The Relationship Between Time, Consciousness, and Meaning

One concept that has gained acceptance among many scholars, including Albert Einstein, is the idea that time is an illusion. As Einstein famously stated, “For those of us who believe in physics, the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." This suggests that time, as we commonly perceive it, may not be the ultimate reality. In this view, we should be able to remember tomorrow just as we remember today, but our current understanding of time prevents us from doing so.

According to Carlo Rovelli, "Time is not a line with two equal directions: it is an arrow with different extremities... [and] it is entropy, not energy, that keeps stones on the ground and the world turning." Entropy is the degree of disorder or uncertainty in a system. The first directive of the makeup of your current mental configuration is to make and leverage meaning. From the book Turning Within, "The imprint of significance that our consciousness assigns to an experience, idea, or aspect of reality. Meaning acts as the glue binding our perceptions, emotions, and beliefs, shaping how we navigate and interpret the world. It is both a lens through which we see and a construct that informs our identity, narrative, and actions." 

In other words, meaning is the identification, name, or label you place on things, and once your mind is made up, it usually doesn't want to re-calibrate. Whether you like it or not, whether it is painful or not, doesn't matter. The more committed you are to the meaning you make, the harder it is for you to see it any other way. This happens all ways and always. 

Have you ever contemplated what it means to say, " Time is an illusion?" The current suggested way of holding this is to say that time flows like an emotion from the mind. The way time flows for each of us varies by person and moment. Time is not a constant; it is a flow of experience. 

You can't remember the future because we are still driving through the rearview, still navigating life by what happened, not what IS happening. But we are shifting. This shift is happening to all or none. We either all wake up, or none will... But in the end, I believe we all do. We have to because energy is ever-changing. There is no way out but through, and there is no way through but in.

How would that happen in the most efficient and sustainable way in an elegant universe? Choice is the key. We must learn to navigate from a different orientation to life than our limited perception. We begin by noticing the difference between perception and perspective. We begin to realize our perception isn't the only one, and it is clouded in Maya. This points us to a path to live more consciously and in the now.

Who are you choosing (consciously and unconsciously) to show up as right now? How much of your identity is based on permissions, directions, meanings made through suffering, blame (you or them), or lack? What if you chose to be the highest version of yourself, one that knew the power and hand of grace that could only come through you? Can you see what blocks you from living your best life? 

Can you choose to set it down to create both an individual and collective story that is worth living? What do you do to live consciously? If not, it's time to begin your journey. Good Morning, welcome.