Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction and Road Map
Chapter 2 The Personality approach to Time
Chapter 3 Modern Science and Our Current View of Time
Chapter 4 Beyond Time
Chapter 5 Time as the Soul’s Tool
Chapter 6 Meditations on Time
Chapter 7 Understanding Functionality and Applications
Conclusion
Works Cited
Additional Resources
Discussion

A DHY LONG PAPER FOR QUEST UNIVERSAL YEAR 1 - by Katharine Swenson

Chapter 1 Introduction and Road Map

Purpose

This paper will examine the different ways that the personality and the soul view ‘Time’ and work with it both in a practical sense and in abstract understanding. It is hoped that this contrast and comparison will encourage the reader to adapt a broader view of time and to experiment with applications of time from the perspective of the soul.

As it turns out, the topic itself is immense and too large for the amount of time and/or space available for this DHY paper. Much of the material presented is in fact cursory and the entire paper might be considered an introduction to further study and reflection. For myself, I needed to become acquainted with the history of our thoughts about time in order to begin to move into the more esoteric understandings. In this light, it was decided to postpone discussing some of the most obvious esoteric concepts of Time until the Part II paper in 2019. Specifically, the topics of Karma, Astrology, and Ray III as Lord of Time will be covered in 2019.

This essay will touch briefly on the history of time measurements and the almost unconscious assumptions that guide our time based world. This is not a philosophical treatise on time or the work of the great philosophers. Nor is it a cogent summary of some of the interesting science that has been used to support a particular role for time. The goal is simply to create a reference base for the more abstract meditations.

Chapters 2 and 3 present what I see as the personality based understanding of time, both from a philosophical and scientific point of view. Chapter 4 is a transition and Chapter 5 and 6 offer a soul perspective on time and some meditations. Chapter 7 suggests applications for the disciple and aspirant to incorporate as they utilize time from a soul perspective in an expanded consciousness.

I have been inspired by the symbolism of the arrow, ever since reading about William Blake’s ‘arrow of desire’, a line from one of his poems (Blake). In part this same arrow inspired me to undertake this project, when I learned that Eddington used the similar metaphor when he described the ‘arrow of time’ (Eddington, 1928, p. 35). I soon realized that the arrow itself might be too limited a symbol for Time in its many ramifications. Unless of course we might consider the arrow of time to be more of a circle, if not a spiral. Thus we begin to navigate into the complexity of Time drawing from philosophical, scientific and esoteric perspectives.

From the Personality Perspective

To get the pump primed and one’s thoughtfulness started; note that we sense the passage and cycle of time. Then we divide it, measure it, and use it to separate events and to support causality. In a limited view, whatever occurred first is the cause of what happens next. Can we have causality without time?

The first paragraph from the Wikipedia entry on “Time” summarizes three important concepts about time that point to our evolution in thinking and intellect. [superscript references within the Wikipedia entry itself, numerical listing added by KOS]

1) “Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future.^[1][2][3]

2)Time is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to compare the duration of events or the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change of quantities in material reality or in the conscious experience.^[4][5][6][7]

3) Time is often referred to as a fourth dimension, along with three spatial dimensions.”^[8] (Time) (includes wiki references ^[1-8])

The first concept about time actually refers to time experienced both as cycles and as discrete measurements. Philosophers have referred to this as the ‘arrow of time’, indicating its directionality. The observation itself is based on the 2^nd law of thermodynamics and entropy. The example often used is that of an egg falling to the ground and breaking. Nothing can restore the egg to its past state. Time has progressed as an observable change in state or condition.

The second point, the measurement of time, emphasizes the distinction between cultures that function based on cycles of time and those that operate from segmental measurements of time. An important change came when intervals were used to break the daylight into segments of time. The obvious time points were sunrise, noon, and sunset, although these would change as the length of day changes throughout the year. Although still functioning within the sense of cyclic time, these demarcations set the tone for using time to separate activities into discrete segments. A further development was the sundial that could be used to divide the day into more segments of equal length. Later came the invention of mechanical clocks and an increasing focus on accuracy of intervals.

The third concept about the possibility of time as a fourth dimension opens a more philosophical approach to time in relationship to space and hence to the universe. This introduces the work of the theoretical physicists (Einstein) and quantum physics. In the basic space-time relationship, Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum physics have both shown the fallacy of time as a unique and constant factor. This approach will be developed further in a later section on ‘time as illusion’. The esoteric approach to the 4^th and 5^th dimension in relationship to time will be examined in the 2019 paper.

Some Occult Definitions of Time

In contrast to the ordinary way of viewing time, the following esoteric definitions of time point to an entirely different focus. The quotations in this paper from DK in the AAB books (Bailey) are noted in the usual student format and book abbreviations (i.e. TCF 278 is from Treatise on Cosmic Fire p. 278). Notes in brackets [ ] are added by KOS, this author. The esoteric emphasis in these definitions is on cycles, states of consciousness, a utilization of form, and events in manifestation.

“Time to the occultist is that cycle, greater or lesser, in which some life runs some specific course, in which some particular period begins, continues, and ends, in connection with the awareness of some Entity, and is recognised only as time when the participating life has reached a considerable stage of awareness. Time has been defined as a succession of states of consciousness. (TCF 278)

“The duration of the interplay, the period of the search of Spirit for Spirit, and [Page 281] the vibratory process necessitated by the utilisation of the form, this we call Time, whether in connection with a man, a planetary Logos, or the Deity. (TCF 280-281)

“When we arrive at the plane of mind, and have to consider the activity of the second aspect of divinity, that which builds and holds the forms in coherent form, and which is the basis of the phenomenon we call time (literally, the awareness of the form), a different type of force or motion becomes apparent.(TCF 1032)

“I would ask you to perfect each life episode and event (which is only another word for time) so that they are as constructive in expression of the group will as you can make them.” – [Event is another word for time] (DNA I 209)

Chapter 2 The Personality approach to Time

This chapter presents the concepts of time from what occultists would define as the personality perspective. This broad perspective includes not only the measurements of time from the concrete mind of objective science, but also some of the imbedded subjective concepts in our psyche. Somewhere in the midst of this is the contribution from the philosophers who have sought to discover “the nature of reality and the means of knowledge”. (TWM 411)

Historical landmarks in measuring Time

Time is so ubiquitous in daily life that one must stop to think and reflect on what human life might have been like before all the emphasis on measuring time. Early humans experienced the repetitive cycles of day and night, and of moon phases. A few cultures still operate within this emphasis instead of dividing time into increasingly small and accurate segments.

Historically, at least 5000 years ago, humans were following the cycles of time such as lunar cycles, the daily solar cycle, and the yearly orbital cycle of the earth (Andrewes, 2018, p. 51). Even societies that didn’t measure time would experience the irreversible succession of time. In the 13^th century, the first mechanical clocks were invented using a falling weight and rotating wheel to mark time. (Andrewes, 2018, p. 52) . After this there was little need to connect time to planetary movements.

Philosophical Constructs of Time

The list of Western philosophers who pondered time includes Parmenides and Zeno (around 500 B.C.E.) and of course Plato and Aristotle (closer to 300 B.C.E.) (Lanza, 2016). Some of the key questions might be:

Does time exist as an independent reality, separate from events that occur in time and /or separate from consciousness
Does consciousness itself exist independent of the mind
Does time exist outside of the present moment
What is the relatedness of time and duration?
What is the relationship of time and space?
What does our experience of the succession of events mean in terms of time?

The main topics in the philosophy of time are reviewed by Markosian in an article simply entitled “Time” published in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Markosian, 2016). I found the topics on the Typology of Time and the 3D/4D Controversy the most interesting. The topic about Time and Space will be added to a later section. Thoughts about the typology of time actually concern our concept of time as linear. These three quotations are from Markosian in the topic Typology of Time:

“It's natural to think that time can be represented by a line. But a line has a shape. What shape should we give to the line that represents time? This is a question about the topology, or structure, of time.”

“Consider the question of whether time should be represented by a line without a beginning. Aristotle has argued (roughly) that time cannot have a beginning on the grounds that in order for time to have a beginning, there must be a first moment of time, but that in order to count as a moment of time, that allegedly first moment would have to come between an earlier period of time and a later period of time, which is inconsistent with its being the first moment of time. (Aristotle argues in the same way that time cannot have an end.)”

“It is also worth asking whether time must be represented by a single line. Perhaps we should take seriously the possibility of time's consisting of multiple time streams, each one of which is isolated from each other, so that every moment of time stands in temporal relations to other moments in its own time stream, but does not bear any temporal relations to any moment from another time stream. Likewise we can ask whether time could correspond to a branching line, or to a closed loop, or to a discontinuous line. And we can also wonder whether one of the two directions of time is in some way privileged, in a way that makes time itself asymmetrical.”

