The Flow of Time

    

 I chose these pictures because to me they depict my experience of that mysterious thing we call Time.  Sometimes it seems like a rushing stream carrying us along willy-nilly with the flotsam and jetsam of our lives.  The days rush by and we say at the end of a day, a week, a month, a year--"Where did the Time go?"   And then there are those quiet times, when time seems to stop, and there is just--well, being.    I find that when I am out in nature, whether walking or just sitting quietly by a stream or under a tree, time stands still.   Or when I am painting or writing or creating in some other way,  I lose track of time.  I have no sense of it carrying me.  Rather, I feel that I am still, and it is just there, like a calm pond reflecting sunlight.  

       I read that based on Einstein's theory of relativity,  one can say that time is relative too.

I find that to be true for me.  When I am enjoying whatever is going on,  how quickly a much enjoyed and anticipated experience  becomes just a memory.  When I am in pain of some kind, or can't sleep at night, or in a situation I dislike,  time just drags.  

      How obsessed with time we often are.  Most of us wear watches and keep track of time all day long.  Our lives are governed by time chopped up into fragments of minutes and hours.

Why have we humans invented this kind of time?   If I were to ask Leo the dog "What time is it?" or "What day is it?"  he would just look at me with those big golden brown eyes, mystified.  How easily we forget that clock and calendar time is a human construct!  Sometimes I yearn for a life in which time flows according to the seasons, and the simple rhythm of day and night.  To do that, I would have to give up making dates and appointments and scheduling things I want to do, fairly often based on when other folks decided they were happening.   I guess I am not quite ready to do that yet, but occasionally,  especially when I read the stories of how ancient peoples lived, I think I'd like to try it out for awhile.   Maybe!  

     I might be able to get a taste of it by meditating as if I were a rock in the stream or pond, and thinking of Time as the water flowing around and past me.  But I am rooted in the Eternal Now. No past. No present.  Just this moment.  I think I'll go try it right now for--well--I have no idea how long, because I won't be paying any attention to what time it is!