I sometimes hear people say:
My timeless nature means I’ll live forever.
My physical body happens within me so I’ll live beyond this physical body.
For me, it looks a bit different.
TIMELESS IS NOT THE SAME AS ETERNAL
Yes, I find myself as what the world to me happens within and as.
I find myself as the timeless that time happens within. I find myself as the spaceless that space happens within. I find myself as what this physical body and the rest of the world, as it appears to me, happens within and as.
And that doesn’t mean that I – meaning this oneness the world to me happens within and as – will live forever, or continue to live beyond the death of this physical body.
IDEOLOGIES ARE NOT THE SAME AS REALITY
Yes, there may be many religions, spiritual traditions, and ideologies that say that we’ll live beyond this physical body.
There is even some research pointing to that.
And that’s all second-hand information. It’s not something I can test out for myself. I cannot know for certain.
MEMORIES ARE NOT THE SAME AS REALITY
My whole life, from early childhood, I have had what seems to be a memory from between lives and before this life.
When I look, I see that this apparent memory consists of mental images and words, associated with some sensations in my body.
Those mental representations and sensations are just that. They may not point to anything real. Again, I cannot know for certain.
BEING HONEST
I notice that if I tell myself I’ll live forever, or beyond the life of this physical body, it’s stressful.
I tell myself something I cannot know for certain. I tell myself that what to me is imagination is reality.
I know I cannot know for certain.
And that’s stressful. It’s also stressful to have to remember that imagination, recreate it, enhance it, support it, defend it, and so on.
What’s more honest for me is that I don’t know.
I’ll get to see when that phase of the adventure comes.
What I can find here now is my nature. I can find myself as what any content of experience – including time and space and this physical body and the world as it appears to me – happens within and as.
And that’s enough.
There is a joy in being aligned with reality.
In being honest with myself.