Hold On, Time Traveller.
Human beings have the unique privilege that other creatures do not have.
The ability to time travel.
We don't need machines or mechanisms to move through time. We simply use our minds.
We visit the past and future frequently. It has become second nature to us.
In fact, i’d say we take this ability for granted.
Being able to think about the past and future has allowed human beings to surpass any other creature in terms of survivability.
Why do we think about the past and future?
Simply put: to survive.
If I happened to shock myself when I placed a fork in a power socket as a child. That memory would help me be more conscious of electrical dangers in the future.
The ability to scour our memories and replay past events helps us to learn from our mistakes and improve our chances of survival.
Thinking about the future, doesn't work exactly the same way, but it helps us plan better.
Projecting scenarios into the future helps us play with different outcomes, in order to potentially plan for better results.
“The purpose of thinking is to let the ideas die instead of us dying”.
- Alfred North Whitehead
We time travel too much.
Human beings like to take things too far.
We don't do anything in moderation it seems. And this applies to thinking ,and more specifically, thinking about the past and future.
Humans spend so much time thinking about the past and future, that it has become a pandemic.
Most people are chronically depressed because they live in the past.
Most people are perpetually anxious because they live in the future.
This is why meditation and mindfulness have become so popular.
Homo sapiens have forgotten to live in the most important moments:
The present moment.
All that there is and ever will be.
“And since the now is all there ever is in your life, your entire life unfolds as the present moment. People don’t realize it, but all they ever have is “this”. This moment.”
— Eckhart Tolle
We have mistaken learning from the past, and planning for the future for reality.
Those states don't exist.
They never have.
They never will.
All there ever will be is the now.
And you barely live in it.
Find a quiet spot and close your eyes for a second. Listen to the noise around you and focus on your breathing. That is the present.
If you find yourself in chaos, maybe you are overwhelmed at work, take a second to just focus on what is happening right now, in the moment. That is the present.
You see reality is that space that doesn't need mental projection or stories. The past needs mental energy to try and “remember” what happened. The future needs calculations and projections In order to “see” what could happen. But the present doesn't require anything. Not even your thoughts.
That is how you know it is the only reality that truely exists.
We have skipped through so many days of our lives living in the past and future that we have taken for granted what God has placed in front of us.
The sweet sound of nature. The taste of food. The feeling of the wind or water on your skin. These things are real. But we replace them with false sensations that never truelly provide satisfaction.
Spend more time here.
Spend more time with your family now.
Spend more time with the divine right In front of your eyes.
And remember time traveller…
You were only meant to visit the past and the future, but you were always meant to come home, to the present.