This last quotation leads quite seamlessly into an earlier work by Eddington (Eddington, 1928) who generated a series of four figures depicting time in increasingly multidimensional fashion (Eddington, 1928, pp. 21-24). The first figure simply uses a four directional model with the vertical dimension being the past, ‘here-now’ and future, although the positions of events are not exactly linear as they do not have a definite position. In the second figure, he add the ‘observer’ and this makes the figure more specific with the “HERE-NOW” as a specific central point on a line representing my instantaneous view an event in time. But there are also lines extending toward the past for what is the “seen now” from the past and for events in my awareness but in different locations than “Here”. Figure 3 adds more lines of the ‘seen now’ because it allows for multiple observers. Eddington points out that these should be viewed as “merely reference lines drawn across the world for convenience in locating events” (Eddington, 1928, p. 23).

In the final figure Eddington moves to an absolute view, absolute not in particularity but in the more esoteric sense of “emanating cause” of the logoic plane (LOS 298). It is best if I quote Eddington directly.

“The flat picture is a section: you must imagine it rotated (twice rotated in fact, since there are two more dimensions outside the picture). The Seen-Now locus is thus really a cone; or by taking account of the prolongation of the lines into the future a double cone or hour-glass figure (Fig.4) These hour-glasses (drawn through each point in the world considered in turn as Here-Now) embody what we know of the absolute structure of the world so far as space and time are concerned. They show how the “grain” of the world runs.” (Eddington, 1928, p. 24)

1747843481_image1.emfEddington, 1928, p. 24

An extensive review of more recent philosophers approach to time can be found in Dainton’s article on “Temporal Consciousness” (Dainton, 2017). It is the question about our experience of the succession of events in time that has interested me the most. Henri Bergson’s writings on this are extensive. From Dainton’s article

“around the turn of the 20^th century Bergson’s writings on time and consciousness had considerable influence. In his Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness (1889/1910) he began his campaign against the ‘spatializing’ of time, and in this campaign the concept of duration (or durée) plays a key role. At least in his earlier writings, this concept applies to time as it is features in our immediate experience. For Bergson, duration is a continuous flow, immeasurable and unquantifiable – the ‘ceaselessly seething surd at the heart of things’, in Barrett’s words (1968: 373). As such it is radically unlike the static conception of time as a manifold of mere locations to be found in the scientific conception of the world, whether Newtonian or Einsteinian.” (Dainton, 2017, p. section 2.7).

Admittedly, this article convinced me of the esoteric teachings about abstract thinking at the level of the concrete mind which concerns debates within the educational framework of the phenomenal world. It became an interesting exercise in circularity and cleverness. Abstract thinking is not the same as abstract consciousness involving the higher mind and beyond. As DK writes,

“the unfoldment of the abstract consciousness which is a blend of the intellect and the intuition and which serves to reveal the wisdom aspect of love in its beauty” (DON 55)

Dainton himself questions our ability to learn about “the nature of our experience of time from the theories about time per se?” and goes on to state “Most of the connections between the metaphysics and the phenomenology of time involve, in one way or another, temporal passage.” (Dainton, 2017, p. secction 7.2). At the risk of oversimplification I will extract two of the viewpoints he summarizes. One is referred to as a 4-dimensional ‘Block’ universe and the other might be called a universe ‘of becoming’.

“Proponents of the four-dimensional ‘Block’ universe – also known as eternalism – hold that there is no ontological distinction between past, present and future, and that all times are equally real. They further hold that there is no unique privileged present time, and a fortiori that there is no such thing as a moving present.”^[24] (Dainton, 2017)[Dainton also referencing - Minkowski (1908), Williams (1951), Smart (1980), Mellor (1981, 1998)]

“Someone might object: ‘There cannot be an experience of succession without genuine succession, and the latter consists of the coming into being of successive phases of a stream of consciousness.’ If this view could be shown to be correct, the Growing Block theorist would have the upper hand. For if reality as a whole comes into being, drop by drop (or slice by slice), then so too does experience, and the experience of succession would thereby be possible. Of course, the viability of this line of argument depends on the initial premise: does the experience of succession require absolute becoming?” (Dainton, 2017)

For proponents of the Block Universe, the passage of time is a function of our memory and the way memories accumulate and also the distinction between the physical passage of time and the phenomenal experience of the passage of time (Dainton, 2017).

Human Psychism

Human psychism, that body of experience both conscious and unconscious that is the underpinning of many human behaviors and desires, is heavily influenced by our adherence to the structures of time. Time supports our perspective that the history of the world is linear and that events are fixed. The past cannot be changed. Time occurs in finite bundles. In our world of measurement, life becomes focused between the time points of birth and death and on a cosmic level, the origin of the universe and the ending of the universe. Time itself is seen as a finite quantity easily translated into a sense of limitation. Time is running out.

We also use time to create a sense of direction and ordering. We count time intervals and we often measure change and results based on units of time or an action at a later time point. For example, journaling and comparing this year to last year involves a sense of sequential order and time.

Time as a measurement system has become a cornerstone of empirical science where experiments measure changes in systems over time. Bergson (Bergson, 1946) describes the problem of using time to freeze in place many of the experiences of the world . We arrest motion in order to measure it (Bergson, 1946) Second lecture, see text page 142, pdf p.14).

We continue to manipulate time, even as it continues to manipulate us. We use time frames in slow motion to break a fluid motion into discrete moments for analysis. And we use compression of time sequence to show a pattern of stars moving or a flower blooming as one seamless event.

It is difficult to say which aspect of time awareness has the most detrimental effect on human psychism. One of the most pressing features of time is our sense of time urgency. Even the word urgency itself has its etymologic root in “pressing” (Urgent)]. This aspect has been accentuated by our sense of time speeding up as the world changes more rapidly. Mass media constantly tells us that time is running out, the special offer is limited, and the news is breaking now. It is easy to see the association between the urgings of time and the human capacity for desire. Desire is based on a need to change a condition. And these changes in condition involve time: changing away from the past and changing toward the future.

Time as Illusion

DK tells us time is part of the world of illusion.

“You will note that these words “in time and space” have repeatedly recurred in this instruction. Why is this? Because it must constantly be remembered that we are living in the world of illusion—an illusion which is temporary and transient and which will some day disappear, taking with it the illusion of appearance, the illusion of evolutionary [Page 25] unfoldment, the illusion of separativeness, and the illusion of distinctive identity—that illusion which makes us say “I am.” (ENA 25-26)

Our fixation with time is so ubiquitous. Yet on closer inspection most of the aspects that seem to define our way of life come from a perspective on time that is really mankind’s own invention. Historically groups of humans would have watched the patterns and cycles of heavenly bodies but perhaps didn’t need to call it time. As summarized above, time has shifted from a flowing of cycles to the current emphasis on accuracy and a linear series of discrete moments to which we can link certain events.

The passage of events is one aspect of time in our daily life. In addition, most people recognize that the flow of time results in the three distinct categories of past, present, and future. And within these three categories, the main emphasis for purposes of reality is on the present moment. The past is usually based on an incomplete set of records and memories and the future is but an anticipation of probabilities or projected experiences. Einstein’s theory of relativity and its impact on the concept of simultaneity changed the way that physicists view time. In a Collector’s Edition of Scientific American, devoted to articles on Time, Paul Davies gives us a famous quote from Einstein, “ The past, present, and the future are only illusions, even if stubborn ones.“ (Davies, 2018, p. 10) Davies goes on to explain “Einstein’s startling conclusion stems directly from his special theory of relativity, which denies any absolute, universal significance to the present moment. According to the theory, simultaneity is relative.” And the time of occurrence depends on the frame of reference of the observer. (Davies, 2018, p. 10). Using this perspective, we would no longer consider events as fixed in time but keep in mind a more fluid designation based within our limited individualized perception of time. We live in an observable world, but as Davies point out, “what we actually observe is that later states of the world differ from earlier states that we still remember” (Davies, 2018, p. 13).

Chapter 3 Modern Science and Our Current View of Time

The Western world can trace questions and debates about the nature of time at least as far back as the ancient Greeks. Note how even this sentence bears a heavy reference to time as a linear feature with a distinct past! The scientific contributions to our understanding of time fall into four main periods:

Newtonian physics
Boltzmann’s 2^nd law of thermodynamics (entropy)
Einstein and the theories of relativity
Quantum science and the Heisenberg principle of uncertainty.

