Inside Yoga 46 (16/1/2012)

Time!? What is this “time” that we struggle with? We seem to be obsessed/puzzled/frustrated/confused (choose where appropriate) by time.

We feel thwarted when there is not enough of it and relieved when you sense plenty of it. Yet, did we ever have a shortage or surplus of time?

We act as if we can control time, manipulate it to suit our needs, but it is perhaps reasonable to say that time simply flowed on as it usually does oblivious of our efforts to affect it.

We persist though. Is there an answer? Possibly not: during last week’s classes while we sat in meditation at the end of the sessions I asked everyone to explore a sense of timelessness, which is described as being present in the meditative state.

It is a subtle elusive state that we seek, but perhaps only catch a fleeting glimpse of while meditating. It can be described as being found between the breath and within the flow of breath while we sit quietly in meditation.

I have found that even if it feels so elusive and difficult to feel and rest in, the “journey” looking for the timelessness of meditation has numerous benefits. The effort and concentration employed to find this ideal state does live me feeling so much better than when I began the practice – a sense of feeling lighter, more content and at peace.

This is an important factor in practice. To realise that, as many a wise person has pointed out, the journey offers many rewards to the traveller, regardless of reaching the destination.

And there are numerous references to time and our efforts to understand it. Angelus Silesius states:

“Time is of your own making;
Its clock ticks in your head.
The moment you stop thought.
Time too stops dead.

This is a common theme; achieving a state where the mind is quiet and still (the mind is a where our thoughts are kept).

“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time’ is to say ‘I don’t want to’,” according to Lao Tzu (author of the Tao Teh Ching).  An example of how we seek to manipulate time to suit our whims and needs.

And Eckhart Tolle says in his book The Power of Now: “Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion”.

Time it a tricky customer and we have to understand its nature to live with it. We cannot make it do our bidding and we cannot delay it until we have decided. As English poet, Edward Young said: “Procrastination is the thief of time”.

We have to become skilfully adept at understanding and living with time. As time stands still for no-one, so the saying goes!