Man's Relationship To Time

By The Pathwork Guide

Greetings, my very dearest, dearest friends. Blessings for everyone of you. Blessings for your work on this Path.

Every living organism experiences certain visible changes that represent milestones in his process of growth. When I speak of a living organism, this does not refer only to an individual. A group such as this is a living organism. It represents a body of growth because it stands on a healthy foundation, enabling many more individuals to eventually cultivate their own growth. Every one of my friends who participates in this work contributes to the inner growth of this group. Many of you are doing your very best to grow out of confusion and error. Thereby you contribute. Some of you also help through outer deeds, efforts, and assistance, each in your own way. All such help and contribution is of great value and the universal, cosmic forces thank such people in their own way. Such thanks -- if we may call it that for lack of a better word -- take the form of particular blessings that are not easily recognizable. Only upon deep meditation can their reality be perceived. Such particular blessings are coming forth to all, present as well as absent. Such universal, divine gratitude does exist, my friends. Many of you who are helping with your inner and outer assistance feel the reality of these blessings. Every one of you has a different possibility of contributing towards the growth of this body of truth. However, the facing of the self in utter candor represents the main contribution so that this group will continue to remain on the healthy foundation upon which it stands.

The growth of a living organism cannot always be evaluated by outer signs. This holds true for a group as well as for an individual. But any one with an open and sensitive mind can perceive such growth and inner health, even if at times there are no outer changes nor obvious manifestations. However, there are times when such an outer change is noticeable, and this is such a time. The fact that we are now housed in new quarters represents such a milestone. Divine blessings go forth to this new venture, to all of you who have made this growth possible. Whenever such milestones come to pass in the process of growing, then the inner reality can be sensed by all who have contributed towards it by their deeds and by their work of self-confrontation. May this be the case now. May you all be flooded by a wave of hope and by the security that you live in a benign universe in which you have nothing to fear.

Now I should like to discuss a new topic. Let us consider man's relationship to time. This is an important subject. My words will be very helpful if you take the trouble to ponder over them and if you try to apply them to yourself. What I say may at first seem utterly inapplicable to your personal lives because of its abstract, philosophical, and metaphysical nature. But if you have patience with me and if you try to follow the words in their deeper meaning, then you will soon see that they have a very practical application.

Man's existence on earth, in the dimension of the earth atmosphere, is bound by time. On a previous occasion I discussed the fact that time is a product of the mind. Therefore, without the mind, time does not exist. Time, space, and movement in this dimension are three separate factors. When a higher degree of consciousness is reached, and with it an extended dimension, then space and movement unify more and more, until they become one. It is an error to believe that the next dimension is timelessness. There are many extended times, if I may use this expression, in higher realms of being, long before you reach the state of being that is timeless. It will be impossible for man to grasp this. The best you can do is to occasionally sense this truth.

Time is a very limiting factor. It is a fragment cut out of a wider and freer dimension of experience. This limited fragment given to man called time is put at man's disposal, in which he can grow, in which he can fulfill himself, in which he can experience, in which he can live, in which he can reach happiness, and in which he can reach liberation up to the degree commensurate with this dimension. To the degree that man fulfills this potential through his inner growth, to that degree his life will be a dynamic and full experience in which the limitation of time will not represent a hardship or a problem.

At this point, because it has so much bearing on this question, I would like to interject once again that it is possible to be on such a path of self-development in a general, vague way and nevertheless miss many an occasion of growing. How many times does it happen to all of you that you find yourself in a negative mood without learning the deep lesson of it, without seeing its significance to your innermost being? In other words, when you simply wait for it to pass? More and more often you will be exposed to such periods of depression, of anxiety, of uncertainty, and of disharmony. It will become increasingly difficult to find the real inner cause. In these instances time is not utilized properly. Therefore, it becomes a burden and it creates a conflict, which I will discuss a little later. But if each opportunity for growth is used through the work on such a path -- by going to the roots of each negative happening or disharmonious mood, and if a deep understanding and a consequent liberation is experienced -- then exhilaration and such confidence in life and in yourself as you now experience only occasionally will become more or less a permanent state. Then you will be at one with the time-element of your dimension, thereby organically growing into an extended dimension.

