The Fullness of Time

“Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden. My words echo
Thus, in your mind.
….

Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.

 

….

                                          Time past and time future
Allow but a little consciousness.
To be conscious is not to be in time
But only in time can the moment in the rose-garden,
The moment in the arbour where the rain beat,
The moment in the draughty church at smokefall
Be remembered; involved with past and future.
Only through time time is conquered. “

 

from T.S. Eliot, No. 1 of Four Quartets

 

____________________

 All in right time.  I know this to be true.  Lately, I feel as though I am in a kaleidescope of time, each moment, turning into the next, but at the same time, revisiting the past as if it were present.  Within the present, remain the threads of the past moments that leave such deep impressions on the psyche.  Within the present, lie the potential weaving of the future story.  All in divine time. 

My friend, Manoj, tells the story of travelling to India to a reader of the akashic records.  He came upon a reader who knew very specific information about him that could not be known to this person, such as the names of his wife and children.  Manoj was given very detailed stories of his existence in past, present and future, including the age of his death.  (Depak Chopra also tells of a similar story when he learned of his akashic record, soon after his father’s passing). 

Akasha is a sanskrit word meaning “ether”.  The akashic records are believed to be the records of the collective unconscious in all realities.  All life forms contribute to this collective record through thought and action.  In trying to understand this phenomenon, I imagine the reader to be in a deep state of meditation, projecting to the deeper state of the collective astral body, and plucking a thread from the larger tapestry of what we know as “reality”. 

As a child, I remember a conversation with a friend.  We were sitting in the back of the pea-green, fake wood sided, Buick station wagon, deep in serious discussion of what we were going to be when we grew up.  I remember the moment of sharing with her my vision of being a yoga teacher.  At that point, I had no idea what yoga was, really, other than seeing a woman on Johnny Carson perform a rocking horse Dhanurasana, but even then, I did not know this to be yoga.  I also shared with her my vision of having a place where people could come and feel good, and take care of themselves.  I was describing my yoga studio, only it was more than 25 years ago.  As my story unfolded through time, I forgot the conversation until years later, when I was actually living out that vision I saw so long ago.  I didn’t grow up with the desire to be a yoga teacher.  In fact, I didn’t take up the practice until I was in my 20s.

So, my question is…do we come into this lifetime with our full story awaiting?  Is it simply our job to show up and live out the reality of this unfolding story?  Is this why the lessons come back to me time and time again, waiting for me to take the passage that I didn’t take and perhaps open a door that I didn’t open years ago?  It is an interesting mystery, a journey that constantly unfolds and refolds back into itself, showing up as my own personal story.

I ask daily to follow my heart, listen more carefully, acknowledge the people who show up on my path.  With this, comes a deep trust in the support of grace, and the knowledge that all is as it should be.  We are all intermingling, dancing and sharing with each other our own personal story to create the greater story of the collective.  Thank you all for being a part of my story. 

Each moment is a chance to dive deeper into the pulse.  “Only through time time is conquered.”  T.S. Eliot

http://www.tristan.icom43.net/quartets/norton.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akashic_records

Special thanks to Rachael Crawford Goolsby for sharing with me this amazing poem by T.S. Eliot.  You are a true teacher and friend!  Thank you!