Florian Tathagata Schlosser © 2007

From the perspective of normal consciousness we mostly experience ourselves as 'somebody'
– an identity however named – to whom time and reality happens. We experience the
course of life as an event from which we are separate, and more or less at the mercy of, or
upon which we are doing our best to make some influence.

To explore the essence of time and reality as they really are, we first have to turn to 'the one'
to whom they seemingly occur. The question is whether 'the one' who experiences time and
reality really exists. If so, is this experiencing person – the 'I' which experiences – really separated
from his or her experience?

So how can we explore what the 'I' is and if it really exists? Let's start. Who is thinking? Is it
you who is thinking, or are there just thoughts which emerge and leave again? Who is feeling?
Is it you who is feeling or are there just feelings which emerge and leave again? Who has
physical sensations? Is it you who has sensations in the body, or are there just sensations which
emerge and leave again?

If you want to check this, then just try to stop your thoughts. Simply STOP. Does it work? If you
are completely conscious and honest here you will realise that it is not so easy to switch off the
experience of thinking, feeling and sensing. What you recognise is a never ending stream of
movement (experience) which just happens.

To whom does this movement occur? Who has always been conscious of experience? Who
or what is it exactly that is conscious? Normally (without thinking) you will say 'I am conscious'.
Check it briefly if you like: are you conscious of the present experience, whatever it may be,
right now? Of course you are.

Now, what is this 'I' that is conscious? It is consciousness itself. Therefore, you are consciousness,
aren't you?

Time is movement in consciousness

As we see by close investigation, there is consciousness in which the movement of thinking,
feeling and sensing in the body emerges and leaves again. This movement in consciousness
feels like it is occurring in time. But if you again allow a moment to be quiet and aware, you
will notice that time itself is an illusion.

The illusion of time is created by the ever changing experiences in consciousness. Without the
movement of thinking, feeling and physical sensations, there is no independent and measurable
time to be experienced. Time is not separated from experience but an included part of it;
in fact, it is experience itself.

The 'sense of I' is also included in the movement and therefore not separated from it. If we
pause for a while, we see that consciousness only comes into experience by movement. That
is all. There is no-one who experiences anything. It is the experiencing that experiences itself as
movement in consciousness. We are that consciousness. What can confuse us sometimes is the
movement of attention being mixed up with pure resting awareness.

The movement of attention

Attention is the natural ability to focus energy on a certain object, to observe it. This can be an
object on the 'outside' or an object 'inside' like a thought or a feeling. If you inquire precisely
now, you will see that - merely in the act of focusing - the sense of an 'I observer' creates an
observed object that appears to be separated from you. But neither is there really an 'I' nor an
object separated from 'I'. The seeming duality emerges only by the focusing of attention.
If you look closely you will realise that attention itself is part of the movement. It is moving constantly
from one object to another. It jumps about like a monkey. The faster and the more restlessness
with which the attention moves, the stronger is the experience of time. Abrupt, erratic
movement of attention creates a rapid feeling of time. Slow and quiet movement creates a
feeling of having time. Not only is time itself an illusion, but also the experience of its varying
speed or quality. You – consciousness itself – are conscious of all experiences including the
movement of attention.

Experience comes into being by observation

Where is the border between consciousness and the experience (including the observing) that
emerges and leaves again? If you investigate further, you will find no border. The border does
not exist. There is consciousness, and in consciousness experience happens – the one is not
separated from the other. Consciousness – YOU – and experience are already ONE. Never
were there two. To put it another way, the one who experiences and an experience that is
separate from him have never really existed. They have been and are being created only by
the act of observing.

Modern quantum physics realises that there is a relation between the observer of an experiment
and the outcome of the experiment. But in fact, the observer IS the observed reality. You
are that consciousness AND that which is appearing in consciousness.

Does time differ from reality? And do both exist separated from us? Time and reality cannot
run outside of us like a film in front of our eyes. Rather, everything that happens is already included
in us - in consciousness. Nothing exists or happens independently of you - of consciousness.

The question now arises whether anything happens at all, or whether what we call reality is
itself an illusion. As we have already found out, the experienced speed of time depends upon
the fastness of the movement of attention. So what is it that determines the speed with which
attention in consciousness moves from object to object? If we again pause for a moment
and are conscious of the physical sensations of this moment, we can find out: the more stress
energy is stored in the nervous system, the faster and more erratic the attention moves.

Usually we can notice this (subtle stress) as a kind of flickering energy and trembling excitement
in the nervous system. Connected with it are the sense of being driven, fear, restless thinking
and feeling, and physical tension. This unreleased stress energy in the neuronal cells creates
the tendency to observe (experience separation from the moment) and, with it, automatic
thinking, feeling and physical sensations. From there, life appears to us as the habitual course of
time and reality.

You are cordially invited once again to investigate this and see for yourself. As I AM consciousness
and time and reality are an experience IN ME, are they invariable? Or can experienced
time and reality change if stress is released from the cells of the nervous system and it
returns to its natural state of rest? My experience gives a clear YES to this question.

Florian Tathagata Schlosser holds retreats and meetings in a number of countries and visits England
two or three times a year.

See website www.tathagata.de for details.

Two books of investigating conversations into the nature of conscsciouness – BEING and GIVEN - are available
from Amazon.co.uk.

This article has originally been published in german in SEIN Magazine in September 2007.

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