The Power of Now Part 3 of 5: Clock Time vs. Psychological Time
January 28, 2009 by dr. lam
This is perhaps one of my favorite ideas that Tolle presents. Sometimes if we live so far into the current moment, we fear that we are not planning for the future or have goals that we want to set. Tolle distinguishes between clock time meaning we put a certain event on our calendars or plan to do work tomorrow for a certain project. But setting that time down for clock time should not force us into constantly thinking and worrying about that event, which becomes what he calls psychological time.
Psychological time is how we live with our egoic mind/pain-body in the past (regret, sadness, hate) and our future (fear, anxiety) rather than being fully alive in the current time, right now. It is living our life unconsciously as he says. We are living far from a level of consciousness and peace when we fail to leave our mind and live right now. By living psychologically at another time, we subscribe to many of the negative emotions that grip us, all driven by the egoic mind.
Clock time is not bad if put into context, and it doesn’t have to do just with future events. When we learn from our past mistakes not to repeat them, then we are using clock time. However, when we sit in deep regret about our past and it begins to color our current perception so that in fact we are living in the past then we are beholden to psychological time.
Living deeply within the framework of the current time allows you to be free of the egoic mind and the related pain-body. If you truly sense everything around you: the food you taste, the person you are with, the work you are doing, the music that surrounds you, the breath that you take, you are treating time as one of the most precious of commodities. We oftentimes think time is so precious so that we must not waste it by planning so and so. However, by engulfing ourselves in the future, we fail to live in the current and so we therefore waste the most precious of all time, which is now.
Is it not true that the only real time is the now? Have you ever experienced the past or the future? Only in your mind perhaps but not in reality. We can only experience the now. There is no other time than the present so if we waste that precious time by living in the past or the future, we are truly wasting the most precious part of time, which is the now.
By the way, I was chosen surgeon of the month by the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery. For those who are interested, here is the link to the article. Also, in the next few days, my webmaster is creating several indices for those who would like to easily access past blogs. This was an excellent request by one of the readers of this blog last week. Check out the top menu bar of this blog, and you will already see an index by category. I have asked him to make an index by date and other functional improvements as well.
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4 Responses to “The Power of Now Part 3 of 5: Clock Time vs. Psychological Time”
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Nothing profound from me today – just wanted to say congrats on being chosen surgeon of the month!
nothing profound needed. just to know you are reading and thinking about what i have written is fantastic and appreciated. thanks for the kind wishes!
best,
sml
This piece was utterly powerful, eloquent and brilliant, Dr. Lam. It is far past my bedtime but I am so glad to have read this. I am looking forward to reading it again tomorrow as part of my healing exercise regimen. Many thanks and blessings to you.
wonderful. did you know that eckhart tolle was filled with such dread until his 29th birthday that he was just depressed all the time? he woke up in the early morning hours just after his 29th birthday and when he woke up it was the first time he could hear the birds outside and his world changed but it took him years to realize how. i think you are coming quickly upon your own enlightenment. when you read the introduction section to his book, i think you will truly relate to his opening story. my blessings again for you!