In my view, it is not a matter of replacing one level of understand with the next, rather of learning when and how to emphasize a particular construct. Most of humanity still plans their lives based on Newtonian physics. Newton’s physics for the laws of motion suggest that time exists as a master clock (Callender, 2018, p. 16). In fact Callender points out that the basic concepts of we associate with time such as “ order, continuity, duration, simultaneity, flow, and the arrow –are logically detachable, yet they all stick together in the master clock that Newton dubbed “time” (Callender, 2018, p. 16). Thus we have fundamental laws of an operational world as well as our inner sense of these features of time. The more recent contributions will be discussed as we proceed.

A recent book “ Beyond Biocentrism “ offers a convenient distillation of centuries of philosophical debates about time interspersed with the scientific observations that augment these debates [Lanza and Berman, 2016]. The authors note succinctly that we are all basing our daily live on intervals we call time that are basically arbitrary (Lanza, 2016, p. 16). They go on to summarize two important philosophical world views of time: Isaac Newton, who argued that time has its own fundamental reality in the universe and that events occur in it and Immanuel Kant, who offered the countering view that time is an organizing structure invented by man in which to orient his events and thoughts (Lanza, 2016, p. 16). Lanza calls this the “container” view and says in this view that time does not flow. I would argue that time does not flow in either philosophical perspective because they both view time as a structure, whether or not it is independent of human invention. In the second half of this paper I will offer another perspective that incorporates some of the more esoteric definitions of time. From this perspective the main function of Time is to provide a mechanism for flow and continuity for evolution and progress in the world of appearance and form.

Measuring Time and the Distortions of Time

The whole process of developing increasingly accurate ways to measure the intervals of time dominated the 18^th and 19^th centuries and seemed to give man a measure of controlling time. There were paradoxes noted by George FitzGerald and Hendrik Lorenz that were more fully explained by Einstein’s theory of relativity such that “even if time is an actual entity, it cannot be a constant like lightspeed” (Lanza, 2016, p. 18). The ability to cause distortions in time that affect aging for example became more apparent with experiments during space travel which occurred at higher speeds and differing gravitational fields compared to those on the surface of earth (Lanza, 2016, p. 19).

Taking this one step further, Lanza and Berman noted that when physicists reexamined the role of time in their experiments, even at the quantum level, they found that time did not need to be a part of the equations except as an interval devised to measure change (Lanza, 2016, p. 22 & 30). This seemed to point to time once more as a phenomenon, for example a phenomenon of some sort of selective memory (Lanza, 2016, p. 22). To this I would add that once we take seriously the concept that time is not a constant, then our sense of time as a fixed set of occurrences governed by time comes into question. Earlier I described Markosian’s argument that time may not be linear, or certainly not restricted to a single line. Once we break apart these stereotypes of time, we can start shifting to an orientation where time is almost like another vehicle for the observer Soul and might take on different properties (i.e. flexible, synthetic, portal; depending on the environment and intention in the observation.

The Flowing River of Time

Our notion of the flow of time is our sense of a passage of events with the added parameter of directionality. This is the famous ‘arrow of time’ a phrase attributed to Eddington (The Nature of the Physcial World, 1928). He argues that time’s directionality is based on “the progressive increase of the random element (Eddington, 1928, p. 35). This in turn is linked to our experience of change as we observe conditions which change in the direction of increasing disorder known as entropy, the familiar form of Boltzmann’s second law of thermodynamics (Entropy). The specific apple that falls from the tree does not ever reverse course and return upward back to the tree branch. All of these observations of changes in world events would seem to account for our fundamental sense perceptions of past, present and future.

According to Lanza and Berman, Boltzmann however did not view entropy as establishing the existence of time. Rather he said that entropy was a present-moment effect that disordered states were more probably than ordered ones (Lanza, 2016, p. 31). Davies, a theoretical physicist, states “ the arrow of time denotes an asymmetry of the world in time, not an asymmetry or flux [ i.e.: flow] of time.” (Davies, 2018, p. 11).

Quantum Science and Time

Now we begin to approach the age old question about the relationship between consciousness and matter. Lanza and Berman thread their way through this maze in Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 and eventually end up with the biocentric view that “time and space are merely the mind’s tools for effortlessly putting everything together” (Lanza, 2016, p. 44). Extending this further they even state that experiments in the 21rst century now “suggest that the ‘past’ –– the history of the cosmos, of Earth, or anything else –– is not some fixed statue, but unfolds in the present moment and only upon observation” (Lanza, 2016, p. 45). It takes a bit of mental maneuvering to work around this statement with regard to something as important as our concept of the Akashic Records. In response to a faculty question on this regard, I turn to an interesting idea from Meditation on the Tarot, where the author considers the Akashic record as threefold in nature depending on the time lapse perspective with which it is viewed.

“ Thus, a twofold process takes place in the Akasha chronicle: it is spiritualised and at the same time concretised, in proportion to the extent that the distance from the present into the past increases. (Anonymous, 1985, p. 564)

Quantum science and in particular Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle support the view that time has a special role distinct from space and that since “nature is inherently indeterministic, [this] implies an open future (and for that matter an open past).” (Davies, 2018, p. 13). This is based on experiments at the atomic level with electrons. In these experiments it is “in the act of measurement [that] a single specific reality gets projected out from a vast array of possibilities” (Davies, 2018, p. 13). Davies also reminds us that many physicists argue that the outcome has something to do with the act of observation itself and the consciousness of the observer (Davies, 2018, p. 13).

The Interaction between Time and Space

Although this topic could easily be approached from esoteric teachings, many philosophers and scientists have been preoccupied with this interaction and also the parameters of time as a 4th dimension. Markosian calls this the “The 3D/4D Controversy” (Markosian, 2016). One way to approach the question is to ask whether time has the same property of ‘extension’ as does Space and therefore is properly a 4th dimension. We know for example that objects can extend into more than one space at the same time, like an object dangling out a window and having some parts inside the house and other parts outside. Markosian writes:

“ . . . the 3D/4D controversy is part of a general disagreement among philosophers of time concerning the degree to which time is dissimilar from the dimensions of space.

According to The 4D View, temporally extended objects have temporal parts, temporal extension is perfectly analogous to spatial extension, and time is one of four dimensions that are on a par, at least with respect to the manner in which objects are spread out in space-time. On The 3D View, however, temporally extended objects do not have temporal parts, temporal extension is very different from spatial extension, and time is unique among the four dimensions of the world, at least with respect to the manner in which objects are spread out in space-time.” (Markosian, 2016, p. topic 8)

Recall how Einstein’s theory of general relativity calls into question the concept of simultaneity. In reviewing this Callender states “only in rare cases is it possible to synchronize clocks and have them stay synchronized, even in principle. You cannot generally think of the world as unfolding, tick by tick according to a single time parameter.” (Callender, 2018, p. 17). He goes on to question whether we can even “say that an event happened before or after another” (Callender, 2018, p. 17). One can imagine how this would affect our customary notion of causality based on the timing of events.

In actuality, science continues to debate the existence and the relevance of time depending on whether one is following Quantum physics or Einstein’s theory of relativity (Callender, 2018, pp. 18-21). Two interesting ideas caught my attention. One is that “time, too, could be an emergent property of whatever the basic ingredients of the world are” (Callender, 2018, p. 16) [Callender prefaced this with the example of solids emerging from atoms]. The other fascinating idea in Callender’s article had to do with a different form of directionality for time – “In a very precise sense, time is the direction within space-time in which good prediction is possible, the direction in which we can tell the most informative stories.” (Callender, 2018, p. 18). Callender ends philosophically by referring to the work of French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Callender’s concluding sentences are worth quoting in entirety:

“Merleau-Ponty was speaking of our subjective experience of time, and until recently no one ever guessed that objective time might itself be explained as a result of those connections. Time may exist only by breaking the world into subsystems and looking at what ties them together. In this picture, physical time emerges by virtue of our thinking ourselves as separate from everything else.” (Callender, 2018, p. 21)

Chapter 4 Beyond Time

Years ago a friend tried to comment on my unusual perspectives on life. She said I was an anachronism. I suppose she meant out of step with the times. I smiled and thought to myself, yes, I am out of step with time – I am a beochronism. The phrase landed and has stayed with me. Now I think making that statement was not so far off the mark . Just as disciples learn to live in the world and be not of the world, there is a way to live in time and be beyond time. The remainder of this essay will explore some of the characteristics of this way.

Kalachakra

There is historical precedent for the concept of ‘beyond time’ in the teachings of the Kalachakra. The name Kalachakra is translated as ‘The Wheel of Time’ although it refers more accurately to cycles of time. The Kalachakra, I can feel the immensity of the teaching and its spiritual truth, although I cannot claim to have received even the first empowerment, at least not in this lifetime. I am compelled to include some reference to this teaching in order to open the door for these energies for the reader. Apologies in advance to those of you who are true practitioners and scholars of this work. Most of what I might summarize here comes from Alexander Berzin’s text “Introduction to the Kalachakra” (Berzin).

