Who is the Time-Being?
imagination over matter
dear creators,
Have you ever come across a familiar phrase or expression that hit you in a completely new way? Something you use all the time but never really think about— until it suddenly strikes you as peculiar or a host to some hidden depth?
For instance: ‘Let’s save that for the time being.’ Even though I learned this as a way to say that you’re putting something on hold, I read it one day and thought of ‘being’ as a noun— as in, who is the time-being? Also, I starting wondering about time being referring to now and how the concept of right now can be perceived as a fixed point even though it’s constantly changing.
An idiom that stood out to me more recently is ‘mind over matter.’ I usually consider this to mean using your will-power to overcome some circumstance or problem. But then I really started thinking about the mind having power over physical matter. Even the Cambridge dictionary defines mind over matter as “the power of the mind to control and influence the body and the physical world generally."
I find it funny when I hear someone say, “Oh, that’s just the placebo effect.” When someone heals themselves with the belief in some sugar pill that they thought was the real deal— how is this anything less than awesomely preternatural?! And what would it take for this ability to be common?
One of the most astonishing examples of mind over matter that I’ve come across was mentioned in Rob Brezsny’s newsletter back in December 2017 found at https://freewillastrology.com:
“CAN THE IMAGINATION SAVE US? by Susan Griffin
I heard the following story from a survivor of the holocaust: Along with many others who are crowded into the bed of a large truck, the surrealist poet Robert Desnos is being taken away from the barracks of the concentration camp where he has been held prisoner. The mood is somber; everyone knows the truck is headed for the gas chambers.
When the truck arrives at its destination, no one can speak at all; even the guards fall silent. But this silence is soon interrupted by an energetic man, Robert Desnos, who begins reading the palm of one of his fellow prisoners.
Oh, he says, I see you have a very long lifeline. And you are going to have three children. He is exuberant. And his excitement is contagious. First one man, then another, offers up his hand, and Desnos predicts longevity, more children, abundant joy.
As Desnos reads more palms, not only does the mood of the prisoners change, but also the moods of the guards. How can one explain it? Perhaps the element of surprise has planted a shadow of doubt in their minds. They are in any case so disoriented by this sudden change of mood among those they are about to kill that they are unable to go through with the executions.
So all the men, along with Desnos, are packed back onto the truck and taken back to the barracks. Desnos has saved his own life and the lives of others by using his imagination.”
Obviously, an average mind (in a default mode) in such a dilemma becomes totally obsessed with what’s happening and all thoughts compound and inflate the situation to some sort of freak-out or despondent response.
Have you ever thought of your mind as having a default function that acts on its own? An ordinary human mind on a default setting seems to do whatever it wants, leaking vitality in all directions and usually drawing on unconscious dread and fear compiled over at least one lifetime (if not more). This mind just messes with our ability to face matter.
It’s easy to test this out for ourselves. Just sit alone somewhere quiet for a while and let your mind wander— then observe. How much of your mind’s activity do you feel is really you? Too often my mind get’s me totally worked up about things that don’t actually matter. In this sense, the mind creates the (problematic) matter.
Personally, if I don’t continuously cultivate personal practices to train and harness my mind to focus its energy on this moment, I’m susceptible to scatter-brain, mad distraction, extreme emotion swings and, ugh, self-deprecating/ worst-case scenario inner-chatter. Not that there’s anything wrong with letting the mind wander freely from time to time. I’m talking about the unconscious habit running baseline that’s totally exhausting.
There are endless mind wrangling practices to experiment with out there. I’ve been working with Qi Gong, Tai Chi, lucid dreaming (or dream yoga), energy work, nature strolls and yoga kriyas— but these are supplementary and complementary to my creative practice.
Drawing, painting, photography, music etc. are by far my favourite focussed attention/imagination enhancing thing. The former options are just more ideal for the thirty minute window I have before work —and they involve some much needed physical fitness.
When I think of Robert Desnos’ imagination coming through as a mind over matter move (like some sorta Jedi), I wanna know more about this ability to utilize the mind as a superpower ally. To be able to take such a leap within yourself and then getting the minds of others to leap with you without force or manipulation for the good of all…is this ability a possibility for everyone?
What better argument is there for encouraging the exercise and expansion of our imagination? Especially in a time when facing so many petty tyrants?
“There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” ~ Aldous Huxley
Beams,
~Corrie