelings, you are doing the same thing. Words give form to our feelings, and they glue you to time. If you did not use any words in your mind, you would find that your thoughts and feelings have no substance. You will be confronting the present timeless reality. A mind without words is not an empty mind. It is a peaceful mind where the thought is not a distraction. Therefore, unless you change your perception of time, you will remain trapped in time to become a time traveller for the rest of your life, chasing your shadow like the dog chasing its tail.
As one can see, the ego uses the thinking process to appear in the conscious mind. It uses the powerful hypnotic power of words to communicate with and manipulate the world around it. Our thoughts and feelings have no substance without words. We would not be able to time travel without words. Since the ego lives and thrives on words, thinking becomes an obsession. It becomes a habit that it feels it cannot stop. Time travel may be exciting, but it becomes a burden and exhausting as time weighs down like a millstone around one’s neck. The tortured mind cluttered with words yearns for peace and tranquillity. So the clever ego devises various systems of meditation to quieten the tormented minds. In all the above actions, one will observe the ego never looks at itself. It remains untouched as it creates a world of delusion. Every system and belief it makes has its stamp of a hierarchical setup. Science is supposed to free us from ignorance, but the ego now uses science to strengthen itself, not understand itself. The result is what you see today- a chaotic, ego-centric, self-centred and confused world where there is no insight into or understanding of how our mind works. Mental illness is increasing everywhere as we become out of touch with reality with distorted perceptions.
Meditation, of course, is the way to go to discover the timeless dimension. In my article “Meditation- A Pathway to Self-Discovery”, I have shown how to find the timeless the easy way. But remember, meditation cannot be an exclusive process where you block out everything and focus on something specific. That is a path to delusion. True meditation is an all-inclusive process where 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 out there should include the timeless dimension in their scientific calculations when they are next looking at our vast expanding and contracting universe.
The search for self-knowledge is an individual pursuit. It begins and ends with the individual. Be a true scientist, not a pseudo-scientist. One can lead a horse to water, but one cannot force it to drink. Please read “The Enchanted Time Traveller-A Book of Self-Knowledge and the Subconscious Mind” and learn how to change your perceptions.