TIME WAITS FOR NO ONE -OR DOES IT?
Sir Isaac Newton set up a picture of a clockwork world ticking away inside a cosmic clock. Time was an absolute thing. A second was a second, no longer, no shorter. Whereveryouare.in your living room or on a pulsar millions of light years away, whatever you are doing it ticks away, independent of any outside influences. This is a 'common sense' view of time and if you thought like this you would be thinking along the same lines as western scientists did for nearly 300 years after Newton.
Then an enigmatic figure called Einstein came up with a small article at the beginning of this century, the implications of which rocked the foundations of three centuries of work. In it he proposed the theory of relativity. Part of what Einstein said was, the only wayyou can measure time is by clocks, be they water clocks that drip every second or mechanical clocks that tick. Basically all clocks move and therefore time is dependent on movement. Time is not totally independent. He wasn't the first person to think like this but he was the first person to formulate a usable mathematical theory about it (containing that famous equation E = mc2). To understand this clearly let's return to Newton's theories. What Newton said was there is a cosmic clock out there ticking away against which you can measure things. This clock of Newton's isn't a'real'clock, but it's like a solid idea. Time is passing by independent of whatever is happening. Now let's do a little experiment. Imagine that the whole world goes to sleep one night and when it wakes up in the morning everything, including all our clocks and watches are moving at half speed. According to Newton, real time is still ticking away up there and we really are taking twice as long to do everything. In the final reckoning, our nine to five job has not taken up eight hours, but 16 hours.
But Einstein says no, we have no way of knowing when we wake upon the morning after this strange event that everything is working at half its previous speed. There is no 'real' time there by which to measure everything that happens. Time is a measure of our activities. If all the timepieces in the world have slowed down to half speed, then time itself has slowed down to half speed. In other words Newton's time is rigid and Einstein's time is elastic.
When we woke up that morning everything would have seemed normal. We wouldn't have felt that everything had slowed down because the only way we could have judged that something had slowed down was by comparing it to something else which had also slowed down. In other words things would still be moving at the same speed relative to each other.
How can these two ideas help us practically? Firstly, according to how we regard time we are either its master or its servant. With a Newtonian outlook we become its servant as 'time waits for no one' and so we feel we have to rush around cramming as many activities as we can into every unforgiving second. Now let's consider how it is more helpful to have Einstein's view of time for ourselves.
Here time is dependent on rate of change. What is the changing thing within myself whose speed is going to govern how fast time appears to be moving? It is my own thoughts. If I slow my thoughts down then time will appear to expand. If I speed them up time contracts. It's not that we slow our thoughts down in the same way we slow a record down; we simply leave space between each thought or even between each word. We then become aware not only of the thoughts but also of the free spaces. Awareness of these peaceful spaces between thoughts brings us right into the present and gives us the feeling that we have 'room for manoeuvre', time to spare.
When we first approach something new, say for instance the first time we use a particular recipe, we read each instruction, carefully, then thinking only about that we perform the relevant action, returning to our cookery book again only after we have completed it. This mode of operation makes sure that everything is done correctly and the bestpossible result isattained. We have given ourselves time and space to do the job well and at the end we often feel satisfied that something has been achieved.
Compare this to the situation where the instructions in the form of thoughts, follow each other in rapid succession, not waiting for each instruction to be put into action before the next one arises. The result is that as we are doing one thing our mind is badgering us to get on and do the next thing. We feel underpressure. We feel thatwe do not have enough time to do all the actions correctly. Consequently, in the end we find the job has often not been done well and instead of a feeling of satisfaction, there is stress and tension. So it is not just the speed of our thoughts that is important, but the speed of our thoughts relative to our actions. If the speed of our thoughts (our instructions to ourselves) matches the speed with which we can do things, we will remain free from stress and tension and we will feel thatwe have time to do things properly. The effect of this is that we feel as though we are 'creating' time for ourselves.
Another advantage that immediately becomes apparent when you practise this is the ease with which you can control your actions and reactions in situations. Great sportsmen have control over their mind when practising their sport and this is clearly visible with someone like Bjorn Borg. So precise and clear are the instructions he gives to his body that each stroke seems effortless and totally economical. There is no wasted physical effort.
The 'spaces' we leave when we slow our thoughts down allow us to 'change direction' easily and immediately. When a whole string of thoughts are racing along it's as though they gather momentum like a car going at full speed. If we are required to make an unexpected left turn, then we have to slam on the brakes, upsetting ourselves and the people in the cars behind us. We will probably overshoot the turning and have to waste time and effort reversing and then finally making the correct manoeuvre. When this happens in our minds, the emergency stop leaves us shaken and confused and disturbs those around us. The reversal and readjustment leaves us stressed and tense and probably annoyed as well as impatient. However, the spaces between thoughts are like times when we are temporarily stationary. From a stationary position we can move in any direction we choose, smoothly and easily without causing discomfort to anyone.
This practise of slowing thoughts down and giving ourselves more time is helpful in many ways which will become apparently when you try it. But above all it allows you to be soul conscious much more easily. Those spaces give you time to enjoy sweet feelings of peace and contentment which are the natural qualities the soul. Undoubtedly Newtonian time is the sort of time which governs the physical world around me. Without this solid framework to refer to. things would be most disturbing. But through Einstein's *window* I can escape this physical world and fly to that timeless expanse, the soul world. This highest dimension is timeless as there is no movement but constant stillness. Here, in my spiritual home, I can learn how to slow my thoughts down to such an extent that they stop altogether so that there is no change at all, and now, in total silence, stillness and contentment, I discover the beauty of eternity.
Meditation Practice
Practise the habit of saying "past is past'.' Keep facing forward. If something negative happens don't feel guilty about it. Simply have the determined thought to conquer it. Re-channel the energy that usually goes into guilt or regret into positive thought and will-power, so that the soul says; "Yes, I am making efforts to change and improve myself."
Thoughts for Meditation
I experience myself as a bodiless being... a source of light, peace and power in a world of light... I feel that everything is totally still...timeless.... Nothing is changing... There is the experience of deep contentment...There is nothing more that the soul desires...I am with God in my eternal home of silence....I absorb the Ocean of Peace.... I remain with the unlimited source of all virtues and fill myself totally....I am overflowing with light and peace-spreading the qualities of the Supreme into this world.
Raja Yoga - Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University