Listlessness, depression, impatience, nervousness, anxiety, tension, frustration, boredom, apathy, hostility -- all these emotions, and many others -- are, in the last analysis, a result of unutilized time. That is, of not doing the utmost that is potentially possible in order to understand yourself and to dissolve inner conflict and confusion.

To those of my friends who have experienced the liberation of such emotions -- with the influx of strength and inner joy, with the feeling that they are at one with life -- I say that you can repeat this by not shirking the effort of looking deep into yourselves until you discover the origin of the negative emotions. If you remember these times of liberation, then they were always connected with such efforts on your part. And to those of you who have not as yet, I say that it can be yours if you do what is necessary.

You may ask what bearing this has on the question of your relationship to time. If you analyze each negative emotion, then you will find that it stands in conflict with the limited fragment of time at your disposal. This may be a good meditation exercise and it may lend itself well to a further and deeper exploration of this topic. All the feelings that are constructive, realistic, and positive do not stand in conflict with time because time is utilized as it is destined to be used.

The vague knowledge that the time at your disposal is limited in this particular dimension -- at this particular period of your being in this dimension -- creates a special tension. Therefore man strives to get out of this time dimension. He strains just as a dog pulls at his leash. Time holds you in the grip of a limitation, a limited area. The unconscious has a memory of the great experience of timelessness. It tries to find its way back into this limitless freedom. This can be done by first accepting and then fully utilizing the fragment called time. Then the transition will be an organic flow with a minimum of conflict. Or it can be done by straining into it without utilizing time in the meaningful way described here and as taught by all spiritual teachers and truth teachings. In that case, conflict and tension arise.

All spiritual, metaphysical or philosophical concepts, ideas or postulates -- if they are truthful -- find their practical application in man's psychological attitudes. This is exactly how you can realize and corroborate any truth that is given onto you.

Let us now discuss the particular conflict that man has regarding time. Each one of you has the possibility of finding out the truth of what I say if you take the necessary steps of self-investigation. On the one hand man strives into a freer dimension of time. Translated into practical life, this manifests by striving into a tomorrow. If you observe yourself closely from this particular viewpoint, then you will find it to be true in many instances. At times this is quite obvious and on the surface; in other instances, it is a vague general climate that permeates you and is therefore not as easily recognizable.

Man strives into the future for several reasons. He does not like the present and therefore he hopes for something better from the future. He fears a certain aspect of life and he wants it to be past, to be over and done with. His vague hopes from the future and the unfulfilled -- hence unpleasant -- state of the present are the main reasons for his straining away from the present into the future, thereby not living in the Now. But if he were to explore himself inwardly in order to find the reasons for his unfulfillment and for the difficulties which cause him to strain away from them -- by first becoming aware that such feelings exist -- then he would be capable of living in the Now fully, meaningfully, and dynamically, deriving all the many joys of each moment that now he overlooks. If each moment were truly lived to its fullest, then by this very fact you would already reach an extended dimension of time even while, simultaneously, still remaining in this dimension. In other words, only by fully utilizing the dimension that you live in can you truly outgrow it. Only by experiencing everything, each moment of time's content, will you no longer strain away, and thereby automatically flow into the next dimension of time.

Awareness is always the first step. So do become aware of this inner striving away from the Now. When you do, then you will find that you do so because you do not realistically find and resolve the factors that cause you to strain into the future. This will give you the best inkling of one side of the conflict that man has regarding time.

On the other side of the conflict, the picture is the opposite. Man fears the future, while he strives into it.The future also means death and decay. So, while he strains into the future for a hope of fulfillment, he simultaneously stems against the tide of time, desiring to hold it, or even to go backwards into youth. In other words, he wants two impossible things. He wants the fulfillment of the future in the past or at least in the present. Thus, two contradictory soul movements exist. One strains forward, the other strains back. The soul suffers by this tension, by this unrealistic, useless, and destructive waste of energy.

Some time ago I discussed man's fear of death. This fear is an integral part of his conflict with time. It causes the backward movement. The natural movement of time is a steady, harmonious flow. If man feels into this rhythm and into this harmony, then he will be in harmony. But he can do so by being in time in the only meaningful way there is. That is by using each moment and each incident for growth. If he does not strain away from the future, then he will not have to fear it. By not straining away from the present, he will utilize it, and therefore it will no longer seem desirable to strain away from it. This is being. If it is not yet the highest state of being, then it is the state of being that is commensurate with the dimension of time that you live in now.

