Timelessness

TUES., MAR. 6, 2001, 4:04 PM
FARM, DINING TAB.

You react to this term in a positive way, yet you realize that for most of your life you have been quite time-oriented. Time was a reality when you were in school and when you were a Teacher… Administrator… professor as other “roles” in school life. You have rising concerns about bills and other financial “matters” that you have “put aside” during this healing period, and you know you must “tackle” these before it costs you more money (to be one of the idle rich”!).

And yet you have an increasing sense of “timelessness” – that time is much more of an artifact than a true reality. You know you must “catch up” with these responsibilities (yes… you still have enough of that “adult responsibility” to be bothered, somewhat, by your present behavior.) But is time as important as it has seemed to be, in your “working life”… or is it much less important now, for you… or did you overvalue time in its necessity for a happy, successful career?

Actually, there is some truth in each of these “alternatives.” Time is not nearly as important, overall, as it was in years past. Oh, you still have bills to pay, and decisions to make in relation to these, but you are now blessed with sufficient money. You can pay what you owe, and you can decide on “items” on which you don’t have to “owe.” This is a fine time in your life, BUT you still have SOME responsibilities, and I don’t want you to “waste” money on late charges.

Life can… and should… be simpler as you live these last, golden years. Your needs… and wants, too… are less, so you will have more decisions about where money and resources that you have should be spent. You have done this through your married and “familied” life, but now you don’t have to make some of the “hard” decisions that you remember from those younger, family years.

As I have reminded you, often, you have quite an ideal place to live out your last years, here on this Farm. (As I’ve also told you, you could live on into circumstances that would call for a return to town-living, but there is no such situation now. You WILL need to simplify your life somewhat, but you could do so and not need to leave this ideal place.)

Timelessness, as I’m using it here, has quite a mystical quality to it. You were initially concerned about the exact day and date this is, so that this Teaching could be properly and accurately dated. This is appropriate to the culture in which you live, but I am rarely concerned about such. Time, by your culture’s standards, has a reality and this should be realized and lived with, almost constantly. But remember that the earth moves in ways that make the sun appear to rise and, finally, go down. This is recurring (even when it isn’t evident in cloudy or stormy weather. Days, by name, are repetitive, as are weeks and months. You now are experiencing the end of winter, as a season, and the onset of Spring, as happens every year.

There are still a few primitive groups of humans who have some sense of time “going on,” but not with the ferocity I see in parts of your culture. And, so, I recommend that you give less attention to time and begin to “practice” living in a more timeless way. You couldn’t have done this, with any ease, during your working life, but now it shouldn’t be difficult. Consider the experiences you just have had, recently. There were times when you weren’t sure where you were, what time it was (or day and date) and how you got to where you were.

Now that night in the woods had some danger in it, but you weren’t frightened, even as you were not sure where you were or how you should get “back home.” In some ways I see it as a worthwhile experience. As you describe it now you emphasize coming to “reality”… “realizing where you were.” But you still had some positive feeling for falling into the creek bed… for seeing the moon as it came from behind clouds… having a need to keep moving, even in some “wrong direction.” You couldn’t see your watch without your glasses, so it was sort of a “timeless time of darkness.” Though it was, in part, caused by some mixture of drugs, it also was… now try to see it this way… a time of disoriented timelessness. You have had few of these (for they aren’t seen as desirable by your dominant culture), but you did have that one, and who can appreciate it for having some of the characteristics of “timelessness.”

That was a somewhat dangerous one (but your feet will heal… I can almost guarantee), but let yourself be more aware of some similar experiences, as your life continues. Remember that I am in a timeless “state,” and I recommend it. Such won’t be popular in your culture, but… go ahead… be aware, enjoy… prepare yourself, in a small way, for your next realm, which shall be timeless.