I stumbled upon the “Now” a few days ago. You know how elusive “now” can be. One minute you’re trying to be present, and the next thing you know, your mind is somewhere else and time just kept moving right on by. This moment quickly becomes the past. “Now” seems to slip right through your fingers like the sands of an hourglass.
Here’s the secret: The “Now” is not in time. It has nothing to do with time. It’s completely outside of time. You could call it the “Eternal Now”…but then the word “eternal” tends to put us right back in the paradigm of time. “Now” is actually “no time”…or “timeless”.
You can tell the difference between time and the “Now” because one moves and the other doesn’t. Time moves. It never stops moving. You can see it go by as you watch the second hand of a clock race around in endless circles. That’s why it’s so elusive. It never stands still long enough for you to catch it. You can’t dig in your heels and slow the wheels of time. The earth keeps spinning on its axis and continuously does a circle dance around the sun. “Time passes on like a river that must always run”.
In contrast, the “Now” doesn’t move. It doesn’t go anywhere. It has no past and no future. It’s not linear. It has no shape, location, or direction. All of our experiences within time pass through the “Now”. All of the dramas and dreams of the separate self are passing through what never moves, never changes, and can never be lost or diminished.
Can you feel it? It’s very subtle.
I stumbled into the “Now” during a particularly crazy week. The following question spontaneously arose in my mind: “What is all of this craziness passing through?” And then I saw it…felt it…I was it…the “Now”. It’s like the light on a movie projector…the images of the movie are revealed and seem to flow in a seamless stream as the film moves past the projector bulb. But the bulb, the light itself, remains still. It doesn’t change and isn’t affected by the images of the movie. It remains as light…continuously shining.
After I realized that “Now” is outside of time, I started thinking about Ram Das’ famous book, “Be Here Now”. I began contemplating those words…one by one.
Those three simple words took on new meanings once I realized that “Now” has nothing to do with time. I also saw that “Here” has nothing to do with a specific location on the planet. “Here” is actually “Spaciousness” itself.
Be=I am
Here=Spaciousness
Now=No Time
That’s my true identity! “I am spacious no-time.”
And so are you!