Walking With Time

Tom Wright

We only have relationships to what we are not. We don't ever have a relationship to what we are. How can we? Because when we are being something, we are that, and that's it. There is no separation, and when there is no separation, there can be no relationship to anything. In this example, there's nothing else to have a relationship to because there's nothing outside of ourselves. By way of another example, take our anger. When we are our anger, we can't have a relationship to anger, if we are the anger, because there is no "out there" that is anger, and then an "in here" that is anger, there is only "in here" who is angry. And when we have that full and rich experience of "being" our anger, we fully are it, and in being so, in the words of self-help gurus, we are being "responsible" for our anger, and so when we do that it disappears. Yes, we can continue our anger, getting ourselves all worked up by going over an unacceptable situation time and time again, staying angry sometimes for years, but usually that's conceptual anger, and not deep anger. Real anger, once we "are it" is a fully experienced feeling, and fully experienced feelings, once they get their message through, which is to tell us that we are reacting to something and are angry about it, always without exception, disappear. They can do no other thing. How can they, once they fulfill their purpose? And powerful feelings only fulfill their single purpose, when we allow them to be experienced by us.

Time is also something we often speak of "having a relationship to" as if it were "out there" and our experience of it then, something that is "in here." But the moment when we are time, what happens? All our frustration, impatience, and worry about how fast or slow things are happening, disappears. And in our modern, hectic lives, this stress related to time-considerations, can be enormous. But it's only stress when time is not us, and we have a relationship to it. When we become time, and are time, when there is no separation between us, and the "thing" we call time, all our worry and stress begin to disappear, because just like when we have an experience of anger when we allow ourselves to fully experience it, time can do nothing else but begin to disappear. What shows up then, is simply us, being here now, in the moment, quite without an experience of slow or fast, but just "here now" and that's when time disappears. That's also when we are fully immersed with all we have within that moment. Ever had one of those hugely satisfying, totally absorbed experiences of timelessness? People do, and they invariably tell of how wonderful it was being totally focused on something they loved doing. Stress and concern dropped away and each moment became something exquisite. Do seconds still tick on? Of course they do. But not for us when we are time. And the reported experiences of walking with time are so rejuvenating, so overpoweringly de-stressful, it's as if yes, time went away, and people literally didn’t age when they were simply as flow, being as time itself, during those hours.

Practice this much letting go of stress a lot of the time, and what will happen? Who can predict the extraordinary results of such a powerful and cumulative event? We might even de-age a bit, and feel more youthful, and in turn, actually be more youthful. That old spring might return to your step, and in the world of allopathic medicine which warns of all the negative effects of stress, our bodies just might react with the gift of being able to do all those things that stress blocked our healthy doing of! Why not? If stress leads to all manner of dysfunction and disease, why wouldn't significantly de-stressing lead to all manner of ease and health? In fact, it certainly does. Once the burden of stress is off our shoulders, how do we feel? Ever been worrying about some impending doom, when all of a sudden it never comes to pass? Sound very familiar? That's when we are so relieved, that is, until we begin to nearly immediately worry about the next impending doom that will most likely never come to pass as well. But what if we began to walk with time, and instead of focusing on a future that never comes, or a past that's already a done deal, and instead, work toward simply being here now, immersed within this timeless moment? Can we do that much de-stressing? You bet we can!

The only thing that prevents us from doing this time immersion and walking with time, instead of against it, is the repetitive nature of this practice. People for some unknown reason, at least, not one that I've figured out yet, expect that when they exercise, they will have to continue to exercise for the rest of their life in order to keep up their muscle tone, and to stay healthy. Okay, that's your exercise program in the physical realm. But what about your daily exercise program in the spiritual realm? The one where it's much harder to see results, even when they're so obviously there that other people mention the spring in your step, and your constant smile? That program requires a daily practice just as much as doing sit-ups is required if you want a tight abdomen. Yet, again, for some unknown reason, people who I have worked with over the years, and there's been thousands of them, somehow resent having to repeat the same successful process again and again, that led to their growth and happiness in the past. But you do! You do have to repeat the process, and ad infinitum by the way. Remember the way to give up anger by experiencing it so it then begins to disappear? Well, if it worked in the past, what makes us think it won't work in the future as well? Point is, it will! And we will get angry again, of that I can assure you, even when we completely disappear any and all past anger. We are human. We will stay human. I haven't met anyone who was human who had completely given up all their anger yet. Most of it, and so much of it that you hardly knew they were angry when they did get angry, but even then they were still practicing giving up their anger and walking with time, instead of against it.

Just be assured that our practice of walking with time is something that we will have to be, do, and have, over and over and over again. Our resistance to this much bliss, given the hugely influential nature of the energy of our worried society that constantly swirls around us, is nothing to be scoffed at. But that's also the good news. Because if we can live within this worried and fearful world, surrounded by all manner of indications of that worry and stress, and yet still manage to immerse ourselves in our stress-releasing practice of walking with time, over and over again, our world will change. It will change into one of more bliss, dramatic increased health, and a full, satisfying joy that right now may be unimaginable for some, yet with the good news being, certainly not unexperiencable by all! And able to be experienced by all right now, and in this present moment too! The only moment we have ever had to experience walking with time within. Right now!