Before I proceed with the awakening of the Heart in this speculative series on the process of enlightenment, it is necessary to unpack two concepts that we never doubt, and yet seem to be rather relative when we investigate them: Time & Space. Let’s start with time.
Whereas the first radical awakening of the Mind disturbs time to some degree and clearly shows that the past and future are mind constructions in this moment, the awakening of the Heart transcends the felt experience of time & space. You’ve all heard spiritual teachers mention seemingly hollow phrases like the Eternal Now and Timeless Being. They’re actually not hollow, they are a description of a felt experience. A felt experience as a consequence of seeing through a different lens. Everything is perception, and the possibilities are limitless.
Everybody knows the experience of being in a state of flow. A state in which everything seems to spontaneously occur without a sense of agency and a felt sense of time. It is as if these states take place in a different realm of consciousness. One in which the guiding principles of waking reality do not exist. Sometimes, when being in deep and heartfelt conversation, it feels as if 2 hours went by in 5 minutes. And even the guess that it felt like 5 minutes afterwards is relative and done by the conceptualizing mind, as it can seem as time is literally not there in the state of flow.
In normal waking perception, there appears to be time. And time appears to be linear. Cause and effect. Time unfolding continuously at a steady but measurable pace. But in the depths of the unconscious, there is no such thing as linear time. A beautiful example is given by the phenomenon called trauma, in which deep pain completely unrelated to the current time is relived when triggered by an external event in the moment. It doesn’t make sense when viewed from a linear perspective. A traumatized soldier, hearing fireworks go off in the distance, experiences this moment as if it were 30 years ago, in the heat of real danger. There is no real danger now, and yet unconsciousness tells the body-mind that there is. Why? Because it knows no time. It has an experiential memory, but not one that is bound by time.
When one is pulled into the depths of the unconsciousness, beyond the duality between the absolute infinite awareness and relative I, the linearity of time is slowly transcended. Although the process appears to be endless while going through it, the intensity is forgotten the moment the intensity of the experience has passed. And eventually, linear time simply disappears completely and makes way for Now. Just now, always now. Eternally now.
It does so by showing a deep realm of the unconsciousness in which there is no time. A realm that has always been there, hidden in the depths of our experience, waiting to be remembered by those that are called to face their own darkness. It is the realm of imagination, of myths, of archetypes and angels. And although that seems a bit far out, we all experience the timelessness and absurdity of dream images while surrendering ourselves to the unconscious at night. You fall asleep, and you wake up 8 hours later. And yet, it doesn’t feel like 8 hours later. It feels like a glimpse.
Another seemingly New Agey term coined by the Zen tradition, the Gateless Gate, becomes entirely logical from a perspective of timelessness. Why? Because while walking the spiritual path, you do so in an experience of linear time. It feels like a progression. A step-by-step climb of the mountain, until one finally reaches awakening. That is true for the awakening of the Mind. But then, being pulled in the depths of the unconsciousness where time does not exist and coming out of it unscathed, it appears as if there never was a journey. There never was a gate. There never was such a thing as enlightenment even. Only for the ego. In the now, there is no past. In the timeless now, there was no spiritual path. So you hear teachers say: You already are enlightened, you don’t have to do anything. Which is true, from their timeless perspective, but not from the ones sitting in front of them. You have to continuously do the work in a linear fashion, in linear time, do then find out that it was all an illusion.
But why would anyone want to experience timelessness or eternally now? The simple answer is that it erases a lot of suffering caused by linear rumination. No future, no past, no worries other than the possible suffering that is here right now. Everything seen trough the beginner’s mind, everything experienced for the first time, every moment simply becomes sacred. Not only because of timelessness, also because of the deep insight of connectedness, of oneness. But we leave that open for another post.
A perception of linear time is bound by cause and effect. However, timelessness gives rise to experiencing a phenomenon that is unexplainable, and yet shows the intelligence and inherent meaning of this universe every single time: Synchronicity. It can’t be explained by science or the mind, but if your eyes and ears are open to it you will start to experience it everywhere.
Do the work and time will bow to you.
With love,
Pim