The Illusion of Time

If we are an astronaut in space and look down to earth we see how it is daytime on one part of the earth and nighttime on the other. The line between day and night is moving permanently. In space there is no day or night.
Time, as we use it, orients itself by daytime and nighttime. There is a morning, an afternoon and the night. This structure forms the basis for our lives. We need time to plan, to meet other people, to determine when things have to happen. We make appointments according to time.

We are used to this rhythm. We are used to weekdays, to weekends and we link our life to time, to the hour, to the minute, to the second. We place everything accurately on this timeline while our mind wanders in both directions, to the past and to the future.

But where are we, if we our mind wanders off in time? Where are we, if our mind goes to the past according to that timeline? We are in the Here and Now. Where are we, if our mind goes to the future of this timeline? We are in the Here and Now. Our focus is always the Here and Now, there is no other one.

We think of the past by having a memory of it. The memory of the past changes over time. New aspects may arise and already apprehended ones disappear. Additionally, our conscious memory of the past is always only a fraction of it. Therefore the focus is always in this moment. It is like looking out of a window, a 'current-moment-window', and watching life like a movie.

And if we look out of this window, we see possible futures as well. Mostly we project our current thoughts and emotions into the future. Maybe we worry or are afraid of it, or we might be looking forward to certain events and be positive about it. We do have expectations of the future.

But what is real? Real is only this moment. All we remember about the past or imagine about the future is a snapshot in time and can change from moment to moment.

We are neither really in the past nor in the future. Reality only happens in the Here and Now. Only our thoughts wander in one or the other direction.

If we get lost again in illusionary time it might be helpful to remember to come back into the Here and Now and to get out of our dreams, our projections, our worries, our fears and be completely aware of the current moment, the only focus where reality truly exists.

If you are depressed, you are living in the past.
If you are anxious, you are living in the future.
If you are at peace, you are living in the present moment.