The Kalachakra is an ancient teaching attributed to the Buddha almost 3000 years ago that was preserved and later codified into tantric teachings. “ Together with Tibetan translators, Indian teachers also transmitted Kalachakra to Tibet. There were three primary transmissions between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries” (Berzin, p. 31). In addition to the texts, the Kalachakra is represented by a complex mandala figure used in the empowerments which symbolically portrays the cosmology of Tibetan Buddhism. There is also an emphasis on the four directions. The practitioner meditates on the mandala symbolism and the teachings. The teachings themselves have been recorded in a text known as the “Ornament of Stainless Light” [see Additional Resources].

In the Kalachakra teachings there are three cycles of time: inner time, outer time, and alternate time. Outer time refers to the worlds of phenomena in the macrocosm, inner time refers to microcosm within the human body and atomic levels. Alternate time is used to describe the liberation from the cycles of inner and outer time and the particular meditation practices used to achieve this. As Berzin explains, “the possibility of gaining liberation from time, however, does not imply that time does not actually exist or that someone can live and benefit others outside of time. . . . Liberation from time means ridding ourselves of the confusion, and its instincts, that repeatedly give rise to the impulses, or karma, that render us at the mercy of the ravages of time” (Berzin, p. 30). The Buddhist perspective emphasizes the cyclic nature of time. I quote Berzin again: “In short, the external and internal cycles of time delineate samsara — uncontrollably recurring rebirth, fraught with problems and difficulties. These cycles are driven by impulses of energy, known in the Kalachakra system as “winds of karma” (Berzin, p. 28) and “Time, in Buddhism, is defined as a measurement of change” but “such changes are cyclical in that the pattern repeats, although the events of each cycle are not completely identical.” (Berzin, p. 27).

Imaging the Space that Time surrounds

As I worked with the history and scientific understands of time, I kept hearing the refrain from an old song from the 1970’s about “Time in a Bottle” (Time in a Bottle). This immediately conjures the image of trying to trap time in a container, as if to save it up and make it last. Putting time in a bottle has another impact, it disrupts the flow of time. It changes the emphasis to the quantity of time rather than the function of time to manifest patterns of events in space.

From some of the occult definitions of time, I knew that I didn’t want to put time in the container. What I actually wanted was to keep open the space within the container. In my contemplations, I began to consider that maybe time was the container itself. The container called time in my imaginal world was a beautiful mosaic of events and observations that formed the solidity of the container and the beautiful pattern I could see on the surface. In this imaginal world, it was important not to connect time across the container in a complex web that would barricade and limit the possibilities within space itself. Note this is the use of space as the void engendering possibility, not the grid of dimensional location.

One could write pages about the ways in which our mental and emotional connections to time influence just about every aspect of our life and activity. Davies, in his scientific article about the Flow of Time, concludes with a good summary of ways in our lives might change without the usual emphasis on time:

“And what if science were able to explain away the flow of time? Perhaps we would no longer fret about the future or grieve for the past. Worries about death might become as irrelevant as worries about birth. Expectation and nostalgia might cease to be part of the human vocabulary. Above all, the sense of urgency that attaches to so much of human activity might evaporate.” (Davies, 2018, p. 13)

The Turning of the Wheel

To my way of thinking, the way of life that considers activity beyond time does not preclude the existence of cycles in the world. These cycles are described in detail in TCF p1083-1097. I offer a lengthy set of quotes from this section so that the reader can absorb the energy behind the words and images. This text from DK starting from TCF 1083, reminded me of the great mystery of the Kalachakra mandala: The Wheel of Time.

TCF 1083 “We come now to the consideration of another point, and one of very real moment; it emerges out of what we have been saying anent cycles and is the basis of all periodic phenomena. . . . . ( TCF 1084)This cosmic centre in turn forms part of a great wheel till—to the eye of the illumined seer—the entire vault of Heaven is seen to be in motion. All the constellations, viewing them as a whole, are impelled in one direction. The old Commentary expresses this obscure truth as follows:

“The one wheel turns. One turn alone is made, and every sphere, and suns of all degrees, follow its course. The night of time is lost in it, and kalpas measure less than seconds in the little day of man. . . . Wheels within wheels, spheres within spheres. Each pursues his course and attracts or rejects his brother, and yet cannot escape from the encircling arms of the mother.”

(TCF 1093) “There is also, the Wheel of a race, or the lesser cycle of incarnations—forming a definite series—wherein the incarnating Monad cycles through a number of lives in a particular race. . . .

There are a few more remarks to be made anent the turning of the various wheels, and we can then take up the consideration of motion and the sheaths.

Within all those wheels which we have enumerated, are many lesser wheels all governed by the same laws, actuated by the same three forms of activity, and all (in their totality) forming one great whole. It will be apparent [Page 1094] to all conscientious students that the founders of the symbolical method managed to convey in the symbol of the wheel an idea of the triplicity of all atomic activity:

a. The central point of active positive force—-the hub.

b. The negative stream of life—-the radiating spokes.

c. The sphere of activity itself, the effect of the interplay of these two —-the circumference of the wheel.” TCF 1093

Two more quotations from DK add clarification:

“In reality, the wheel does not turn like a wheel in a car either forward or the reverse. It turns every way and both ways simultaneously. This fact is, as yet, an impossible one for the human consciousness to grasp. EA 370

LOS 363 “ . . . when the words of a Hindu commentator are considered. He says:

“As an atom is a substance in which minuteness reaches its limit, so a moment is a division of time in which minuteness reaches its limit. Or a moment is that much of time which an atom takes in leaving the position in space it occupies and reaching the next point. The succession of moments is the non-cessation of the glow thereof.”

When we can realize that an atom and a moment are one and the same, and that back of these lies the Realizer or Cognizer of both, we have got the clue to all states of consciousness itself, and to the nature of energy. We shall also have reached a true understanding of the Eternal Now, and a just appreciation of the significance of the past, the present, and the future.”

One can almost sense the threshold of understanding here. The triplicity of atomic activity as a wheel, which we know is not two dimensional. The atom and the moment are corresponding units of minuteness. This minuteness relates substance to time.

Chapter 5 Time as the Soul’s Tool

If there is one take home message from the preceding description of philosophies and scientific observations about time, it would be that it is quite likely that Time is an illusion! Perhaps a better way to explain this paradox given our lived experience in the world is that Time is a state of consciousness. This is certainly one of the ways that DK describes Time. “ Time has been defined as a succession of states of consciousness, (TCF 278) logoic, planetary, causal, human, animal, vegetable, mineral, atomic.” In this vein we might also divide human consciousness between personality centered awareness and soul consciousness. This chapter will begin to consider the ways in which the Soul might use time as a necessary part of experience in the manifest world. This is in contrast to the usual personality perspective that is ruled by Time with its sense of urgency and limitation. To better appreciate the beauty of time as a Divine expression it is necessary to expand our thinking and consider once more some of the occult descriptions and definitions of time. This section will quote extensively from DK on the subject, with special thanks to the compilations by Michael Robbins.

Some esoteric definitions of Time

“Forget not the occult truth that time and events are one basic phenomenal happening. DNA I 284

“Time and energy are interchangeable terms upon the inner planes. Time is an event, and an event is a focussed expression of force of some type or kind. EXH 347

“I would ask you to perfect each life episode and event (which is only another word for time) so that they are as constructive in expression of the group will as you can make them. DNA I 209 – [Event is another word for time]

“of the need for understanding the relation of time, both to space and to event. It will be realised before long that time is entirely a brain event; a study of the sense of speed as registered by the brain, plus the capacity or incapacity of a human being to express this speed, will, when properly approached, reveal much that today remains a mystery. DON p.32

“2. Then ponder upon the significance of time as an expression of the will, realising that this expression is a thought—instantaneous and effective—in the mind of the planetary Logos. Think out carefully some of the implications of this last statement.” DNA II 210

“Time is literally the length of a thought” TWM 557

“We have seen that they [space-time] are simply forms of ideas to express the cyclic activity of an entity.” TCF 281

Service and Time

Now that we can view time as an expression of divine will in the manifest world it becomes easier to view Time as a tool for service. The points to emphasize are: time in action, conscious awareness related to time, and duality. Many of the source quotations overlap in these points.

Although we often live with a sense of time urgency, time can have a useful function almost as a monitor of action and emphasis. One needs to be efficient and in right proportion and this can be gauged in part by our measurements of time.

Action and Activity

In this text, DK clearly sees a benefit to the proper use of time.

