If illusions exist, the illusion of time is the greatest of all. I believe that "time" as it refers to the "past" and the "future" does not exist; it is an illusion. "Time" is a word we frequently use to describe a vehicle for the past, the present, and the future. It is used in ways that suggest that it is an entity, much like a flowing river. The river flows from a fixed beginning, in a constant pulsing surge of moments that occur in a chronological continuum to the future. Time is defined as "the measured or measurable period during which an action, process, or condition exists or continues." So, what we see here is a measurement of a "period." If the period is defined by quantifying it with a measurement, then that measurement has been invented and not discovered. What then, is a "period?" Here we see two descriptions of time. One is that of a measurement and the other refers to an entity that is measured. This concept of an entity is a deceptive illusion that keeps us from experiencing a most valued and treasured truth, which is the truth of "now."

The Benefits of "Time"

My wristwatch tells me when I need to get motivated. If someone asks "What time is it?" I always look there first. This is what people frequently refer to as "time." You may have heard people say things like "time is ticking away." I argue that the watch is ticking away; time is not ticking away. However, the watch, the clocks, the schedules, and calendars offer a special discipline in which events occur with other events in auspicious conditions. If a grocer is waiting for a produce truck to arrive at 8:00 A.M. , then the arrival of that truck at that particular setting of a watch is very convenient for the grocer and all shoppers that prefer to buy fresh fruit rather early in the morning. This method of structured discipline is a highly commendable invention. However, this is the only tangible and real "time." The watch is real, the measurement is real, and the materials assembled to manifest what we perceive in reality as watches and clocks are very real in our native tactile sense. If someone tells me that I have a certain amount of "time" to write this article, I can see that it is directly related to the amount of ticking occurrences in which the second hand moves on my watch. This is not an illusion. The real illusion lies in the thinking that an invisible form of movement lives beneath the ticking, as if it moves the ticking of its own volition.

The Truth About Time

When we divorce ourselves from the notion that the wristwatch is time and that the movement of the second hand is akin to the beat of a heart for an invisible energy, we begin to see the truth about that perception of time. The watch is a tangible, existing form; it can be validated. Time then is a method we use to quantify repetition and events. For example, certain elements, such as rock formations, do not "age over time." These formations change from the constant, repetitive bombardments of elements. We age from repetition, which includes the repeating pull of gravity, the decay of cells, and wear and tear from elements such as the sun. The truth about time is that it is merely a man-made conceptual means of quantifying repetition, growth, and decay.

Realizing Truths as We Discard the Illusion of Time

Without the illusion of time, there is no past behind our current moment, and there is no future that is going to occur ahead of our current moment. A great argument for the existence of the past is a photograph. Some would tell you that the photograph is a record of the past, and therefore proof that the past exists. However, only the photograph exists. The photograph does not capture time; the photograph captures the visuals of conditions. This is not a picture of the past, this is a photograph; a piece of paper designed to utilize light in the burning of an image that records conditions detected by a lens. This lens detects light, and objects that are revealed by light. This lens does not detect a wave of time. In his book No Boundary , Ken Wilbur sums this up beautifully when he says :

"To no longer resist the present is to see that there is nothing but the present--no beginning, no end, nothing behind it, nothing in front of it. When the past of memory and the future of anticipation are both seen to be present facts, then the slats to this present collapse. The boundaries around this moment fall into this moment, and then there is nothing but this moment, with nowhere else to go." (Wilbur 2001)

Wilbur is asking us to realize this moment as if it is all the stuff of life; the alpha, the omega, no birth, no death, no coming and no going. There is only the indescribable universe of life events manifesting "now."

There is a point at which the second hand moves on a watch. This point is relative to all that we see, hear, and feel. Certain points occur with this second hand, like stopping, then going, then stopping again only to go again while tactile objects are visibly in a constant flux. We see the second hand as it moves around the watch face, and all the while we also see objects around the watch. We also see that the watch itself is in a constant flux. The second hand moves to a point on the watch as a cats paw has a "now" occurrence in which it moves to a closer proximity to a buzzing fly. That occurrence shares parts of the same "nows" with the flow of water from a faucet, an so on with an element we call "motion." The watch moves, the cat moves, and the water moves. If the second hand's job is to move into different positions relative to other objects and elements that also utilize movement, then surely every movement made to different positions by the cat's paw is indeed the same as the movements made by the second hand on a watch. The watch just has a more recognizable pattern for quantifying this repeating movement. For illustrative purposes, I could do the same by holding my right arm up and moving it clockwise in very close intervals that are known as seconds. My right hand would become a "second hand." Surely I could become a watch by these virtues. Would I then actually become time itself? The notion of time might become a bit absurd if we think we can mock its existence. Society has used time in so many ideas that suggest that it is alive. Phrases like "look what time has done to me" are heard every day. We have been long conditioned by this notion. When we allow the collapse of the boundaries that Ken Wilbur refers to us, and we see that there is only one constant "present", one constant "now", we may find ourselves moving in unison with all other things active, all "nows" converging.

At some point it became necessary for mankind to invent a unit of measurement to quantify and define duration. At some point this unit of measurement became an entity in and of itself. As long as we package our experience in a way that introduces a structured measurement to explain where we are in relation to "when" we are, we find ourselves placing our thoughts and our experience as well, into the memory of a past and the query of upcoming "now" events. When the past and future are cleared from our thinking, the constant knowledge and experience of "now", is given the room to roam. Time is now and only now. In the now, there is no room for illusions.