Are you ready to get a bit trippy? This section will offer some ideas that are meant to furrow your eyebrows and make you question existence itself!
The future is a creation of the human mind and the past is already done, the only thing actually exists is this present moment. Now that that present moment is over, a new moment as come to replace it and the last one only exists as subjective memory.
Even “time” is a creation of the human mind as we connect multiple moments together from memory and our ability to anticipate possible worlds. Our consciousness is the sum of the activated neurons of this present moment. When the moment ends and a new one begins, a brand new consciousness exists to perceive it! The only connection we have between moments is our memory.
Think of the consciousness like an electron changing orbitals as it revolves around the nucleus of an atom. The electron ceases to exist and reappears in a new orbital without traveling in the space between them. The consciousness ceases to exist after every moment and a new consciousness is born in every new moment, only to stop existing once that moment ends. I know, this is a crazy concept!
When we view the present moment in this way, it becomes so much more important than the past or future. The future does not exist outside of a possibility in the minds of humans. The past does not exist beyond a series of stories that people choose to believe or reject as “truth.”
I like to express this concept with a symbol:
The dot at the center represents this current moment.
The circle enveloping the dot represents God/reality, or the “container” of this current moment.
The branches on either side of the circle represent the past and the future. The future branches out because many different things could happen which would create different possible futures. The past branches out because many different things could have happened to get us to this moment right now. The important part to remember is that neither branch matters and therefore neither branch is really “real.”
It may seem obvious that the future is not real because it has not yet happened. However the past creates a tricky situation that can be used to our benefit.
When each moment ends, it only exists in the form of memory and all memory is recorded by an individual with a unique perspective. Therefore, once this moment turns into the next one, it splits into an infinite amount of stories held in the memory of everyone who experienced that moment. Memory is subjective meaning the past is subjective because everyone sees the world differently.
The past is not reality; rather, it is a series of perspectives that converge into this present moment. Many things could have happened to bring us to this moment and the possibilities don’t really matter once the moment has come.
For example, let’s say you are walking to meet a friend for lunch and you linger for a moment because a person fell off their bicycle across the street. They seem okay so you keep walking. By the time you get to the restaurant, your friend has already found a table and you sit down.
Now let’s say you were walking and instead of a person falling off their bicycle, you stop to watch a street performer for the same amount of time as the fallen cyclist. You arrive at the restaurant and sit with your friend at the table. In the moment you are sitting down, it does not matter the reason you took longer to arrive than if you had walked without stopping. Perhaps the conversation is different because you choose to share what you saw; if not, then the moment is exactly the same: you arrived to see your friend already sitting at a table.
Although a mundane example, it highlights an important point: the moment is not more or less special based on what has happened before it. This becomes a more powerful point when discussing more meaningful stories. For example: the story of why humans live here on Earth as we do. Some may offer a story of billions of years of evolution through natural selection. Others may believe in a story of creation where everything was made to be in this current state. Still, others may insist that we are all living in a computer simulation. The amazing thing about the moment is that all those stories are equally possible and impossible!
The story of how we got to this moment does not affect our ability to be amazed by what this moment is: we are humans and we are alive here, on Earth! When we recognize this moment for the miracle that it is, we can praise and give thanks for the container of the moment: called God in this textbook.
The spiral leading from the central dot to the circle containing the dot represents the natural flow of this world. You’ve seen this spiral in seashells, plant buds, hurricanes, galaxies, our DNA, even your own clenched fist! All things in this reality are connected and therefore form similarly. The spiral is a good reminder of this fact.
In this textbook, love is defined as a connection to self. We love ourselves, our family, our homes, and our people. When you see that everything is connected, you can learn to love everything. From our society to the energy that makes up our universe, it is all you but in a slightly different form.
When you choose to see the connectedness of this world, you can love every part of this world. Love is the natural flow of humans, it is the thing that connects this moment with God.
The only separation that exists in this world, beyond what we create, is the separation between this moment and the next one. Every moment is a brand new one, distinct from all moments previous to it. We have the ability to choose what we will do in every one of those moments regardless of what has happened before.
What would this world be like if, for one moment, we all chose to love?