In this state, you follow the natural flow. The wave of time will bring you, naturally and gracefully as it were, into the next expanded dimension, one which you fear so much because you cannot prove its reality. But by your haste to get into this dimension on the one hand and by your fear of the unknown and of what seems so uncertain to a part of your personality on the other hand you restrain the natural movement and you create a tension by setting the soul forces into opposing directions. This causes a stagnation of growth and it prevents the full experience of each Now.

The psychological value of these factors -- after you determine this subtle but nevertheless distinct inner double motion -- is to understand the nature of the emotions and the attitudes responsible for the contradictory soul movements.

If you strain forward, then you do so because, in one way or another, you do not recognize certain functions in your particular life that could be fulfilled. You let many opportunities slip by. I am not speaking here of outer opportunities and outer fulfillments, although this may often be a final result of missed inner opportunities for growth, for the unfoldment of the soul, for the resolution of inner conflicts, and for the dissolution of inner errors. The daily review which I advocate is one of the best means toward living each day and each hour fully. I venture to say that all of my friends who work so diligently on this path have occasionally experienced that special peace that is full of a spark of aliveness -- a peace that is just as dynamic as it is peaceful -- after they recognize in all its depth a distortion or a negative attitude in themselves. If such a recognition is profound enough and if out of it is derived all that is contained in it, then this wonderful feeling of being alive is bound to occur. The fact that the recognition itself may be unflattering and disillusioning about oneself, and perhaps even painful, will not diminish the great experience that serves as a yardstick. When a self-confrontation does not ultimately produce such an experience, then it means that you have not found all there is to it. This knowledge should not make you impatient or tense, but it should make it clear that somehow you are hedging the truth. In other words, you do not wish to see all there is to see. This awareness will open you up so that you will eventually derive the maximum experience out of the particular incident in question. You will cultivate the inner will to face, to see, and to understand all there is to confront and to comprehend in yourself. Then you will experience the exhilaration of having fulfilled yourself to the utmost at this moment. Then you will no longer tug at time in diametrically opposite directions.

Have you ever thought why it should be that after an unflattering or painful recognition -- provided you go to its depth and you do not stop halfway -- you should experience such a dynamic state of harmony and aliveness? It is because at that moment you have fully utilized that which is given to you: that fragment of time that is at your disposal. When you are listless, when you are depressed, when you are unhappy, then the material is there, right in front of you. You are right in it, but you are blind to it. You do not focus your attention on it. Therefore you try to get out of this Now without utilizing it. That is the forward movement which, at the same time, is responsible for your fear of growing into death -- which actually is a treshold to life. Therefore you try to hold back while you simultaneously go forward.

The fear of death exists in many forms and shapes. I do not wish to go into detail on what I said on this subject before, but only that if a spiritual belief or religious belief is superimposed, then it is just as much a facet of the fear of death as a violent protestation of the opposite. They are but two different sides of the same coin.

The only way to experience the flow of time that knows no interruptions and that brings you into extended dimensions is to utilize each living moment in the manner you learn to do on this Path. Then you no longer deal with concepts which you either adopt or reject, which you either agree with or disagree with. Rather, an inner experience comes into being that makes you know that this mold of time is only one facet of another mold of time -- it can be but a fragment of a bigger piece. This, in itself, is the knowledge that death is an illusion. It is merely the manifestation of a transition into a different dimension. However, such words can be meaningful only if you make the experience of their reality possible. For that this pathwork gives you ample opportunity.

When you re-read this lecture, then you may come across many more questions or passages that are not quite clear. The discussion groups will henceforth be conducted acording to a new plan. You will be afforded an opportunity to gain further clarification, provided you make the effort to cooperate. In other words, to search because you truly wish to understand on a deeper level. Such participation on your part is essential, for otherwise my words will remain but words -- and that is not good enough.

Are there any questions pertaining to this topic?

QUESTION: You say that once one leaves this dimension or concept of time one enters another concept of time which involves unification of space, time, and movement. Will you please clarify that?

