Are we time-bound?
`Do not waste time’ we hear this very often.
Can we really waste `time’? Is there anything like `time’? What do we actually mean when we say `do not waste time’?
Time (but for clock-time) is a mind-made concept.
Why does mind become time-bound? How does mind become time-bound?
What are the consequences of being time-bound?
We are here on a sojourn. We not only have to exist throughout the journey but also grow along the way. Therefore, EXISTENCE and GROWTH are the twin-objectives that have to be accomplished during the journey.
We, therefore, are here with two drivers well inculcated within us, within our resources, the body and the mind. And these drivers are `FEAR’ and `LACK’. The element of fear drives us to be prepared to exist and the element of lack drives us to stretch to grow.
The fear element drives the mind to understand and store, and the lack element drives the mind to seek. Thus `STORING’ and `SEEKING’ become the two main mind functions. Mind stores the useful PAST learning, for the present use. Mind seeks, to become whole in the FUTURE. These functions serve constructively as long as we identify with our true Self and use these mind functions with discernment.
Repetitive and rampant usage of these functions, over a period of time, tends to take us away from our true Self and make us identify completely with the mind. IDENTITY with the mind eats away the utility value of mind functions. In storing, we do not let go of the past learning even when they render themselves useless for the present. In seeking, we become restless in the present, we DENY the present because of the obsession with the future.
Thus we become mind. We become time-bound. The content and the character of the mind takes us away from the present into the realm of the past and future. Takes us away from the NOW, all that IS, to the TIME, all that IS NOT.
We lose the rhythm of life. We do not let the life flow easy. We become dead to the now and live in the time. We become living dead.
Time, thus, is a construct of the mind. It exists only when we identify ourselves with mind. When we break this identity and regain the true identity with our Self, all that we have is `now’ and not `time’. We cannot waste what is not there. Therefore `do not waste time’ has no meaning. What has the meaning is `do not waste the now’ or rather `be in the now’.
We have to be our true Self, we have to be. Then only we can be in the now and here and still use the clock-time as warranted by the practical matters. If this is not the case, then we end up nowhere.
