Every so often, the Universe, Great Spirit, the Divine….reminds us that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. During a recent yoga teacher training I heard those words every day: I am not my body, I am not my mind, I am not my thoughts – nor am I the emotions generated by my thoughts…… And thank you for the reminder God. I needed it.
I think we all need this reminder – on a regular basis. We forget so easily, the truth of who we really are. We become enmeshed, moment to moment, in the experience of being human – in the endless dramas, the constant stream of thoughts and their accompanying emotions. We feel our emotions (energy in motion) pricking through collections of molecules and muscles in our bodies: the nervous flutterings of the solar plexus, the contraction of the heart, the quietly furrowed brow and tight lips, the shallow breath, the held breath, the hunched shoulders. Our thoughts and emotions consume us, draining our life force, our vitality, carrying us away and cutting us off from the people we are with, and the beauty or ordinariness of the places we are in. Lost in the jungle of our minds, we forget that we are pure consciousness, infinite and eternal, temporarily occupying this physical body. We forget that our heritage is timelessness; that this moment is where we live, and all we will take from this world is the wisdom imprinted on our souls and the love we have shared. That is all.
It is true this physical life is time consuming. That is its nature, after all. To BE in time. Most of us are occupied in every waking moment, with the business of time. It takes time to work, to make a living, to maintain a home, to maintain relationships, to maintain the body. That is as it is. But we should also make time to be timeless. To stop for a while. To sit in silence and turn inwards. To bring the full focus of our awareness onto and into our heart centre. To meditate on Who we are. In the heart, the seat of the soul, is a voice that will tell us the truth. To hear it we need to step out of the busy-ness of life and make time to be still. Naturally enough, time-entrenched habits will prevail. Thoughts will continue their chattering and the body will seek our attention, reminding us through an assortment of discomforts, of its existence. It isn’t easy to get past it all and be still – in mind and body. Yet this stillness is what we must seek and practice, until old habits are broken and new ones created – if we want to know the truth of who we are. Not only that. There is a great bonus to this commitment to stillness, this withdrawing of attention inwards. Dr Paul Brunton expressed it more eloquently than I could, in this way:
“The man who follows this quest is like the ray which is returning to its source. When he follows the ‘I AM’ in him to its hidden root, when the intellectual process of his enquiry gradually develops into a subtler inner movement, he will sooner or later enter – intermittently at first – a condition of impersonal freedom and utter peace……….When the mind’s depth is plumbed he will arrive at a point where both the thinking intellect and personal self seem almost to become re-absorbed by the hidden element which created them. That element is none other than the Absolute Being, the One Overself, the Supreme Reality and Underlying Spirit which subsists eternally amid the births and deaths of mortal men and material worlds. This august revelation awaits him even at the beginning of his first fumbling steps on the quest.” (Dr Paul Brunton: ‘Quest of the Overself’, p. 215)
Let us then begin the quest; take those first fumbling steps. Why not make this commitment to sit, each day, for a certain period of time. We could see it as an experiment at first, approaching it in a spirit of curiosity. What will happen? How will this feel? What, after all, is there to lose? The busy-ness of the life will be there when we return. Nothing of any importance will be lost. We know studies have shown the benefits of meditation – so we have only to gain, surely, through making this commitment to ourselves. A true knowing may fully reveal itself: I am not my body, I am not my mind, I am not my emotions…………. What better use can we make of time – other than to sit in timelessness……
And look what beckons! Freedom, peace and the ultimate revelation of the truth of who we really are. One and the same. The same and One.
PS: This image above I took in Fiji, on the island of Tokoriki… We feel timelessness in sunsets like these……
A Cosmic Ride 
Wonderfully inspiring! Had a difficult day yesterday, and this just helps to put our lives in perspective, and why we are on this earth!
Thanks Vicky. Those hard days keep coming don’t they…… We need all the help we can get. We’re all walking a hard road…
Thanks for the reminder, first of all! “We feel timelessness in sunsets like these……” – must be, why I’ve loved sunsets for as long as I can remember. As a boy, I had dreams depicting my personal version of heaven. The same image would keep coming up: I sit still, my back leaning against the wooden planks and beems of a modest cabin, looking into a magnificient sunset right across from where I sit, the entire scene overlooking a beautiful small pond or lake, with green meadows left and right, the feeling being one of utter peacefulness, tranquility and calm bliss. I seem to be on my journey back to that place somehow… and your blog reminded me of it!Thanks!
Love it! Thanks for sharing that. Sounds like your happy place, a place you can come back to when you need solace. Love and light to you ..
Thanks, Linda. Yup, such sights and places never fail me, fortunately.
Reblogged this on Late.Shift and commented:
“We feel timelessness in sunsets like these……” – must be, why I’ve loved sunsets for as long as I can remember. As a boy, I had dreams depicting my personal version of heaven. The same image would keep coming up: I sit still, my back leaning against the wooden planks and beems of a modest cabin, looking into a magnificient sunset right across from where I sit, the entire scene overlooking a beautiful small pond or lake, with green meadows left and right, the feeling being one of utter peacefulness, tranquility and calm bliss. I seem to be on my journey back to that place somehow…
You’re right when you say “most of us are occupied with the business of time”, most but not all.All my life i have strived to be free of this grip of routine that so much empowers time,”time” which might not even exist,might be just an illusion,to be a slave of this shadow entity is simply ignominous.The most terrifyng aspect of time is decay but even that might not be true,i remember in 70s we had clocks that had to be wound up every week to keep running but then came quartz clocks at price of 2 dollars and these clocks run for a year on a single aa dry cell these clocks have an average life of 20 years,similarly till 80s we had torches that could not last more than 5 minutes if kept on continously even with the large d type cells but now 1 dollar led torches keep going brightly even if kept on for 10 hours and that too with aa cells.May be we have lost the ancient the ancient science to keep our bodies evergreen maybe select few keep that science for themselves.By the way we in india consume turmeric profusely and it’s supposed to keep alzeimers away.
Thanks Vivek…. very interesting thoughts…. I agree, the most terrifying aspect of time is decay – or entropy….. Tumeric – yes – is Alzheimers less prevalent in India do you know??
Linda, You can easily google the facts but i will answer anyway.The city i live in(lucknow)has a population of about 4 million,infact it is a twin city along with kanpur of similar population,so,effectively in a population of 8 million,i have rarely come across a case of alzheimer’s.Here, people are afflicted with psychiatric problems and the numbers are alarming,but neurological cases are rare.A few months back our national tv channel was airing on the topic of alzheimer’s in its live weekly health show,i mailed my query regarding turmeric,the doctors in the panel being allopath specialists mostly reject such ideas but since the anchor had taken up my query sensing importance,the doctor this time refused to answer citing his inexperience in herbal medicine.We use this spice in all boiled and fried vegetables and even sprinkle the uncooked powder when the vegetable is nearing the end of preparation.
Well you are lucky then. I try to use tumeric, but not enough (it stains the bench!!) … I bought capsules to take it – but not very economical… Yes, you would expect that response from allopathic doctors. Tumeric is very big on the alternative health scene nowadays. Too late for my Mum though… All the best..