The illusion of time.

Every moment we live is different. It has never been and never will be. Each second of life is new and unknown. But there is a great illusion we have created about time.

We have created three parts of time. Past, present and future. Also, we have numbers to measure time. We associate these numbers to travel to past and future in our minds. for example..”5 years from now” , “2 days ago”, “Today at 6:00 pm”..etc.

Our mind has become so associated to these numbers that we never realise that all these numbers are only in mind. It is not the time, but only an anticipation or the memory of time in our minds. In other words, it is not real. And we spend most of our life in this ‘unreal’ zone of past and future.

Think about it, “Most of life spent in an illusion?” Something needs to change!

Time is not real. It is simply an awareness which is endlessly flowing. We can not define time because defining anything would freeze its meaning. But time never freezes. It is always flowing. And yet our mind tries to freeze it with memories and anticipations.

Our ego wants to relive that pleasure of a single moment which ended years ago by creating its shadow. It also worries about a certain moment in a future which will come and go (if at all it comes) like a flash of lightning. When we worry about things, we prolong the anticipated moment and trace it back to spoil moment that we are living right now.

Using numbers to define time has its practical use. But it should never replace the real flow of time. There is abundance of joy in the things that flow. The flowing water is beautiful. The leaves which continuously move with the wind have a meditative effect on the observer. And if we become aware enough to watch, we can find the beauty in every single moment of life, which otherwise seems boring. Just by observing the flow of time, we start noticing all those things that are different about this moment.

Even when I am writing this right now, I hear the surrounding sounds which have never been. I feel like I am experiencing the world for the first time. And when I stop to grab that moment of curiosity, I lose the flow.

Of course, we cannot always live in this flow of time. But we should do it more often because that is the only reality. Observing the flow of various things makes us understand what true beauty is! It makes us understand the impermanence of everything.

And also, when we observe the flow, after a while we notice the observer, who has been still and eternal for all these times. Who or What is that I wonder…