the illusion of time
let’s discuss about a lie we all tell ourselves. it’s a quiet, comforting lie that allows us to procrastinate, to feel important, and to sidestep the messy reality of our very existance. the lie goes by, "i don't have time."
we say it when we're too busy to hit the gym, when we've to put off that big project we were excited about, when a friend asks for a hand in relocation, when someone just calls you for a short walk and so on. we use this phrase so often that it's become a shield, a social currency, and a personal "comforting" philosophy.
but, we actually don't "have" time, no one does. time isn't a resource that we own, like a car or a house. we can't save it, trade it, or lend it to someone else. it's not a thing we can lose or find. its a "universal-undefined law" that we have to embrace and abide by. we understand, think and act according to the time's cycle and not the other way round. the very idea that we possess time is the "the core misunderstanding" of human life.
we're all running a race we believe we should run. we wake up, and the first thing we do is check a clock, a glowing little rectangular box that dictates our every move. we fill every second, from our morning coffee to our late-night emails (i tried to be generic lol), with the belief that we are somehow "making the most of it." we often like to say "i don't have much time" to give ourselves a sense of self-entitlement in this fast world seeking validation.
however, we are simply performers in a play we wrote, convinced that we are the directors and not just actors with scripted lines. this is the great 'illusion of time'. we don’t "have" time, we never had. we don’t own a river, we are simply in a boat floating on it.
so i now ask you, if we're on a boat, what happens if we stop rowing? what exactly happens when you let go of the oars you’ve been furiously paddling with your whole life?
the moment we surrender the idea of ownership, something terrifying yet beautiful happens. the need to "master" every minute falls away. the anxiety of "wasting" a second disappears. the feeling of "running" the race fades away! we see our life not as a series of tasks to be completed, but as a series of moments to be experienced, to be lived. the present is no longer a stepping stone to a better future, but maybe the destination itself.
and when we get there, we'll realize we've been carrying a lie on our back. we'll find ourselved standing in an empty field, a vast, open space we've never seen/experienced before. a space that funnily, has been there all along, we just didn't take "time" to notice it, to embrace it.
so when we stop rowing, the schedule is gone. the calendar is blank. the mind is free. the time is now. so, what happens now?