TIME AFTER TIME

Wake me when it's NOW...

Time After Time

Wake me when it’s NOW. . .

Time slips and slides. Where it lands nobody knows. Very slippery. And stealth. 

The more astute readers among you may have noticed that Sunday has become Monday this week. 

Labor Day. A time to note the passing of Jerry Lewis.

There are, sans aucun doute, a smattering of Parisians who mourn his passing. In Hollywood. . . not so much. But that’s a tale for another day.

I do miss the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon. I’d like to see Jerry reunited with Dean Martin one more time. ‘Oh well,’ I sigh. Luckily, we can bask in the glow of ‘once upon a time.’ Thank you, Mr. Sinatra. 

BE HERE NOW

This admonition, now commonplace, was initially popularized by Baba Ram Dass, formerly known as Richard Alpert, excuse me, Professor Richard Alpert.

Later, a few years after the Professor bit hit the skids, Baba gently slid away, leaving plain Ram Dass, which has hung on tenaciously over so-called time.

The book entitled Be Here Now by Baba Ram Dass, an homage to his Indian guru, Neem Karoli Baba, was originally distributed in a limited edition, crudely printed on three-holed craft paper bound with string. I can’t remember how I got it, only that it came in a plain cardboard box. My original copy is buried in a place unknown to me, somewhere deep in the sands of time. 

I found this page especially attractive.

Be Here Now has since taken many physical forms, been made widely available and read by millions. Through the book, a grueling road schedule of wisdom spewing and hilarious appearances, along with a plethora of new writings and recordings, he’s had and continues to have an impact in our culture. (RamDass.Org)

Ram Dass, too, continuously transformed physically. Beards and haircuts. Costumes and body shapes - he was inclined to eat in excess. Then, he had a massive stroke in 1997 that resulted in aphasia and paralysis from which he recovered slowly and substantially, though not fully.

He died (dropped his body) at his Maui home in 2019 -  there are worse places to drop a body - having served 88 calendar years on Earth. 

I’ve known Ram Dass through all his names and most iterations of his signature book. While I saw him in the flesh at rare intervals, he’s a consistent influence and a wonderful teacher in my life. You’re getting regular doses of him here.

EVERYTHING CHANGES

Time moves in patterns that challenge our perception. To say it changes is to misrepresent its true nature.

“Space and time are not conditions in which we live, they are modes in which we think. . .we know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” ~Albert Einstein

NOW is a convenient pointer to a mode of mind. A thought. A concept. A function of language.  A way to pay attention.

We actually live liminal lives, slip sliding in time and space. Neither here nor there; and always here and there. We remember and foresee in passing thoughts and images ‘alive’ in active consciousness. We feel like a living person with an identity. . .that’s how we ‘know’ we’re conscious.

“We should not think of our past as definitely settled. . . . My past changes every minute according to the meaning given it now, in this moment.”  ~Czelaw Milosz

Probably not a terrible idea to wear helmets. Life can easily disorient us, and often does. We can all too easily fall down and hurt ourselves.

“Our experience of consciousness is so intrinsic to who we are, we rarely notice that something mysterious is going on. Consciousness is experience itself, and it is therefore easy to miss the profound question staring us in the face in each moment: Why would any collection of matter in the universe be conscious? We look right past the mystery as if the existence of consciousness were obvious or an inevitable result of complex life, but when we look more closely, we find that it is one of the strangest aspects of reality...

Before posing any questions about consciousness, we must determine what we are talking about in the first place. People use the word in a variety of ways; for example, in referring to a state of wakefulness, a sense of selfhood, or the capacity for self- reflection. But when we want to single out the mysterious quality at the heart of consciousness, it’s important to hone in on what makes it unique. The most basic definition of consciousness is that given by the philosopher Thomas Nagel in his famous essay “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?,” and it is how I use the word throughout this book. The essence of Nagel’s explanation runs as follows:

“An organism is conscious if there is something that it is like to be that organism.”

~Annaka Harris from “Conscious: A Brief Guide To The Fundamental Mystery Of The Mind” (annakaharris.com)

NARRATIVE NOW 

We live life alive and thrive as HUMAN ACTORS when we learn to skillfully sync story and narrative. With practice we can see/feel what passes for past and future in a spontaneous NOW. A NOW in which story and narrative play well together in our Earthly sandbox.

Truth is essential. Remember, acting is living truthfully. We must wrap our minds AND hearts around truth in order to embark on the life lived alive trip.

