The Cycles of Time: Are We Really Going Anywhere?
WAKING UP FROM TIME
Your awakening journey may eventually bring you to a place where time seems irrelevant. This concept of seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years repeating themselves over and over again begins to feel very illusory. From the moment we are born, until the day we die, we seem to be on a time clock. Time to get up, time to go to school, time to go to work, time to eat, time for another appointment, time to take the trash out, and time to go to sleep. Humanity has pinned itself against the clock, and whether we are aware of it or not, we are enslaved to time. Many people spend every precious second up against a time clock, like we are all counting down until the next event to attend, the next project to begin, the next accomplishment to check off, and then what? Once one task is complete it’s on to the next. It certainly feels like we are getting things done, yet aren’t we really just doing the same thing over and over again? Aren’t we constantly beginning and ending something around this tick tock of time?
The big question to ask is, “Where are we going?” With the pressures of life and the race against time, it appears we are headed forward. The word progress is shoved down our throats as if we are moving in a new direction that’s supposedly better than the old way. But, is that ever happening? Aren’t we all doing the same thing over and over again? Maybe it’s in a different environment, maybe you are surrounded by new people, new friends, new colleagues, but the basic premise of living, staying occupied, and surviving is still in the background whether we acknowledge it or not.
If you are a goal-oriented person, when you achieve the goal, you set out to achieve, what happens when you get there? Are you content and then forget about goals, or are you setting a new goal to attain that next benchmark? Do you put yourself up against the clock again? Setting goals and reaching for new heights is human nature, it’s what we do here. However, have you ever stopped and wondered, “Where are we going? Are we actually going anywhere? Or are we simply going around and round in circles believing we are advancing ourselves, when in fact, we are stuck in a never-ending cycle going absolutely nowhere? Do you ever feel like a hamster tirelessly running on the hamster wheel?”
CYCLES AND SEASONS
Looking deeper into time, is it possible it is a symbol of our spiritual absence? Have we become so lost from our connection to who and what we really are that we’d rather hop on the merry go round, the carousel of life, over and over again. Most things in life have a cycle. Let’s look at the four seasons for example. Spring shines forth each year as a rebirthing and regrowing period, followed by months of summer’s plentiful sunshine and rain to nourish this new life, then the fall’s fading away of flowers and leaves, and a dying off period endures. Finally, the dead of winter sets in which is a period of dormancy and rest. These seasonal cycles have always been there, it’s never ending, but it is predictable. Even if temperatures change over time, the cycle of plant life, weather patterns, and consistency in nature lives on. We know this cycle comes every year, it’s no surprise.
The calendar year is another example of time going in circles. We speak of time being linear in this world, simply because the body ages, the years pass by, and it seems we are going from point A to point B. No one can argue with the fact that we are born as babies with no ability to care for ourselves, and over seeming time, we grow larger, older each calendar year, and the body eventually becomes tired, old, and decrepit, which gives us the appearance that we have travelled somewhere. It appears to our eyes that we have travelled forward in time, after all look at the body proving it to us. The calendar is based on the solar, lunar, astrology, and agricultural cycles. There have been many calendars used throughout history in which they have had to skip days to get back on track. In the 1500’s authorities switched over from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar which is where we find ourselves today. These cycles of time are simply ways to keep humanity on track, with direction, organization, and according to the sun’s trajectory in our sky. The History of the Calendar - Calendar
Can the seasons and the calendar we live by be a symbol of something deeper within us? Could it be the ego’s distraction of playing in the dual world because we refuse to wake up to something greater than the repetitive cycle of life? Are we merely going in circles, chasing our own tails believing we are travelling into the future? Can we use these symbols to help us see more clearly what the ego is doing, keeping us distracted in a world of form and a seeming linear space time continuum? Can we also see the cycle of birth and death in the seasons as being symbolic of what some suggest is our constant reincarnation? As long as we are vested in the illusion of time and the world of form, the longer we play the game and stay disconnected from our greater source. Does simply recognizing what we are doing free us from this repetitive cycle of birth and death?
REINCARNATION AND REVELATION
Some religions and philosophies pose the idea of reincarnation, that we are all souls transferring into different bodies lifetime after lifetime. This cycle of birth, death, and rebirth is claimed by some to be the Infinite, or the Divine’s need to experience itself. Do you think our souls need constant experiences? Do you think we need to keep learning, growing, and understanding who we are in the world of form? How does the world of form have anything to do with the formless? Are they connected, or are they separate from one another? These are questions that may float through your mind as you think more deeply about what life is really all about.
Other schools of thought suggest that we reincarnate until we wake up to the Self within, or the remembrance of who we are in God. This is the recognition that we are not a special identity or a special ego mind, but rather we wake up to the larger essence of who we truly are. In this theory, we are simply reliving a cycle over and over again until we get it right. Is it really about getting it right, or simply seeing this world for what it is, a separate dual world from the larger creator? If our souls are truly living lifetime after lifetime, are we really going anywhere by staying here? Or is this cycle simply a confusion of the mind, a mind gone astray in an illusory world?
Many believe the book of revelation offers prophecy of what is to come on earth, it speaks of the end of the world, and the assurance of the return of Christ. Some take the Bible literally, while others interpret it symbolically. Looking at it symbolically or metaphorically, is revelation just that, a revelation of the spirit within you, the remembrance of home? Does it have anything to do with the supposed physical world of form our eyes apparently see? What does it mean to you? Do we reincarnate until we have that revelation of our true existence in God, and we return Home? Is revelation recognizing the Christ within and not necessarily about the physical return of Christ the man? Can reincarnation and revelation work together simultaneously? Does one lead to the other?
THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES
In Hans Christian Anderson’s famous book, The Emperor’s New Clothes, the famous fable creates a fairly obvious tale of just how gullible and naive people can be at falling for agendas, narratives, and scams. The story goes that the emperor is visited by a pair of con men claiming to be weavers that make invisible clothing which can only be seen by the truly wise and intellectual. Those that cannot see the clothing are considered simpletons and unfit for their job. The reality is the men were not weaving anything, but simply toying with people’s imaginations. The emperor and the wise men around him do not want to admit they do not see any clothing being made for fear that they will appear foolish and unwise. The story ends with the emperor parading around naked in an imaginary suit with no one willing to comment on the fact that he’s actually wearing nothing. Only a child blurts out the truth that the emperor is wearing no clothes.
Just like this fable, the power of the group mentality can so easily dominate over an obvious truth, yet when the group is holding on to the fallacy, and the fallacy is growing in numbers, it’s difficult to present what is actual truth. The lie has become truth, and everything has been flipped upside down. Very few want to admit they are wrong for fear of standing outside of the herd. The innocent child within us knows the truth and often is screaming inside, but whether we act this out in real life is another story. The innocent child is the spirit within that knows there is something more than the world we see in front of us. Is the ego mind luring us into these cyclical fallacies? Does the awakening process and the undoing of a self brings us to this revelation within, that repeating the same thing over and over again is not taking us anywhere except away from our true nature?
Similar to what Einstein said about repeating the same and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Is that what this world is, an insane ego mind dressed in imaginary clothing? Are we awaiting the emperor to strut down the street in his new fashions only to find that there is nothing there? Do we eventually come to realize that this entire world is a fictional drama pitching a false progression into nowhere? These cycles that seem to recreate themselves since the dawn of time may act as a distraction to keep us stuck, but if you flip the coin you may see that they also offer us greater symbols, insights, and opportunities to wake up from the repetitive cycle of life.