“He serves with discrimination who brings a realisation of time into action, and comprehending that each day contains but twenty-four hours and that his capacity contains but the expenditure of just so much force and no more, wisely adjusts his capacity and the time available to each other.” LOM 345

From a philosophical perspective, we might define action as a movement between two states of time. Bergson (Bergson, 1946, p. 145) points out the danger of thinking that the state of immobility a requirement for action. This is the same principle that makes us live in a world of discrete moments in time instead of a continuous duration of change. He goes on to explain “there is nothing more natural: the breaking up of change into states enables us to act upon things, and it is useful in a practical sense to be interested in the states rather than the changes itself. But what is favorable to action in this case would be fatal to speculation” (Bergson, 1946, p. 146) Bergson earlier states that “when we transport this habit of mind into the domain of speculation, we fail to recognize the true reality . . . we close our eyes to what is most living in the real“ (Bergson, 1946, p. 44).

DK also explains that time is a process of activity and interplay related to the Law of Attraction and the likes or dislikes of men.
“We might, therefore, consider time as that process of activity, or that progression in development, wherein the indwelling Consciousness is seeking its opposite, and coming under the Law of Attraction, which leads to atomic, human, planetary, spiritual, solar and cosmic marriage. This idea is comparatively simple in relation to a human being, and can be seen in daily demonstration in his contacts with other men [KOS and his polar opposite women]; these contacts are governed, for instance, very largely by his likes and dislikes. All these attractions and repulsions are under law, and their cause exists in form itself. The emotion of like or of dislike is nothing else but the realisation by the conscious entity of the swinging into his magnetic radius of an atomic form which he is led, by the very law of his own being, to either attract or repulse. Only when the form is transcended, and Spirit seeks out Spirit, will the phenomena of repulsion cease. This will be the inevitable finale at the cessation of solar evolution, and it will bring about pralaya. The duration of the interplay, the period of the search of Spirit for Spirit, and [Page 281] the vibratory process necessitated by the utilisation of the form, this we call Time, whether in connection with a man, a planetary Logos, or the Deity.” TCF 280

Cycles of Time - Conscious Awareness, the Higher Spiral and the Liberation

These three quotations from DK taken as a whole, suggest cycles of time as spiraling levels of consciousness.
TCF 277 “Time to the occultist is that cycle, greater or lesser, in which some life runs some specific course, in which some particular period begins, continues, and ends, in connection with the awareness of some Entity, and [these life cycles] is recognised only as time when the participating life has reached a considerable stage of awareness. Time has been defined as a succession of states of consciousness, (TCF 278) logoic, planetary, causal, human, animal, vegetable, mineral, atomic.

“An endless circulation [of prana] goes on that has neither a conceivable beginning nor possible end from the point of view of finite man, for its source and end are hid in the unknown cosmic fount. Were conditions everywhere perfected this circulation would proceed unimpeded and might result in a condition of almost endless duration, but limitation and termination result as the effects of imperfection giving place to a gradual perfection. Every cycle originates from another cycle of a relative completeness, and will give place ever to a higher spiral; thus eventuate periods of apparent relative perfection leading to those which are still greater. TCF 102

“The aim for this greater cycle is the blending, as we know, of the two fires of matter, latent and active, and their merging with the fires of mind and spirit till they are lost from sight in the general flame; the fires of mind and spirit burn up matter and thereby bring about liberation from the confining vehicles. The altar of earth is the birthplace of spirit, its liberator from the mother (matter), and its entrance into higher realms. TCF 102

Duality dependent on Time and Space, etc.

“The duality of the solar system will eventually be recognised as dependent upon the following factors: a) Existence itself, b) Time and space, c)The quality of desire or necessity, d)The acquisitive faculty inherent in life itself.” TCF 239

DK went on to compare and contrast Time and Space. In this writing we see that Time is not a 4^th dimension of space, but rather has its own functionality. If I might summarize, Time has the functionality of interplay and space relates to the ring-pass-not of boundaries. Both are aspects of consciousness and life within form. They are otherwise dissimilar.

“Space, again, is included in the idea of consciousness, and its utilisation of matter. Space, for the Logos, is literally the form wherein His conscious activities and purposes are worked out—the solar ring-pass-not. . . . Man again repeats the process and his ring-pass-not is included in the radius of his consciousness, and may be very circumscribed as in the case of the little evolved, or may be inclusive of a portion of planetary space of great extent . . .

We have here dealt a little with time and space in their relation to a specific centre of consciousness; we have seen that they [space and time] are simply forms of ideas to express the cyclic activity of an entity. The subject is exceedingly abstruse, due to the low stage of the human intelligence, which is as yet so occupied with the objective or material side of manifestation that the attraction existing between Spirit and Spirit is little more than a concept. TCF 281

“Therefore we have (during a period of Attraction and Repulsion, or a life cycle) that which we call Time and Space, and this holds equally true in the life cycle of a Logos or an ant, or a crystal. There are cycles of activity in matter, due to some energising Will, and then Time and Space are known. There are cycles of non-being when Time and Space are not, and the energising Will is withdrawn.” TCF 284

Transcending Time

In the same pages of TCF [TCF p 280-282] DK also addresses the process of transcending time. Currently much of humanity is trapped in the attraction/repulsion cycle within matter and form. It is only when we are able to shift our focus toward repelling matter itself that we can experience the attraction of Spirit to Spirit that results in transcending time.

Here is the exact text from above, repeated for emphasis. (TCF 280) “The emotion of like or of dislike is nothing else but the realisation by the conscious entity of the swinging into his magnetic radius of an atomic form which he is led, by the very law of his own being, to either attract or repulse. Only when the form is transcended, and Spirit seeks out Spirit, will the phenomena of repulsion cease. This will be the inevitable finale at the cessation of solar evolution, and it will bring about pralaya. . .
“When more of the human family have their centre of consciousness in the Ego and hence are busy with the work of repulsing matter, and with the withdrawal of [Page 282] Spirit from form, then only will the transmutative process be comprehended, then only will time (as known in the three worlds) be transcended, and then only will space (as manifested to man through the three lower planes or the eighteen subplanes) be found to be a barrier.“ TCF 282

A few pages later DK states: “Each of the five senses, when coupled with manas, develops within the subject a concept embodying the past, the present and the future. Therefore when a man is very highly evolved, [he] has transcended time (as known in the three worlds), and can therefore look at the three lower planes from the standpoint of the Eternal Now, he has superseded the senses by full active consciousness. He knows, and needs not the senses to guide him any longer to knowledge. “ TCF 193

In another text DK points to the time factor determined by humanity. “The establishing of right human relations is an aspect of the divine will for humanity and the next facet of the divine expression to manifest itself in human affairs—individual, communal, national, and international. Nothing has ever finally impeded this divine expression, except the time factor, and that time factor is determined by humanity and is an expression of divine freewill. The intended, divine expression can move rapidly or slowly into manifestation, according as man decides; hitherto, man has decided upon a slow—a very slow—manifestation. It is here that the freedom of the human will shows itself. “ ROC 113

Chapter 6 Meditations on Time

Dharyana: The Sundial, the Watch, and the Hourglass

Being a student in the Morya Quest program has reminded me on the emphasis of Dharyana, and concentration as the perquisite to deeper meditations. In thinking of an object for concentration three images came to mind: the sundial, the hourglass, and the watch. I knew that the actual seed thoughts would come from the teachings of DK. Still, the initial examination of the objects was revealing.

The sundial was my first choice, because I wanted to emphasize the cycles of time and the connection to the sun, more than the intervals of time. Mentally picturing the sundial brought certain features to mind all of which were seeds for impressions. Proportion in the absence of numbers: The sundial for example does not have to rely on a numerical system. The cycle of daylight can be divided into portions, notably sunrise, the zenith point, and sunset and some equidistant segments of the circle. This very much avoids the linear sense of time and time marching along. Instead the underlying concept is one of proportion. Shadow: The sundial functions by using the shadow cast by the sun. At least in ancient days (I almost said ‘times’), time was inextricably linked to both the light of the sun and to the shadow.

The hourglass immediately brought in a sense of urgency, as in time running out. I did not linger here.

The watch presented a peculiar curiosity. How did we ever come to name the timepiece the “watch”? And what does that have to do with another use of the word, the “watcher”? When I see such puzzles I usually go straight to etymology, the origin of words.

“watch (n.) Old English wæcce “a watching, state of being or remaining awake, wakefulness;” also “act or practice of refraining from sleep for devotional or penitential purposes;” from wæccan “keep watch, be awake,” from Proto-Germanic *wakjan, from PIE root *weg- “to be strong, be lively.” (Watch)

Pondering the link to devotional purposes reminded me of the monastic canonical hours for daily prayers, which could serve to keep one in awareness of divine connections.

Three meditations from DK

Although there are probably more examples, I ended up using three instructions from DK in the Bailey books for my meditations on time. Naturally all of them start with an appropriate alignment. I have included an excerpt from each meditation and bolded the phrase that I chose for my main contemplation. It was difficult to attach a seed thought or even specific topic to the meditations.

