The Magical Fluidity of Time

linear time is a fairly superficial construct of the physical world.

Interesting you should say that. I've had inklings of this...teases. My spirit tells me that what you stated above is a fact. That's as far as my understanding goes at this point, except...

his description of how one particular soul moved from a lifetime in the 1800s to its next lifetime many centuries before that... instantly made sense.

When I read that something in my brain lit up. No, it doesn't exactly make sense to me. What makes sense is the idea that it should make sense. I haven't heard of either of the books you mentioned, but I will make a point of finding them. I've had inklings....that an exploration of the nature of time would be part of this before all is said and done.

If it's true that time is no more absolute than the other boundaries of our perceived reality, there are some interesting implications. For one thing, even for the majority of folks who believe in reincarnation or metempsychosis the nature of the thing is linear. That's part of the point, that we come back in order to learn certain things, and this is related to time. In this view, having already had future lives doesn't make any sense. This seems to me to have interesting implications for the soundness of a good deal of the world's religious thought patterns.

If we consider on the other hand that the whole point of existence is spiritual and not physical, then linearity isn't a logical requirement at all. It's almost as if a soul has the opportunity to select from a menu of places AND times to choose from (or be drafted into) - that or perhaps something like a college catalog. As far as learning and growth go, the focus is what we already understand, but the linearity of time is connected, it seems to me, to the notion of sin and judgment.

If we contemplate time beginning with the proposition that our existence is essentially spiritual in nature, then what you're proposing does better than make sense, it illuminates. I will definitely search out those books. Thanks, Fred!

8-D

...about time in a new way, which is interesting because as I said, I've been having inklings that I would be thinking about this at some point...in time, where else? In fact, I've had several experiences involving time over the last year. Surely someone that I can search out has written a philosophy of time. I'll have to check into this.

I'm not sure I've ever thought of time before, except in linear terms. I've had many experiences resembling precognition, some of which I'm pretty sure amounted to genuine perception of things that were in the future. It seems to me that there are ways in which events cast their shadow forward as well as back - and that obviously relates to where they are in relation to the Light. Or a light.

In the past, I think I've viewed time as a sort of river, which we are drifting down on a barge or yacht or craft of some kind. Sometimes, because we are experienced river pilots (some of us anyway), we know from the shape of the bank, the bends and the currents, the soundings and way the birds call, that there may well be shoals or a storm ahead. Other times something mystical happens, something we're not normally capable of, and we have a sudden birds-eye view of the river ahead and know exactly what's coming. I can't explain how that happens, but once I suddenly found myself seeing through the eyes of a crow I was observing, for about ten seconds. I could not only see myself looking up, as well as the rooftops and many, many more things than I normally could, but I could also feel the birds outrage at the intrusion. Does this explain anything about how the pilot gets a bird's eye view of the river? I have no idea.

The point is that the whole river picture, which has pretty much been my paradigm until this night, is inescapably linear. It has a source and a destination. How interesting to think of time as a field instead of a single dimension. This opens up all kinds of possibilities. It would seem that the linear experience is more or less limited to the physical plane, which makes sense because the physical decays. Entropy is a function of time. On the physical plane there is no such thing as the eternal. How then are we able to even conceive of such a thing, let alone become convinced of its existence, if our entire being is captured in linear time? Obviously we cannot. So obviously we do have some kind of built-in window to this reality, whatever we've been conditioned to believe.

It might be argued that observation of new life springing from old, and the endless change of seasons and the procession and precession of the heavens, lead to our belief in the eternal. It's a persuasive argument, but I think that to those sophisticated enough to make this observation, it would also occur that the leap from repetition to timelessness is illogical. At best, the idea of eternity would remain controversial, instead of being a universal foundation of perception.

Time's apparent linearity has to be in some sense genuine. It is defined by two directions: forward and backward. Time is also defined by change, which requires the existence of something capable of change - that is, non-eternal - which also requires space. So the time-space continuum is meaningless without matter which of course means also energy. So the conclusion I reach is that time, like beauty, does not exist independently but must instead be an element of a matrix of which constant flux is only a single parameter out of many.

Nonlinear time? That's a new idea to me, and really interesting. I can't think of any reason why time has to be linear under all conditions. This is novel thinking to me, and I'm really intrigued. Let's hear some more on this!

8-D

When I said, it is defined by two directions: forward and backward I was still thinking in the old paradigm, wasn't I? Of course time can slip sideways. That gives it at least one additional dimension, and it doesn't take much imagination to give it a third.

