Introduction
The general theme of the next three meditations “With time, everything arises” challenges the representation that, in the words of singer Léo Ferré “With time, everything vanishes”.
Until now, I have emphasized the relational dimension of Full Presence (presence to… and/or resonance). As to the temporal dimension of presence, I have approached it as being presence to the present. These three meditations around past, present and future temporality.
The various aspects of temporarility
- Time exists outside of us independently of all things, according to Newton.
- Time does not really exist, from Aristotle’s point of view.
Time does not exist as it consists of a past that no longer exists, of a future that is not yet here and of a present that continuously disappears.
Aristotle
- Time is a passage, a way through from the past to the future, a becoming linked to our subjectivit, according to Bergon (Time exists within us).
- Time is a menace for Man, Baudelaire tells us.
“Time consumes life”
“Time is an obscure enemy”
“Time is a promise of death”
Baudelaire
- Time carries a promise and creativity
Indeed time is not static, but evolves. It conveys a diversity of instants. The present moment is unique, never twice the same.
- The present moment is a gift filled with riches.
- The present moment is the beginning of the future.
- The present cannot be dissociated from motion and transformation according to Aristotle.
- Time is an ally to understand life.
Becoming the master of our mind needs time .
Dalaï Lama
We have as much to learn from our future as from our past, as long as we stand at the border of the future, which means giving importance to new information that arrises to bring light to the shadows of our past.
Danis Bois
Meditation
I illustrated the importance of the present moment through the words of the Dalaï Lama
There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live.
Dalaï Lama
- Methodology
- Self-presence through being motionless : directing this towards temporality.
Being motionless is an expression of your decision to stop running after time, to take your time, to settle in the present moment.
2. Presence to silence through these words
Silence, this rhythmn of eternity that the present moment sometimes offers
Anon
Indeed, when we penetrate the present moment and silence, we have the sense of living a moment of eternity).
3. Presence to the present moment in its objective form.
Today is such and such a day, at this particular time, and we are at such an age ….
4. Presence to the present moment in its subjective form
The time of the clock is the same for everyone, but the way we experience time is our very own, this is the notion of ‘duration’ of Bergson.
5. The present moment as a place to listen to time
Appreciate the present moment, meaning what you are living and feeling right now.
Appreciate the present moment, meaning where the past and the expectation of the future are still
6. Living in the present prepares the future
The present is the pathway to every beginning.
The present moment is creative as it never happens in the same way twice
7. The present moment is a gift
Honoring each second of our life
Never forgetting the joy of being alive
As long as we live, there is hope
8. Perceiving time implies perceiving motion
If we are sometimes not aware of time flowing, it is that we are not noticin shifts and that our awareness appears static.
Aristotle
I have used this thought from Aristotle to direct the participants’ attention on the inner movement as the embodied manifestation of the present moment.
And here, when you feel the inner movement circulating in your body, it is not just movement, it is present time flowing through your flesh.
Moreover, if you are aware that there are shifts in your interiority, shifts in your states, a diversity of instants, you are connected to the flowing of embodied current time.
The slowness of the movement gives us time to seize the current moment, to taste the seconds as they pass inexorably.
Danis Bois
To conclude, I quoted the words of singers who talk of the relationship to time:
I have not had time to look at life, or to really understand where my twenties went
Patrick Bruel
Will we, one day, know how to live the passing of time? Will we, one day, understand what life is ?
Alain Barriere
I ended with a reminder of the three elements that indicate that we are experiencing the present moment:
- Consciously experiencing, in real time, what arises in the present moment (sensations, emotions, moods, sentiments, thoughts, memories…)
- Having the impression that we have left aside the preoccupations of the past and expectations of the future
- The awareness and feeling of the presence of the inner movement in the matter and particularly its slowness, which gives us time to penetrate the present moment and grasp its content.
