What is something that you know/realize that you wish more people did?
It’s a widespread fallacy that time flows from the past to the present to the future.
Nothing is further from the truth than that.
Time does not flow anywhere. It stays at one point, all the time and we barely notice.
The present.
The present is the only moment where time exists. Every moment you once lived was in the “now.”
But if only the present exists, what’s with the past and the future?
The past is a story we tell ourselves to explain our present. And most of the time, that’s where our traumas, fears and anxiety stem from.
And the past is subjective. How you judged your past is likely not the reality.
What you believe to be true about your past, is likely not the truth.
You’ve judged your past based on how you felt at that moment. And nothing remove you further from the truth.
When you are in a state of fear, you will only see fear. It’s like a projector that can only see itself.
When you are in a state of anxiety, you will only see more anxiety.
And when you are tired, or woke up wrong, or someone said anything bad to you, or you missed your train…
all these simple things will scatter your perception and create negative subjective experiences.
The past is generally a tape we watch to learn, (over-)analyze and to explain our present.
And in the moment you think of your past, something incredible happens…
By remembering your present, it exists in the present. Of course, because your act of remembering happens in the one and only existing time which is called the present.
When we think of an event from the past, we feel it, we see it, and we hear it. It’s like we’re living in it… like a soft dream.
But many of our memories are false. [1]
Much like the way our brains are continually forming new connections, our memory is always changing. It is non-reliable. This has ranged from participants recalling the wrong details of an event, to remembering entirely non-existent incidents.
-Eli Reinisch (BSc Psychological and Behavioural Science)[2]
We subconsciously change our view on the past all the time.
As we learn in life, our memories change as well. A previously bad experience may turn out as a good one.
And this truth will prove the following, which sounds like an obvious paradox.
Your present determines your past.
From a historic standpoint, the past determines the present. Yes.
On the Mind-level, the spiritual level, the logical level… the present determines the past.
Oh, and here’s another banger:
When we think of the future, we only dream of our aspirations. We dream about a certain event in another point in time, that hasn’t happened yet.
They’re nothing more than imaginations of a later present moment we want or don’t want to experience.
So let me get the value of this lesson out here.
Learning this gave me an edge in life.
I can surrender to the present moment so much easier.
It has allowed me to live in the moment and enjoy the state of “No-Mind.” A state in which one has no urge to think.
Sit down somewhere. Focus on something, preferably pleasing. Let your eyes and ears take over. Only that exists what you see. Let your thoughts come up and sway if they want. Feel your happiness arise. Smile. Stand up. Move. Enjoy the moment.
This is meditation. And suddenly I can do it much easier.
And I can understand the hype about it.
Wish you the best!
Footnotes