I have a step-daughter in her forties who is a perfect example of a sideways slip in time. At one time she was a happy young mother with a home and many of the attributes of success - couple of RVs, a boat, plenty of the good stuff. A nice timeline. Then time slipped sideways, and she found herself on a downhill slide of meth addiction and homelessness. She lost everything including the right to see her three children. It's not an unusual story. But then, she shifted her own timeline - proof that it can be done, and I know of others - today she has her own (rented) home once again. My two granddaughters and grandson live with her where they belong. They attend church on Sundays. They have clothes and food and a car. This woman who we once gave up as the walking dead brought herself back (and she did it by discovering Total Responsibility, all by herself - is that inspiring or what!)...so. Yes, time is more than simply forward and back.

What kind of construct illustrates that third dimension? If we think of it as a sine curve representing levels of density as well as levels of activity, there would be a point at the top that was timeless, but we remain near the bottom in terms of physical density. We are also, as far as we know, near the level where flux is most active. This implies two things: that there are levels beneath us which experience less change (because we experience flux), including a nadir that is as timeless as the crest of the wave; and that there are levels of density above us where change is more constant and radical even than we experience (because we remain relatively dense). I'm pretty sure there is empirical evidence that both are true.

But when time shifts side-to-side it doesn't describe a pretty, neat sine wave but rather a series of zigs and zags that make up the various experiences of our lives - or the ups and downs of a crustal plate. So we're probably not talking about a regular wave in the vertical, either. Certainly we advance spiritually in fits and starts, so I think the analogy is a pretty good one here. At best, the sine wave describes averages. But it enables us to construct a model that can illustrate the multidimensionality of time.

Whew! Now it's time for me to sit back, shut up and see if anyone else has any thoughts on the fluidity of time.

8-D

In practicing remote viewing I've described things in past, present and future. I have to say, that deeply impressed my mind. It just split open my idea of reality. Lately, I sense some things just before they happen like speed traps. I sometimes find myself feeling calmer and driving more slowly than usual and then -"oh-It's a cop. No wonder I was going slow"...(I have a strong desire to not get pulled over and to not get ticketed) I still feel I'm moving forward thru sequential events but RV made time seem less substantial than before. Making Swiss cheese of the timeline made me more open to other possibilties too.

...with the thought that the past and future never exist."  Thanks, Fred.  That seems right-on to me. 

Another tweak of this same perspective:  Try sitting for a while with the possibility that the past and future and even the "now" are themselves only thoughts.

Brian, I love your adventures with making Swiss cheese of the timeline.  There are so many ways to come to the "emptiness" of all we thought was real.  And it sounds as if RV has some really practical benefits, to boot.

Additionally, in Seth Speaks, the idea is mentioned that our personality only comprises a tiny part of our soul, and that we are playing out multiple lifetimes and personalities simultaneously, in different historical periods; we're just not aware of it because of the veils in place and the tremendous focus placed on each personality.

In the fable The Egg, all the people on earth are incarnated by one being - to the past, the future, and parallel in the present. This one blew my mind and gave whole new ramifications to "Love your neighbour as yourself". It's very profound for me to consider that one of my "past" lives could actually be in the present, could even be someone I know - perhaps everyone.

I think that playing with our assumptions about time is very interesting. This idea hit home when I was dealing with strong resistance with my mother-in-law and it clicked that I was holding a grudge against an idea frozen in time and that it did not exist. It gave me a sense of what true forgiveness is all about - recognizing the past for the illusion it is and holding space for the other to relate freshly in the moment once more.

I'd like to read this fable, Trish.  Where can I find it?

Hi Noa,

Here is a link to The Egg by Andy Weir: http://imgur.com/p8YHb

Here is a nicely acted video adaptation (there are a lot of these on YouTube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1VN5zICGeU

Peace,

Trish

thanks for that recommendation from four years ago, fred.  found both of those books online for free by googling them.  far journeys is a pdf file and cosmic journeys is on the scribd website.  i'm tearing through them and also checked out the website for the monroe institute.  now we just need a focus on training people to make use of such things rather than just trying to prove it to one another that we don't know everything... ;)

seems those "experiments" and "studies" wind up creating more questions than answers.  needs a "control group".

my mind is spinning and i've lost my bearings a few times throughout the day...

sorry, poor math skills after that reading as well.  more like, SIX years ago...  timeless information though

Loved The Egg Trish. Thanks