I. DNA I p.210 TIME AS AN EXPRESSION OF THE [DIVINE] WILL

1. Relax and focus yourself in the soul. Then sound the O.M., breathing it out upon the world of men and saying to yourself inaudibly: “The will of God moves the world.”

2. Then ponder upon the significance of time as an expression of the will, realising that this expression is a thought—instantaneous and effective—in the mind of the planetary Logos.

3. “Then say slowly and thoughtfully: “The past has gone. I am that past. It makes me what I am. The future comes. I also am the coming destiny and, therefore, I am that. The present flows from out the past. The future colours that which is. I make the future also by my present knowledge of the past and the beauty of the present. And, therefore, I am that I am.”

Personal comments after meditation: This meditation seemed to emphasize the quandary about past, present, and future. Some insights and ponderings: The past makes me what I am; is it like sitting on a meditation cushion? I, the meditator, sit on the cushion, and in my consciousness seek the ideal (future). The present is beautiful. Beauty is another vast topic. What is beauty? Is it not proportion and diversity and balance and perspective? Listening to Sister Ingram’s lectures on Beauty (Ingham, 2010, p. topic 9) what surprised me most was how much beauty was related to our ideal of appropriateness and also to mathematics. DK makes this distinction between mystical beauty and occult beauty.

“The development of certain types of people demonstrates through their control of force. With other types it shows in their control of the time factor and their ability to understand the practical significance of times and seasons, and their right and regulated use. You belong to this latter group, and in achievement along this line will come for you release and the establishment of beauty. There is a mystical beauty to be achieved, as we all know, through art. It conveys a general sense of beauty, colour and inspiration, and thus it clothes and veils ideas. There is an occult (hidden) beauty also to be achieved in the field of art. This conveys a different sense of beauty, colour and inspiration, clothed in those forms which reveal ideas. Mystical beauty veils, in beauty, the ideal. Occult beauty reveals, in beauty, the ideal. For you the occult achievement must be the goal, and the revelation of ordered beauty in time and space must constitute your synthetic effort. Ponder [Page 284] on these words and definitions, for in them is to be found the secret of true creativeness. Meditate upon the distinctiveness of mystical inspiration and occult revelation and on their synthesis in all great achievement.” DNA I 283

The present moment can be considered as a ‘direction’. This insight came to me reading a section from Meditations on the Tarot (Anonymous, 1985, pp. 297, 298) (see also Chapter 7 of this paper ). The present moment as direction makes sense to me, especially with time as flow. The present would have a direction that is not as fixed as the past. The future colours the present moment. The choice of the word colour is curious. Certainly that word implies light, vibration, quality. Possibly these aspects of the future attract the present and help aim the direction?

II. DNA II p. 284 FORMULA III ON TIME

As background note from DNA II 246, there are six formulas concerning fundamental prerequisites for initiation. And as a summary statement, “Formula Three . . . Deals with certain changes in the soul nature. It is concerned with the relation of time and space, and is therefore related to the Eternal Now.” DNA II 267. Another important statement of context for working with these formulas comes from DNA II 283:

“The idea of meaning [disciple focus], cause [initiate focus] and being [impulse ] underlies the symbology or the significance of the formula with which we are concerned in this instruction. I have pointed out to you before the difficulty of putting these ancient symbols or symbolic writings into such form that they can convey meaning through language. This difficulty is well-nigh insurmountable in connection with this third formula.” [The reader is encouraged to consult the original AAB text to better appreciate the difficulty in translating formula given as “sounds or trumpeted words “into thoughts.]

The actual text of Formula Three starts on DNA II 284. “This third formula concerns Time and the consciousness of the spiritual man who is unaware of separation, of divisions in time and space or of the spell of the Great Illusion.”
“Here, therefore, are the six conditioning thoughts which the initiate holds in his consciousness when using the formula—a formula which is older than the Stanzas of Dzyan:

God IS. The Lord for aye stands firm. Being exists alone. Naught else is.
Time IS. Being descends to manifest. Creation is. [Page 285] Time then and form agree. Being and time do not agree.
Unity IS. The One between comes forth and knows both time and God. But time destroys that middle One and only Being IS.
Space IS. Time and space reverberate and veil the One who stands behind. Pure Being IS—unknown and unafraid, untouched, for aye unchanged.
God IS. Time, space, the middle One (with form and process) go, and yet for aye remain. Pure reason then suffices.
Being cries forth and says: … (untranslatable). Death crumbles all. Existence disappears, yet all for aye remains—untouched, immutably the same. God IS.

Each phrase out of the six has its own symbol at the close of each unit of thought, if I may call it that. These I may not give you or the chords upon which the phrases go forth. I have tried to indicate one of the meanings of the formula, but have not given a translation or a paraphrase. Bear this in mind and as you ponder these six sentences, try to give them an interpretation which will come to you from the world of meaning, producing a practical application, from the world of causes, producing an enlightened understanding, and (if you are far enough along) from the world of being, producing inclusiveness. These formulas have naught to do with personalities or with souls in deep incarnation, identified with form in the three worlds; they concern world movement, great and universal developments, and human progress (as a whole) towards the divine. You cannot yet think in those terms, but you can at least attempt to do so and grow thereby.” DNA II 284 - 285

Personal comments after meditation: During the day I kept hearing the phrase from the second statement, “Being and Time do not agree”. That seemed to remind me, that time was something useful for form but not ultimately of the world of Being. And I was puzzled by statement 3, asking myself –What is the ‘One between’ that brings unity, but is destroyed by time? Is this middle one the Soul, that eventually is freed when Spirit and Personality are one, the complete realization of Spirit in Matter? This eventually led me to more reading on the Antahkarana between the Monad and the Personality.

III. LOS p. 362,364 Laws of Cycles and Periodicity

The text here states that meditating on the succession of moments [time] and the Law of Periodicity leads one into the world of subjective causes. This text is part of the discussion of Sutra 52 and is not given in a specific meditation format. It seems significant in that “This sutra gives the key to the relation between matter and mind, or between substance and its informing soul” LOS 363. Several phrases can be contemplated but the entire context is important.

“Sutra 52. Intuitive knowledge is developed through the use of the discriminative faculty when there is one-pointed concentration upon moments and their continuous succession.” LOS 362

“It has been said that a complete understanding of the Law of Cycles would bring man to a high degree of initiation. This Law of Periodicity underlies all the processes of nature and its study would lead a man out of the world of objective effects into that of subjective causes. It has also been said that time itself is simply a succession of states of consciousness and this is true of an atom, a man or a God. . . . This sutra gives the key to the relation between matter and mind, or between substance and its informing soul, and this can be realized when the words of a Hindu commentator are considered. He says:

“As an atom is a substance in which minuteness reaches its limit, so a moment is a division of time in which minuteness reaches its limit. Or a moment is that much of time which an atom takes in leaving the position in space it occupies and reaching the next point. The succession of moments is the non-cessation of the glow thereof.”

When we can realize that an atom and a moment are one and the same, and that back of these lies the Realizer or Cognizer of both, we have got the clue to all states of consciousness itself, and to the nature of energy. We shall also have reached a true understanding of the Eternal Now, and a just appreciation of the significance of the past, the present, and the future. This, we are told here, can be gained by concentrated meditation upon time and its units. [Later DK qualifies this as being a method especially for aspirants with a certain ray make-up] LOS 362-363

Personal comments after meditation: There is something important for me in the word “glow”. Years ago I used it to bring awareness to my physical etheric body, to be shining in a glow, using the refrain from the song “Glow-Worm”. The lyrics are potent can be found on Wikipedia (The Glow-Worm), but the actual vibrations in this recording by the Mill Brothers are profound (Mills Brothers Glow-Worm 1952). Something tells me the glow is the clue to the states of consciousness. Since we are in Sagittarius, I was flung easily to the opposite sign Gemini and it’s mantram for the Soul to grow and glow.

Another term to meditate on is “non-cessation”. Is there a difference between non-cessation and not-cessation? What I sense is that the energy has more to do with flow and continuation than the antonym of cessation, which is ‘to start’. An old Bahai chant comes to mind about our inevitable return to God. Follow the image of the non-cessation of the stream bubbling up as it comes off the mountain, entering the desert, then no longer visible in the desert but still underground or evaporating, until becoming clouds and raining on the mountains or the ocean.