ANSWER: Yes. I will try. In your human dimension time and space are two separate factors. Let me give you a practical example. You find yourself in a certain space. If you wish to find yourself in another space, then you require time in order to get there. In order to bridge the distance, then movement is necessary. So, movement is the bridge that combines time and space. In the next dimension, where there is a wider fragment of what you may call time -- which is still far from timelessness -- movement, time, and space are one. In other words, you are in one space. You think of the new space that you wish to be in. The movement required to bridge the distance is your thought. It is of a shorter span of time and motion. The thought -- which is movement -- brings you into another area of space, regardless of the distance, as measured in your dimension. Do you understand that?

QUESTION: Yes. But it brings two questions to mind. One is: can this happen on earth? And two: I saw a TV program recently which explained that in outer space, as we know it today, this adjustment via movement through time and space takes place, so that the time changes according to the rate of speed you are traveling in space. I don't quite understand it.

ANSWER: It is not possible on earth with the material means. However, it is possible in any sphere with the means that are compatible with that dimension. The spirit is capable of experiencing this. In fact, it experiences it constantly, only the waking brain is rarely aware of this experience. But the physical body is incapable of this experience because it is made for and adjusted to this limited dimension, one in which the separation between time and space exists, the bridge of these being movement.

As to your second question. When material and technical means have been invented to leave this dimension, then an inkling of this factor will become accessible to material brain knowledge. But whether or not this discovery is understood in its profound meaning depends on the individual. That is, on the capacity and on the willingness of people to understand. I might add that the technical knowledge that brought this cosmic truth into your material world -- the same truth that I approached here from a different angle -- is the consequence of a general, overall readiness of this earth sphere to grasp higher truth. If, in spite of the possibility for growth that brought forward such higher truth into its grasp, mankind still does not learn from its deeper meaning, then it will stagnate, with all the destructive results of such stagnation. It is exactly the same process as with an individual. He who has more potential to grow but does not utilize it will be a more troubled soul than one who may actually exert less effort in the direction of his development but who is closer to his given potential. This explains why it is impossible to judge and to compare.

To get back to your question. The technical discoveries are one way of helping mankind to understand this broader awareness. But if this technical discovery does not lead to this broader and deeper understanding, then such discoveries will not only be useless but they may even be destructive. The constructiveness and the benefit of every discovery depend on whether or not mankind as a whole understands spiritual and cosmic law on a deeper level than before such a discovery. If this happens, then it will help mankind to produce a greater inner freedom, faster growth and development -- and therefore outer peace and justice in an increased measure.

If history is observed from this point of view, then it will be found that all the earth upheavals ever experienced are a result of broader knowledge not being used with the proper understanding. The links between such new knowledge in certain eras and the subsequent upheavals due to ignorance of its real meaning could be established if historians undertaking such a search are themselves in a fully growing life process. New knowledge is not necessarily and exclusively of a technical nature. It can be an influx in art, in philosophy, or in any other realm of experience. These links are not immediately visible, but they are there. This might be an interesting study for an historian who has the inner equipment to see what first seems obscure, but which stands out clearly once one's attention is focused in the right direction.

What you cited in your second question is really exactly the same in technical terms as that which I explained in philosophical and psychological terms.

Now, my friends, prepare more questions for our next session together. All the questions not directly connected with this topic can be asked after the next lecture. However, if you have a sufficient number of general questions not pertaining to either of the lectures which come up for discussion, then we may arrange for another question and answer session. Or, I may adjust the next lecture in length according to the number of questions you have prepared for me. These are difficult subjects, and there is no use giving you more material than you can absorb.

My dearest friends, be blessed, every one of you. May these words not merely pass through your brain. May they give you the incentive to listen deep within yourself in order to gain a little distance from yourself. Through this distance -- and the resulting objectivity -- may you become more at home within yourself. Thus you will feel more at ease with life in this fragment of time and you will utilize it fearlessly, without straining into the future and without stemming against it, thereby being in harmony with the flow of time. May you thus gradually -- little by little, through the discoveries about your innermost hidden attitudes and your emotions -- find yourself in the harmony of flowing with the wave of time, thereby living each Now to the fullest. May all my good friends -- those who are present here and those who are absent, and those who are new and those who are hesitant, and those who may contemplate beginning a new way of inner life -- may you all find yourselves, and thus eventually overcome the barrier that makes you tend to the visible manifestation while being blind to that which causes it.

Be in peace. May you find the strength and the reality that I try to help you find. Be blessed. Be in God.

March 1, 1963