Back to the seeming state of time for a moment. Again, if one were to talk about it, time always would seem to be what is-not-present. What this means is that, as time never is present, all phenomena that supposedly occur and are experienced in time, equally never are present.
Every last particle of what appears as an observable stellar universe (the universe that is said to “arise in Awareness” each day) even at its smallest quantum level—all of it seems to function and have its basis in never-present time. Even at the level of energy, every bit of the so-called appearing, arising universe seems to be vibrating, moving; it never stops passing on in time, or not-being, to genuinely be.
It means the entire so-called universe never is present. What’s more, it takes time to even observe the universe. The entire functioning of the very human thinking, sensing “mind” that claims to observe that universe equally has its basis only in never-present time. The entire activity of the mind equally never is present.
Only Pure Awareness Itself is present.
A doubting thought may come, “Don’t tell me the things that I sense or think about in the universe aren’t present or aren’t being. I sense this computer screen right now. I sense the body. I sense the planet earth right now. I see it now, and I even could reach down and touch it now—so don’t tell me the screen, body, the earth, and all those sensations aren’t genuinely present.”
Look closer. For anything in the entire universe, the moment it is sensed by way of a visual image, a tactile feeling, or any other sensation—what’s really happening? As said earlier, those particular sensations are constantly shifting, changing and passing on, never to return again. It seems each sensation is instantly replaced by another new visual or tactile sensation, and another, and another, non-stop.
Again, they’re like the moving frames of film in a movie projector. The specific image of this computer screen as it appeared a few seconds ago, and the sense of touch of a body, are gone—already having been replaced by the fleeting image and touch being experienced at this moment in passing time, and on and on.
This applies to everything that is sensed in the universe—including the entire universe itself. Not a particle of it ever stops moving on, or not-being, to be. In its essence, it all would be a state of vibration, always moving or passing on in time. The entirety of it always is fleeting, passing away, and not being present—or being “not.” Shocking as it may sound, the entirety of the “universe” would be just so much non-presence!
Only the Present Itself, Infinite Awareness, is truly present.
The reason for all this discussion is to expose what seems to be this major misunderstanding about what present actually means or is. It seems many will insist, “Well, I can look at the tree appearing in my yard, and that tree definitely is what is present. What’s more, the entire appearing world is present, because I experience it now. Even though it may not be permanent or real, it’s present as an unreality, because I’m directly experiencing it as such right now.”
None of it really is present—as also discussed in the 9/29 post (Reality Precludes Objects). The “tree” (and the rest of the “world”) never is physical or objective. At most, it would be nothing more than so many passing, never-present sensations, supposedly experienced by the mind. These “mental-sensations” are sometimes called “mentations” to emphasize the purely “mental” or dream-like nature of it, as just so much thought—never physical or material.
The reason for the continued emphasis of this point is coming up. For now, be clear that any and all appearing or arising phenomena, anything sensed or thought–would be inseparable from so-called “time”–time that never is present.
This is further exposed by looking closely at another widely accepted, yet mistaken, notion—that the Present co-exists with time.
If one mistakenly starts out by identifying as a body instead of as Pure Awareness, one unwittingly accepts the typical human assumption that there is time—for everything the body seems to do appears to occur in time. One thus assumes there are both time and the Present.
In contrast, when one starts from the premise of the Present (identifying as Infinite Awareness being, which is the Present), it is clear that there are not both the Present and time!
From the standpoint of the Present, the Present does not co-exist with time, not-the-Present.
There is only the Present. Why?
There is absolutely no point at which the Present can be said to stop being present, and where another state, one of time or non-presence starts. Think it through intelligently—how could non-presence start somewhere? It’s a contradiction in terms. Non-presence can’t be a state; non-presence can’t start or get its foot in the door because it’s not present. It literally doesn’t exist; it can’t occur.
Only the Present can be present—and It is alone in Its presence.
This is clear only when starting from the premise of the Present (this present Infinite Awareness as It is being), and not sensing and thinking—something that time-based human thinking never does. And doesn’t One have to “start” from the premise of the Present and not time—since only the Present is genuinely present to be a premise? Is It not the Present Itself that is being present and aware here, now?
As the Present is not co-present with time, non-presence, this means the Present is not “between” past and future. The Present, Timeless Awareness being, is not a “source” or “cause” of a manifest world, as is often mistakenly believed. To the Present, which is all that is present throughout, or as all Existence, time never occurs. As time never occurs, manifestation or arising never occurs in the Present–for these would take time, of which there is none. Time, past and future simply do not occur in Total Present-ness. So the Present cannot be “between” such, but stands alone as All Presence.
Much more to come on this…