"This Week"
Bahrain Meditation Centre
23rd September, 2006

From Now To Eternity

Have you ever noticed there are no straight lines in the universe? Everything has a curve somewhere. Even that old ruler at school had a curve at the end, although you may need a bed bug sized perspective to see it! What we tend to do however, is try to straighten out the world. It comes from the impulse to control. We think we can straighten out other people, gardeners think they can straighten out their garden, countries think they can straighten out other countries, and sometimes our arrogance stretches as far as the weather, as we attempt to manipulate its mysterious patterns. But the world just doesn’t work like that. It works in curves, or to be more precise, cycles. The carbon cycle, the water cycle, the economic cycle, the cyclical movements of orbiting planets are all testimony to the idea that the world goes around, it doesn’t go along.

When we are conditioned by linear thinking we can only see in straight lines, and if we can’t, we become frustrated. Yet even the world in our heads moves in cycles – thought, feeling, action, result, thought, feeling action, result. And most mystically of all, time itself – straight lines or cycles? The day, the year, the seasons are all cycles that define the rhythm of our lives. In these cycles there is both a sense of completion and completeness that sits alongside an awareness of continuity. What is momentary sits comfortably within the eternity of what is!

There is a symmetrical beauty in the turning of a wheel, perfection and harmony in a rhythm that turns back on itself to begin again. At any point on the surface of the wheel of time the past is the future, the future is the past, and the present a meeting of the two, when all is contained in one singular, infinite moment called NOW. Viewed from the centre of the wheel the viewer is still, while the wheel of time and change moves perfectly around. Leave this central viewing point and the nature of the changes within the movement of the wheel attract attention, absorb energy and give rise to a different sense of reality. It is a reality where constant change is simply the nature of life. After ‘some time’ in a changing reality the peace and the all encompassing awareness of original still point will be yearned for.

Some sages have tried to teach us that there is only this ‘NOW’ and that living in the present moment is the only way to fully experience the true beauty and richness of life throughout time. They have tried to teach us that the only way to perceive and hold an awareness of all time and all space is from that point of stillness that we carry forever at the very centre of our consciousness. Unfortunately we have developed the tendency to get trapped in our memories, or preoccupied with worrisome futures. Unable to ‘be still’ at our centre we have a habit of missing the present moment and, it could be said, a large part of our ‘real life’. In the world we all share, ‘reality’ is only NOW and never in the past or in the future.

Being mindful of ‘the moment’ and knowing the reality of NOW is the art of seeing that every moment has a value of it’s own, even if the experience of that moment does not connect with any of our ambitions, or goals, or mental preoccupations. Every day contains infinite opportunities when we can return to being ‘in the moment’. To spotlessly clean a window, or sweep leaves for the backyard, is a physical experience that has it’s own significance and nobility. This is one reason why monks of many faiths recognise the spiritual value of routine agricultural work, such as digging, planting and other activities that we might normally consider tedious and banal. They knew that the time signified by the machines we call watches was nothing compared to the timelessness that could be experienced by being fully present in the moment, fully mindful of whatever action is being performed. They knew that cycles of change into which we offer our activity, were made of unlimited moments of eternity. They knew the deepest peace was not to be found in anything ‘in time’ but only by going beyond time, beyond the drag of memory and the temptation of speculation. Their life was dedicated to finding the entry point, the doorway to eternity, while still living and moving through time. They heard and felt a call that we all hear, albeit faintly, to return to the centre, the still point, the NOW, around which our life revolves perfectly even with all its imperfections.

Question: What does time mean to you?

Reflection: The past is history, the future a mystery and the present is a Gift!

Action: Leave your watch at home today. See how often you think, “What time is it?” and look for a clock.

Om Shanti
(I am a peaceful soul)

 Tel: +973-17-712 545, meditate@batelco.com.bh, www.bahrainmeditationcentre.org
Bahrain Meditation Centre is administered by B.K.W.S.U. (visit: www.bkwsu.org.uk)