Space, Time and Consciousness
Creating balance with the inner and outer spaces we inhabit.
On his way back to earth, having just walked on the moon, Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell experienced a radical transformation in consciousness. As he approached our planet from beyond its sphere of influence, taking in the exquisite poise of earth, moon and sun gyrating about each other within a 360º panorama of stars,
‘he was filled with an inner conviction as certain as any mathematical equation he’d ever solved. He knew that the beautiful blue world to which he was returning, is part of a living system, harmonious and whole, and that we all participate, as he expressed it later, ‘in a universe of consciousness.’ *
Mitchell became aware that, despite science’s dazzling achievements, we had barely begun to probe the deepest mystery of the universe – the fact of consciousness itself.
“I realized that the story of ourselves as told by science, our cosmology, our religion, was incomplete and likely flawed. I recognized that the Newtonian idea of separate, independent, discrete things in the universe wasn’t a fully accurate description. What was needed was a new story of who we are and what we are capable of becoming.” *
Consciousness as the primary force in the universe
Consider this idea. Space only exists when and where occupied by consciousness. Read More
I conceive and design a house. I build the house. I move into the space I have created. I inhabit that space with further imaginings, styles, objects and utilities, setting up further spaces to work and dream and create more spaces and things. Thus consciousness and imagination come before intentional, physical manifestation and can not exist without that precedent.
Current science tells us that the physical universe came first with the Big Bang, and its ongoing expansion represents time. Progressive evolution biologists (such as Elisabet Sahtouris) however, suggest that consciousness must be primary. That consciousness is the primary motive force in the universe, coming before physical manifestation. This idea may remain in the numinous, fringe territories of metaphysics and mythology, at least from the mainstream science perspective, but science is young and the difference in creation stories – between ancient wisdom traditions and modern sciences – are merging. They are beginning to corroborate each other.
Consciousness and Space
If you are a diver, when you are in that medium, hovering, buoyant in space, breathing with slow deliberation, meditatively over a coral reef, with all of its exquisite extra-terrestrial life animated below you, you are immersed in this space and spacial quality entirely. It is completely absorbing. Thus, perfectly relaxed, you, your body, does not feel separate from the environment you are immersed in. The terrestrial world above, your own house, outer space, are all equally as far from each other in this subaquatic moment as can be. To all intents and purposes, they do not exist outside of the present experiential reality. They may exist in another space-time for you, or someone else, but in this moment, for you, they do not.
Even sitting at your desk, when completely absorbed, only the space immediately surrounding you exists, until you project your consciousness to some distant place, thought, abstraction, but then you are no longer in the present. Sitting right here is the only reality, so long as you remain in this moment.
Consciousness and Time
Linear time is a social institution and not a physical reality— an agreed upon construct that has to be calculated and measured on a device, primarily in order to coordinate and synchronise with industry and commerce. Whilst it is a convenient abstraction, it’s one I personally struggle with. I manage, recalcitrantly, by muster and fluster to keep up with the regulated scheme of things, but it does challenge me to map space, time and activity in a linear fashion, as distinct from the naturally occurring cyclic rhythms of mind, metabolism, moon and mood. Maybe it was because my mum dropped me, I don’t know, but I do know I’m not the only one that is challenged by the clock.
Regardless, I maintain that there can be no other time (or space) besides that fully present point of attention and awareness you or I are ever in, in the immediacy of experience. Anything else must be delusional. Multitasking is a delusion. We can in fact only focus on one thing in any given moment, though we can shift that focus rapidly from one thing to another back and forth, creating the illusion of multiplicity. Witness however, how fractured we have become.
Still, we interpret and traverse space and time every day to varying degrees. I board a train or a boat or a plane, travel between points of space-time to make agreed upon rendezvous in other spaces and times. The office, the pub, the beach, but we are never anywhere but the present transitory moment. Memories are traces of the present moment, fading like the wake of a ship, or an evaporating condensation trail. Future desires and concerns also are not manifest, thus, ever is the illusory nature of time and space beyond the present moment.
Outer Space vs Inner Space
So what is space if, in experiential terms, it is either something we design and define around us through intention, or it is something we are passing through in a continuum alongside its counterpart time?
Or perhaps more importantly, why should we want to explore the far reaches, when we have barely looked to the depths of our very being, as Mitchell intimates. The implication is that we may not need to leave our body of Earth in order to explore the furthest reaches of the cosmos. Like the ancient metaphor of Indra’s Net, suggesting the interconnected nature of the universe, the atoms, cells and ganglia within our very being, reflect the same dynamics and patterns of solar systems, nebula and galaxies within the greater, numinous whole. As above, so below, the microcosm within the macrocosm.
