In a squirrely capitalist culture we are en-tranced by time. We believe it to be linear - the future, the past and, the present. We want some experiences to move faster: more efficient pills, nuclear coffee, faster planes and cars. And we assume we are slave to the march of the clock.
Its no surprise coffee, tea and cocaine arrived in Europe at the infancy of imperialism and capitalism. This relationship between the plants we use and the social and economic structures are a powerful marriage and shape how we look at time. Excitants change how we situate ourselves in time, this felt sense becomes myopic and focused on progress and efficacy.
"We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between a causative past and an absorbingly important future. We have no present. Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation. We do not realize that there never was, is, nor will be any other experience that the present experience. We are therefore, out of touch with reality." -Alan Watts.
In order to live fully we must feel time in new, and perhaps forgotten ways.
What if instead of linear time, you began to feel it as deeper. Deeper into the present moment. Rather than waiting for your meditation to end, you took some time to sink into it.
1. Take Seven breaths, each getting deeper and slower.
2. Once you get to a place of stillness, sit in silence.
3. See if you can slow down your heartbeat.
4. Imagine yourself sinking deeper into your chair, or cushion, imaging falling. The more seriously you take this part, the scarier it can be, don't worry, you can always breach the surface again.
4. You can do this in handstand or upside down if you prefer, reversing the magnetism of your body, I think its fun to sit upside down in a chair, using it to let me point deep into the earth rather than away from it.
5. Once you fall into this place, really contemplate the present moment, do not get seduced by the felt sense that moments are passing, but rather, fall into the cave of time.
6. Speak to ancestors, interview them, imagine long dead saurian beasts.
7. When done, come out slowly, you won't want to jar yourself with the bends as you ascend back up.
8. TAKE your TIME.
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