THIS is Inescapable

No matter how hard we seek, no matter what path we take, no matter what revelations we have, we cannot escape THIS, right here and now. Whatever the next realization will be, it will be JUST THIS. If Oneness is found, it will be JUST THIS. If Enlightenment is attained, it will be JUST THIS. Whatever THIS is conceptualized in mind, whatever THIS is believed to be, whatever THIS is appearing as, whatever THIS is, good or bad, THIS is IT.

THIS is inescapable - we try to wiggle our way out of it in thought. We race back, in memory, to the past, trying to second-guess, trying to analyze. We zoom forward in imagination, trying to anticipate, trying to plan, setting goals - yet when the past happened, it was JUST THIS. When the future unfolds, it will be JUST THIS.

In the spiritual search, we try to focus on being present. We try to "live in the NOW". What does that really mean? It means not racing into the past or rushing to the future, but remaining with THIS, right here and now. But what is NOW? What is the present? It is the present age, the present century, the present decade, the present year, the present month, the present week, the present day. It is the present hour. It is the present minute. How long is the present?

The minute has 60 seconds - so NOW is also the present second, which is the present millisecond, the present nanosecond...

So where is the present? What measurement is the "official" length of time? What length of time is THIS, right here and now?

THIS - is no length of time at all. If we're focused on this "moment", THIS feels like a short time. When we're preoccupied, THIS flies by. Yet it's always only THIS.

Therefore THIS is the timeless. THIS means - timelessness - eternal. Time is itself only a concept, only a mental function, a measurement of some kind, an arbitrary calculation, a conceptual splitting up of something which can never be split. That something is JUST THIS.

Where are YOU in all this? What is aware of the timeless beyond time? What is the condition by which this realization of the illusory nature of time takes place? THAT is the timeless itself. THAT, is YOU.


"Early morning, the orange sun is slowly rising, shining forth in empty luminous clarity. The mind and the sky are one, the sun is rising in the vast space of primordial awareness, and there is just this. Yasutani Roshi once said, speaking of satori, that it was the most precious realization in the world, because all the great philosophers had tried to understand ultimate reality but had failed to do so, yet with satori or awakening all of your deepest questions are finally answered: it's just this."

-Ken Wilbur, "One Taste"