Additional Insights from the Book – “Meditations on the Tarot”

The book Meditations on the Tarot (Anonymous, 1985) is an amazing collection of historical precepts and meditations that contrast and compare mysticism, occult/hermetic methods, gnosis, and the material world. All of this is presented in relationship to the twenty two Arcana of the Tarot. Again, I am not doing justice to the breadth and complexity of the material, but only providing a sample of some of the insights from this book regarding Time, Duration, and Continuity. Here are excerpts quoted from the book:

Repetition transforming Time into Space

LETTER XVIII THE MOON (Anonymous, 1985, pp. 496-497) - At the same time there is reason to point out that the aspect of the repetition of things that intelligence seeks [KOS in order to predict the result or future]in the first place corresponds to the almost innate inclination of intelligence to reduce movement to immobility and to transform time into space. “Repetition” is only the immobile element in movement and the spatial element in time.

p497 Time creates nothing; it only combines and recombines that which is given for ever in space. . . . Therefore there is nothing —and there cannot be anything

— new under the sun. This is the postulate of intelligence, advanced some three thousand years ago, which is still accepted and which underlies the way that intelligence works. And here is its antithesis, formulated by Bergson:

The universe endures. The more we study the nature of time,

the more we shall comprehend that duration means invention,

the creation of forms, the continual elaboration of the absolutely

new. (Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution; trsl. A. Mitchell, London,

1964, p. 11)

Eternity as Intensity

LETTER Vlll JUSTICE (Anonymous, 1985, p. 180) “The “region” of eternity is that

of intensity, which surpasses the measures of quantity that we employ in time

and space. “Eternity” is not a duration of infinite length; it is the “intensity of

quality” which, if compared with time and thus translated into the language of

quantity, is comparable with an infinite duration.

Change, the continuity of transition is more real than the states we define as time

LETTER XVII THE STAR (Anonymous, 1985, pp. 467,468) Henri Bergson had the

courage and the talent to re-affirm, with its scientific consequences, the principle

of continuity and the mode of thought which grasps movement by moving with

it and not by arresting it. . . .

“But how can we help seeing that the essence of duration is to flow,

and that the fixed placed side by side with the fixed will never

constitute anything which has duration. It is not the “states”,

simple snapshots we have taken once again along the course of

change, that are real; on the contrary, it is flux, the continuity

of transition, it is change itself that is real. . .

(Henri Bergson, La pensée et le mouvement; trsl. M. L. Andison

in The Creative Mind, New Jersey, 1965, pp. 15-17)

Continuity from the past

LETTER XI FORCE (Anonymous, 1985, pp. 297, 298) In truth, in order to advance one has to learn. In order to learn, one has to appreciate the experience of the past and one has to continue it. All progress presupposes continuity—coherence between the past, present and future.. . . Continuity—or tradition and life —implies faithfulness to the cause that is espoused, to the direction taken to the ideal that one has as a guide, and to all alliances with entities above and with human beings below, for the sake of the continuity of life.

Within this quotation, it is possible to understand that continuity requires the past (faithfulness to the cause), the present (the direction taken) and the future (the ideal). See also comments on the first meditation from DK on
p.25 of this paper.

Chapter 7 Understanding Functionality and Applications

It is my proposal that from the Soul’s perspective, Time is a useful construct and we are meant to work within this construct as part of the manifestation of Divine Impulse/Will. Studying and writing this paper has changed the way in which I view Time. In this chapter, I offer a short list of statements that might guide the aspirant or disciple in using time from the soul perspective.

1. To operate in the NOW when the present is synthesized with the past and the future

This is different than the adage to live in the present moment. Although this concept is powerful and suggests accepting Life with a vibrant “Yes” it has the danger of being cast adrift in a sequence of moments that lack the continuity of past and future, a continuity that is vital for intentionality and direction.

One potent image for this is the Woman clothed with the Sun, standing on the moon with a crown of stars. This image is describes as follow in the book Meditation on the Tarot, the Arcana of Force (Anonymous, 1985, p. 273) .. .a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her

feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child

and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery.(Revelation xii, 1-2)

Michael Robbins described a similar image during one of the webinars for the names of Mary, (today we focus on the Name–Woman Crowned with Stars and Clothed with the Sun (Robbins, Webinar on Names of Mary, 2018)) except here the woman with the crown of stars had the earth under her feet.

Using the image, one can stand on the foundational spiritual principles, seeds of truth from the past (moon) and be oriented to the future with a sense of prevision (stars of hierarchical realms) and radiate living truth (sun) in the Present.

The key for me was when I understood that I do not need to carry along all of the past, like a great weight of chains. The Arcana of Judgement is an opportunity to reflect on karma and resurrection and even the Akashic records (Anonymous, 1985, pp. 555-579). Much of the focus is a philosophical discussion of memory, our connection to the Time of the Past. The author identifies three different categories of memory which are not carried equally forward into the Akashic record (Anonymous, 1985, p. 564). This has encouraged me to spend proportionately less time dealing with the memories of the world maya, and more time with a foundational past of spiritual principle in actions large and small.

Another corollary from the synthesis of time was suggested to me by my meditation mentor in the Morya Federation. She posed the question, “Time: Maybe we can heal the past in the present – I am sure it works.” Certainly this might be the case on the fourth cosmic etheric plane.

“f. Hence this fourth cosmic etheric plane [GL the buddhic plane] forms the meeting ground for the past and the future, and is the present.
g. Therefore, also, the buddhic or intuitional plane (the correspondence in the system of this fourth cosmic ether) is the meeting ground, or plane of union, for that which is man and for that which will be superman, and links the past with that which is to be. TCF 119

2. To view Time as the Container for Evolving Space

As I grappled with adjusting my conception of time and space to allow for the Beyond Time, I realized that living incarnate as we do I needed to separate Time from the potentiality of space. In so doing, I let go of space as a grid to contain events and tried to envision space as a void that offered not emptiness but potentiality. This brought me back to the realization of Time as a Cause and the expression of Divine Thought.

Here the image is one of an ornate vase. One can make the patterns as complicated as needed. (In my case I put the whole Kalachakra mandala on the vase). The pattern of mosaic is on both the inside and the outside surfaces. Then similar to the Kalachakra we have inner time, outer time. What I didn’t want to do though was have myriad interconnecting webs of time from the mosaic chips crossing the inner space (the surface-free space) of the vase. This is a modern vase and includes all the recent findings of science about the flexibility and enfolding of the space/time continuum.

Another analogy might be music. Just as our time/space continuum is necessary for manifest life but is not life, so one might argue that rhythm is necessary for music, but is not music. Rhythm is the punctuated intervals whereas music includes that but also the progression of the pieces and also very much the spaces between the beats.

3. To use and understand Time as a Cause

Operating with time in this way is different that viewing time as an effect. When time is linked to the realm of effects then the focus is on results. And when human nature focuses on result, we find ourselves trapped in the personality issues of desire and control and objectification.

Time is motion and change. We cannot have motion without at least the possibility of assigning a time to it. On reflection, I am most comfortable viewing Time not so much as a cause but as the expression of Cause. Time seems to be an intersection within form of spirit and the static forms in space. Without ‘time’ these forms would be fixed, possibly unable to evolve. Thus time has a function to enable evolution and process. If the two great foundations of the Buddha nature are to abide and evolve (Berzin, p. 152), then Time is essential.

4. Initiates and the “Eternal Now”

For disciples and initiates, these efforts to understand the relevance of time and its influence are not just theoretical arguments. According to DK, there is a real need for initiates to grasp the difference between time as registered by the physical brain and time as part of the cosmic manifestation in cycles. In the passage below, DK indicates that time is a thoughtform dependent on the existence of the physical brain and that “The initiate uses the time factor in his relations and his dealings with those living upon the physical plane, but is detached within himself from all recognition of it elsewhere in the universe.” (complete quotation below).