“The best mind-altering drug is truth.” ~Lily Tomlin

We, in ordinary life, are conditioned by school, media, and the wider culture to see through lenses of ‘this or that’ and ‘true/false.’

We’re taught then encouraged to separate, judge, and count. Counting is a BIG ‘to do’ item on our typical agendas.

I suggest we appreciate separation as an aspect of language that serves as a practical device for, as an example, accountants. 

Their profession mandates that they measure value (mostly money or its equivalents) in pasts, presents, and futures. The same holds for all record keeping occupations; counters of all stripes, plaids, various paisley patterns, herring bones and occasionally polka dots. 

Columns that add up satisfy in trivial ways and may help avoid an IRS audit. The latter, while not the end of the world, is doubtless a rigamarole that none of us needs or wants. There is a useful place for counting. 

We, however, diminish our vitality, humanity, and spirit when we confuse counting for what truly counts.

“Do not let making a living prevent you from making a life.”  ~John Wooden

ESSENCE TRUTH

We’ve developed a nearly limitless capacity for self deception. Our need to believe we are singular and in control is fierce. Fear is at the core of this deceit.

Fear of the unknown. 

Fear of falling apart under stress. 

Fear of loss. 

Fear of looking stupid, poor, or unimportant. 

Fear of not fitting in.

As our efforts to control our circumstances and other people increasingly fail, our fear escalates. It enrages us. A fire within blazes out of control leaving truth in a heap of ashes.

We must practice to understand and feel truth. It is counterintuitive given our conditioned mind. 

Introducing the trio of Bohr, Dass & Suzuki. Not to be confused with Lambert, Hendrix & Ross.

“There are trivial truths and the great truths. The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false. The opposite of a great truth is also true.” ~Neils Bohr

“Across planes of consciousness, we have to live with the paradox that things can be simultaneously true.” ~Ram Dass

“If it’s not paradoxical, it’s not true.” ~Shunryu Suzuki

Great truths reveal in moments of experience. 

Facts are subject to comparison and evaluation by objective means, yielding what may have contextual value, though they are not revelatory of great truths. 

“By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth.”  ~George Carlin

Learning to feel great truth is a matter of living fully engaged in story . When we pay keen attention, story seeps in by osmosis, it inhabits us, resides as a ready resource, creates a store of organic material for making, recognizing, and understanding true narrative. 

Moving skillfully between lived story and created narrative emerges as ACTING HUMAN, truthful life lived alive. 

We develop and enhance our natural gifts. . . 

Intuition: Gut feelings or instincts. A genuine sense of what feels right or wrong that informs our perception of truth. 

Emotional Resonance:  Genuine emotions that evoke our sense of great truth. 

Empathy and Connection: Inhabiting the world from seemingly other perspectives, ‘as if’ they are our own, reveals great truth. Escaping the identity trap opens us to great truth.

Reflection and Mindfulness: Taking time for self-reflection and living a mindful life sensitizes us to great truth. 

TRUTH AND TRUST

Truth opens us to trust. Trust is essential for connection. Without connection we cannot live alive. We are enlivened and revealed in relationships. 

Everything Connects!

Trust is a quality of heart and soul. While control is a tool of the mind. Trust comes with the deep knowing that we are spiritual beings in physical bodies joyfully acting and witnessing the action. 

When we trust enough in life to give up our need to control, we can relax and open to the flow of energy in our lives. This brings peace of mind.

"The only real security in life lies in relishing life's insecurity." ~M. Scott Peck

Trust is letting go of needing to know all the details before you open your heart. 

LOVE

Truth and trust comprise the seeds and fertile ground necessary for love to blossom.

Love is the greatest truth.

Love nurtures curiosity. It nourishes our urge to explore, unravel, go deep into the story of persons or ‘objects’ that elicit feelings of love. Understanding our dynamic oneness more completely enlarges and heightens our capacity to love.

“Understanding is another word for love.”  ~Thich Nhat Hanh

“Love perceives the goodness of life and motivates the works that sustain, enrich, and celebrate it. In doing so, it joins our worlds one to another and forges a whole, protecting us from the alienating forces of objectification. It affords the context for truth, even challenging truths, to be shared, so that, conversing one with another, we might gradually grow in knowledge of the things that are. This sort of labor, the life lived together in the ambit of truth, requires courage and patience. It requires dedication and focus. It requires us to resist the anesthetizing allure of the superficial so that we might challenge each other to plumb the depths of experience in order to arrive at the truth of the matter.”  ~Chad Engelland 

Until next time. . .

Lights Up!