It was only just the other day that it became absolutely clear to me that no one ever experiences time. It simply is not possible to ‘experience’ time. And when I say ‘experience,’ I mean perceive without thought. It seems to me that this illustrates that time only exists as a concept.
Of course, I have intellectually understood this before but I had not actually realized it until now. Time simply does not exist. It is only thought. It is, of course, a mechanical measurement, but even then, it is necessary for concepts to be involved. Without thought – there simply is no time.
And for that matter, the same can be said for space. And by space, I mean the experience of any other space than here. All experience takes place here. Experience cannot happen any other place than here. Again, we divide up the ‘here’ conceptually. But the division does not exist.
I am almost embarrassed writing these words because it is so obvious. But it is only obvious when seen in the moments outside the mind, or more accurately, prior to the mind. And from this ‘space’ prior to mind, nothing exists. By that, I mean there are not separate objects of perception. Those separate objects are again concepts. Do you see?
-purushottama
This is from the collection of stories, essays, poems and insights that is compiled to form the book From Lemurs to Lamas: Confessions of a Bodhisattva. Download a PDF or order the book Here.