I remember a wooden plaque staked at the perimeter of the grounds at a meditation retreat center in Thailand. It was in the middle of the jungle.
I was trying to escape. It said,
“There is nowhere to go, but in.”
Maybe, the answers to the otherwise insurmountable problems we are creating in our world, can only ever be found within, where this union of space, time and consciousness can be experienced. The separation of humanity from nature is the fundamental problem on our planet in this time.
The implication that the existing (Western) dualistic thought processes are what separates us from usurped indigenous immediacy, relevance and connectedness. Yet we have never actually been separate. What we do to nature, to our planet, to other people, we do to ourselves. Any native Lakota speaker will offer this as de facto. It’s encoded in indigenous languages. Yet not ours. I blame Descartes.
To be clear, putting any of this in words can have limited value, but any number of traditional meditation techniques demonstrate single pointed consciousness, as transcendent of the limits of time, space and separation, empirically, and have done so since civilisation began. The scientific world is beginning to re-cognise the same conclusions with its own methodologies. Though we remain challenged to comprehend the unity of space, time and consciousness, they may be experienced directly as such, simply by suspending the dualistic Cartesian thought process. Through intention. By directing consciousness beyond those confines, through the regular practice of various meditation techniques. The wetware time machine that has existed, unbeknownst to Hollywood and the rest of distracted humanity, for millennia.
Regardless, whilst outer space may be tremendous fun to explore through science and imagination – as a star gazer, I do both, it remains a place few of us are destined to experience physically in this lifetime. Detractors have long said, the incredible resources utilised in space exploration would be more sensibly put towards solving problems here on Earth. And when we collectively look to explore the near and far reaches of our solar system, what are we really looking so far for after all? To find life elsewhere that reflects back to us how life began here? Other world intelligence? We seem barely able to demonstrate our own intelligence with integrity, so what are we looking out there for? Salvation? From our own stupidity? How about mineral resources to replace those we are depleting under our own feet? That’s an old story we really should be laughing back at. And then there’s the possibility of colonising barren moons, or planets, whilst haplessly mismanaging our own beautiful blue-green world? Or, even more morally corrupt perhaps, as privatised space missions become de facto, branding, publicity and commercial opportunism. Isn’t this all like brushing the Earth under the carpet as our sustainability crumbles? But look at this other exciting phenomenon over here everybody! It’s bigger, brighter than ever before! And you can reserve your seat for only $35 million.
All I’m saying is, instead of projecting our consciousness and physical presence outward towards magnification of individuated ego, it might better be directed to the inner spaces that nourish and reflect our deepest connection with self and other. To the cosmos as an intrinsic, interconnected part of the whole of existence. We might find, if we venture to the depths, that this is where the solution to our personal and global problems lie.
Space and consciousness are inextricably linked. Sacred and vernacular architecture through time immemorial have embodied the principals of sacred geometry and the fractal nature of space and time. Designers and sacred sciences have observed these proportions and ratios for millennia. Instinctively, we seek and create harmonious spaces when we are attuned to nature and natural law. When we abstract space in order to display power, it becomes detached from harmony with nature. Consciousness becomes concomitantly less balanced and we, separated from the intelligence inherent in our bodies, heart and planet, go looking to shoot our wad into outer space. Hence the meme, “What if UFO’s are just billionaires from other planets?”
We appear to be on the fast track to matricide at the fraying ends of a great patriarchal cycle. Inner space represents as profound an exploration for humanity, as the outer spaces we inhabit, imagining we may find salvation without balancing the two. Space, time and consciousness remain inextricably linked. It is our job to restore balance in our world before we destroy our habitat and leave a handful of lonely billionaires as envoys of Earth, living in sterile pods on Mars perhaps, realising they just blew it. Maybe we should just send the big-shots ahead to the final frontier. I mean, Amazon is handy I must say, and I’d have fun tooling around in a Tesla, but I’d just as soon get a farewell spaceX postcard from Mars, and keep planting trees and creating green space in the landscape immediately around me. Oh, and do please let’s send Boris and all those other heads of state too. They all belong out there, mop-headed morons that they are.
If we manage to own responsibility for our individual and collective power in time, we may evolve across space and time, through consciousness – time travellers on good ol’ spaceship Earth. Destination unknown. We do seem to be veering rather rapidly off course though and all bets are off, but what a ride!
Now. What was I doing? Oh yes, time to turn abstraction to action, consciousness to space. I’m off to plant some carbon sequestering, nitrogen fixing, leguminous trees out beyond my desk. See you out there.
