What is time?    

If I was to ask you to define time, you might come up with a literal answer like, “time is what clocks measure.” Another answer you might give is in line with what Einstein said: time is not time, but rather “space-time.” In other words, we live within three dimensions of space—and, if we add time to that equation, we have a fourth dimension. 

This answer is interesting because it allows us to describe elements of the world in terms of their positions in space-time. That’s much more helpful than a clock (which is just a linear measure). And yet there’s still a limit to this space-time definition because time, as we currently know it, only moves in one direction: forward. Time is like an arrow; space goes backwards and forwards in all directions. So time is fundamentally different than the first three dimensions of space (which move in many directions at once). 

So, really Einstein says that time is relative. It can move faster in one spot than in another. However, time is still always going relentlessly in one direction. The concept of time that Einstein postulated about was based on the most accessible and immediate version of time and immediate—nothing anywhere else in the universe. 

But what if there are several dimensions of time, rather than just one? String theory postulates that, rather than just moving forward, there might be higher dimensions. We randomly added one dimension of time. Why can’t we add more? So, we could add another (not relative) time and call it, say, “universal time.” This universal time could exist outside our own space. 

Perhaps most pertinently, this concept enables us to see time as change. And change is occurring all the time, both backwards and forwards. This year, 2020, has involved so much change. I most certainly can attest to so much of this upside-down change all at once this year! And our perception over the last year has been forced to shift (so often) that sometimes it’s felt like we couldn’t possibly orientate ourselves.

In order to handle this amount of change and not get totally lost, we have fallen back on our faithful sorting techniques to fathom a past, present and future. This ensured our brain could process all this change, sorting those perceptions into the three more understood states of time.

But what if this is not enough? Maybe during 2020, our old methods of understanding time weren’t always reliable. As change sped up for me, it felt like time was doing the same. That feeling of traditional time shifting led me to examine and develop more respect for it. Now, there’s an increased sense of its importance and complicated nature. Is there a higher type of time? There seems to be a dignity to time in this fifth dimension “universal time in inner space.” 

Inner space is everything we define within us and outer space is everything we see outside ourselves (or the material world). And, again, inner universal space-time is not limited to forward motion. Often this year I had an inner feeling that things were changing for a reason, not because of past/present/future linear order, but rather because of some messy backwards and forwards universal reset to true authentic self.

Is universal time something higher; is it love?

This fifth dimensional inner universal time, mind, matter and space are all full of consciousness. Everybody and everything is part of and full of consciousness. And, consciousness is also not limited to forward motion. Consciousness must find a way. It finds a way, backwards and forwards. We cannot perceive consciousness that animates us from within. It is beyond the normal functioning of the mind, beyond words themselves.

Consciousness also teaches that just because we can’t perceive something doesn’t mean it’s not there. We can’t quantify love in material form, but we know it exists. Love, for example, could be an even higher dimension to which we have ascribed this arbitrary word. Love could be universal time. In fact, it’s possible that unlocking the keys to universal internal space-time through consciousness could enable us to better understand these higher dimensions.

So where does this leave us? As human beings, we’re naturally motivated to evolve. As we move to 2021, we are attempting to ascend through to higher dimensions through higher levels of enlightenment. I believe the only way to do that is to master successive higher dimensional planes. And mastering the consciousness local internal space-time is next on the list.

After all the changes that happened to us as a species this year, how could we not be thrust towards evolution? As 2020 unfolded and we were forced into still, quiet time to recognize our true materialistic view of the world, there was every reason to feel lonely, lost and depressed. And if we didn’t feel that way ourselves, we saw it all around us in our communities. Materialism does not engender optimism. On the other hand, in a blissfully conscious view of the world, there is every reason to feel connected to one another and to feel loved. 

So, to evolve by the mastery of time, we must first notice it and accept the existence of this higher universal space-time. Then we can start to respect it fully and understand its eternal natural dignity. We must treat time with the upmost respect. This requires us to live in the present moment (not external linear time) as often as possible. In doing so, we can start to learn from the true nature of the secrets of universal internal time and further dimensions (like that of “love”).

Easy to say, but how can we live more in the present moment and less in the past or future? It begins with deciding to learn more about ourselves in the present moment. To work on our actual authentic spiritual self that exists today in this moment. Spiritually, we have to come to terms with our past and work with earnestness on our spiritual selves. One big step is learning to respond, not react: Ask yourself, in this fraught linear time, am I observing the situation accurately or am I projecting baggage from my past onto what is happening in the present?

Tools like meditation can really help us to embody the present consciousness. Mediation is a systematic method of validating consciousness in the present moment. It allows us to live as if nothing exists outside the present, take what time is left and be grateful to live it properly in the moment. This is important as there is a limit to the external time assigned to us and, if we don’t use it to free ourselves and move to higher dimensions of universal internal time, it will be gone and will never return. 

In this sense, universal time might be love itself and maybe that is where the true dignity lies.

—Jared Vere, Live The Process co-founder