Only Now

I have spoken before about the apparent lack of true time as we know it. I have ventured to explain that everything exists always, at once. There is no past or future or present. We only perceive things this way.

In order to fully explain the new analogy I am going to share, we must include only the NOW in our discussion. This present moment, the ever fleeting glimpses of infinity that are each and every new nano-second. There is no past or future in our realm, for we are ruled by the NOW. We can remember things that have occurred, but those experiences are no more tangible than the ones we are about to face. Only the NOW is available for contemplation because the NOW is our master.

Let's consider the DVD movie. Pick your favorite for the example, only the concept is important. When you watch a movie on DVD, you see actors, sets, scenes, plotlines, etc... All of these pieces flow in unity to form the movie. Imagine that you are simply an actor in the movie on the DVD. You cannot change the flow of the movie because your perspective is limited to the NOW in the movie timeline. You, as the actor, are the one being watched as you perform your lines and deliver your performances. You have a given role, a chosen role in the movie and you play it to your best ability. You cannot change the timeline of the film, only exist within it.

This is our current incarnation. We are the actors in a great big movie. We are on the DVD. We do not have the remote control and most of us do not care to ask why. We live in the NOW moment as the DVD timeline, the movie timeline, slowly and persistently progresses. And, as actors, we are unaware of the future ahead in the DVD so we assume it does not exist. Try explaining that to the director, who knows how it all works together long before the movie is made.

So, if we are the actors, then someone must be watching the movie. Let's just assume that this is a blockbuster of a film and the DVD has sold trillions. Our little movie is the tale of our entire existence. Everything we can imagine we know about everything is in this movie and stored for viewing on DVD.

Please imagine yourself in a position to watch this DVD. You are given the remote control and the menu is onscreen. You have many options. You can play the movie straight through, you can skip to specific scenes in the film, you can listen to director's notes, you can watch the behind the scenes, and the list goes on. I would like to focus on the scene skipping ability.

Remember, you have been granted a once in a lifetime chance to view the DVD that is mankind's entire existence. You are in the movie yourself, in many roles. You have been handed a remote and are allowed to skip from scene to scene. The DVD timeline is the timeline of this existence and mankind's experiences. You become the master of the NOW. You can view any NOW you choose. Any time you choose. Thus, you are able to perceive your existence beyond the controls of time, as the master of time itself. You can understand that there were specific reasons for many of your roles. If fact, you begin to see that everyone has lived just as everyone else over the course of the movie. Each actor playing every character at some point in the film. You also notice that time only existed when you were one of the actors. Now that you are holding the remote, you are able to see any part of the movie at any "time" in the film. And all of this can be done at your leisure. The actors and the DVD are not going anywhere.

Of course, we are only actors in the NOW and must imagine that such things can exist. I can only conceptualize my place and wonder about what is to come.