“People are apt to forget that time is the sequence of events and of states of [Page 404] consciousness as registered by the physical brain. Where no physical brain exists, what humanity understands by time is nonexistent. The removal of the barriers of the form, stage by stage, brings an increasing realisation of the Eternal Now. In the case of those who have passed through the door of death and who still continue to think in terms of time, it is due to glamour and to the persistence of a powerful thoughtform. It indicates polarisation upon the astral plane; this is the plane upon which leading Theosophical writers and psychics have worked, and upon which they have based their writings. They are quite sincere in what they say, but omit to recognise the illusory nature of all findings based on astral clairvoyance. The recognition of a pronounced time factor, and the constant emphasis laid upon timing, are characteristic of all highly developed people in incarnation and of those whose lower, concrete minds are powerful in calibre. Children and child-races on the one hand, and those highly advanced people whose abstract minds are functioning (through the medium of the interpretive lower mind), usually have no sense of time. The initiate uses the time factor in his relations and his dealings with those living upon the physical plane, but is detached within himself from all recognition of it elsewhere in the universe.EH 403-404

According to DK, the element of time begins to have less and less influence for the initiate and eventually even “obliterates what is usually understood by Karma “ DNA II 340

“Every initiation, and every stage preparatory to initiation, involves the seeing of the remote yet the attainable; [ KOS a type of pre-vision] . . . There is a factual perception of such a nature that the element of time—as evidenced by remoteness, by the distance between this and that, between here and there—forever disappears. This is, necessarily, a somewhat meaningless statement to the majority of people. DNA II 338

Here you have, in relation to the initiate, a situation which includes past, present and future, and—in this presentation of the Eternal Now to the attentive eyes and heart of the initiate—you have what is, for him, at his particular point of initiatory unfoldment, the consummation of all vision or visions. This tends to definite progress; it obliterates what is usually understood by Karma; it initiates new and spiritual causes which—in their turn—magnetically project the initiate onward until (at the sixth initiation) he “no longer needs incentive, for vision is incentive and the pull of the spiritual magnetism upon our planetary life.” Thus it may be occultly expressed.. DNA II 340

5. Continuity of Consciousness, Asymmetry and Flow

All of the scientific reading was fresh in my concrete mind. What stood out for me from all the many experiments and philosophies was the asymmetry of the world and how that has been used to justify the flow of time. Returning to DK’s statement, that Time and Form agree (see meditation), I have begun to consider Time as another expression of Divine impulse in the world of form. I began to ask, if we don’t impose Time on the asymmetry and flow in the world, then what is the significance of asymmetry and what is it that is flowing?

The asymmetry in the world is what changes the rotary motion to a spiral. Even though cycles of manifestation (don’t think Time) repeat themselves, they are never exactly the same.

And if it is not ‘time’ that is flowing, what underlies our great subjective sense of the flow of life. The immediate impression that came to me is our normal association with the flowing of love, expressed so succinctly in the Great Invocation.

Recent impressions have led me to think of ‘continuity of consciousness’ as a prime factor in my esoteric practice. This seems to be an easy way to talk to people about the existence of the soul and to approach the problems with our beliefs about death. As I examined the many ways in which Time seems to intrude into consciousness and our compulsion to view the world in terms of time events, I began to wonder, could Time in its most abstract sense be masquerading as our continuity of consciousness in the world of form?

When we live only in the world of phenomena, Time is often viewed as a limiting factor; except perhaps when Time passes and heals all things. How would things change if we could view Time as a necessary intersection where the world of consciousness and the world of phenomena meet? This brings us back to the emphasis on cycles and periodicity rather than the intervals we commonly measure as time. In TCF, DK connects the spiraling of cycles to the gradual process of perfection and even defines the aim of the greater cycle.

“An endless circulation [of prana] goes on that has neither a conceivable beginning nor possible end from the point of view of finite man, for its source and end are hid in the unknown cosmic fount. Were conditions everywhere perfected this circulation would proceed unimpeded and might result in a condition of almost endless duration, but limitation and termination result as the effects of imperfection giving place to a gradual perfection. Every cycle originates from another cycle of a relative completeness, and will give place ever to a higher spiral; thus eventuate periods of apparent relative perfection leading to those which are still greater.” TCF 102

“The aim for this greater cycle is the blending, as we know, of the two fires of matter, latent and active, and their merging with the fires of mind and spirit till they are lost from sight in the general flame; the fires of mind and spirit burn up matter and thereby bring about liberation from the confining vehicles. The altar of earth is the birthplace of spirit, its liberator from the mother (matter), and its entrance into higher realms” TCF 102

6. Training is cyclic under the law of periodicity

A disciple is increasingly cognizant of rhythms and uses periods of rest or of mundane activity appropriately. This is described in TWM Rule Ten

“It should be remembered, however, that under the law, this training [occult training] will be cyclic, and will have its ebb and flow, as all else in nature. Times of activity succeed times of pralaya, and periods of registered contact alternate with periods of apparent silence. Note here the choice of words. This alternation is due to the imposition of the Law of Periodicity and if the student develops as desired, each pralayic period is succeeded by one of greater activity, and of more potent achievement. Rhythm, ebb and flow, and the measured beat of the pulsating life are ever the law of the universe, and in learning to respond to time vibration of the high Places this rhythmic periodicity must be borne in mind. . . . . If such work as you are doing is to succeed (and it is largely the work of developing the ability to touch certain currents on mental levels—currents which [Page 324] emanate from the higher self, from your egoic group, or from the Master) definite planned conditions must be provided. If occupation with mundane affairs is necessitated—and such periods come in every life cycle—then the attention should be concentrated on these details, and the higher contact may be then temporarily unrealised. Such attention to affairs on the physical plane is not necessarily loss of time, for it may be as much a part of the plan at that particular time as any other kind of service.” TWM 323,324

We can also view Time as beneficial to support the stages of a process (i.e. building the Antahkarana ,initiation, or the process of revelation).

“Revelation seldom breaks in all its completed beauty into the consciousness of the disciple; it is a gradual and steadily unfolding process. The three words I have given you as descriptive of the stages concern the individual disciple or initiate and express the stages of the impact of the revelation upon his mind. There are paralleling inner causes which are responsible for the outer stages of Penetration, Polarisation and Precipitation. These are: [Page 322]

1. The stage of the “advancing point of light.”

2. The stage of right direction or the focussing of the “advancing” potency.

3. The stage of spiritual impact.” DNA II 321-322

Conclusion

This paper presented a brief overview of Time as viewed by the personality and then suggested ways in which a disciple or aspirant polarized in the soul might view time. The purpose was to first examine and then expand the ways in which the personality and also the soul utilize time. From the personality perspective, “Time” is deeply imbedded in our culture both as a psychological construct and as a key measurement for the scientific experimentation. The history of time and some of the common ways it affects our thinking were reviewed. In so doing, it became clear (as pointed out by DK) that Time as we know it requires an awareness and actually represents different states of consciousness. Many astrophysicists and philosophers, particularly when focused on time as a measure of intervals or simultaneous events come to the rather startling conclusion that time may be an illusion – something our intellect uses to organize the events we observe. DK suggests that this line of thinking is also common to mystical metaphysics.
“A third mark of almost all mystical metaphysics is the denial of the reality of Time. This is an outcome of the denial of division; if all is one, the distinction of past and future must be illusory…. ITI 69, 70

The value of recognizing that time can be an illusion is to break its spell over us, particularly in terms of a linear lifespan and a finite death. This in turn opens the door for the soul, and the man polarized in soul to utilize time from a soul perspective. In the second half of the paper, I presented esoteric definitions of time from the DK teachings, examples of meditations on time, and finally a series of six summary thoughts or intentions about using time from the soul perspective. From the soul perspective, time is a powerful tool for evolution (a container for evolving space and not a way to organize events into space) and ultimately an expression of Divine Will and thought in the world of form.

Time is also a foundation for the periodicity and process that underlies the progress of aspirants, disciples and initiates. These cycles impact not only humans but all levels of expression from the atom to cosmic beings. One of the simplest ways to distinguish between the personality and the soul perspective of Time may be to feel the difference between the noun and the verb or participle. It is the distinction between Time and Timing. The former is a quantity and the latter is a process.

Remembering that Time is as much as process as a series of events goes a long way to easing our relationship with Time in daily life. In this light we can view Time as a synthesis of past, present and future. The present moment keeps a certain intensity, but is never isolated from the past and the future. Personally I am finding that emphasizing the flow of Time and its power to provide continuity is extremely valuable to help me stay centered in the flow of Love and my alignments with the Great Invocation and the mantram of the NGWS.

For this DHY paper, my goal was to provide a ‘primer’, a working knowledge of time and it’s ramifications on humanity in both the material world and as an operative for the soul. Even though this paper is lengthy, not all aspects could be addressed. In a continuation paper next year, my plan is to cover other major topics related to Time such as astrology, karma, and the Ray III Lord of Time. There will also be a deeper approach into Time on the 4^th and 5^th dimensions.

It is with deepest gratitude that I intend to keep these lessons of Time in my heart. In this season of Light and Love, when we celebrate the Christ in our hearts, I will simply close with a quote from Charles Dickens where Scrooge says, “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.” (Dickens, p. 59).

Works Cited

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Berzin, A. (n.d.). Introduction to the Kalachakra Initiation. Shambhala Publications. Kindle Edition.

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Additional Resources

1. Morgan, Christine, Lucis Trust presentation “Escaping the Rings of Time” https://www.lucistrust.org/productions/videos/view/escaping_the_rings_of_time

2. Dane Rudyar https://www.khaldea.com/rudhyar/astroarticles/clockofyourinnerlife.php

3. Gyatso, Kherup Norsang ( 1453-1513) (trans. Gavin Kilty) 2004, Ornament of Stainless Light. An exposition of the Kalacakra Tantra. Wisdom Publications, Boston, MA in association with the Institute of Tibetan Classics

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