2016-01-17-N. Idaho TeaM

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Topic: Stepping Through Time

Group: N. Idaho TeaM

Facilitators

Teacher: Charles, Jonathan, Gerdean

TR: Mark Rogers, Cathy Morris

Session

Opening

Charles: [Mark] Thank you for your welcome, I am Charles and I can't describe how thrilling it is to eavesdrop on these conversations which are so full of potential for enlightenment. I'd like to throw in another analogy which may be useful for illustrating the contrast between varying degrees of time.

Lesson

I would submit to you that you all know well what it is like to be in a vehicle and traveling at highway speed. In so doing and moving at 60 ft. per second you are literally altering your perception of time where signs come at you at a much faster rate, where you must make decisions in plenty of time to be able to make alterations in your course, where things must be laid out to give you plenty of room to make turns and decisions because your rate of speed is so fast that it requires you be given a quarter miles notice before your turn is coming up.

This all becomes routine and natural to you and you all have experienced the sense of having been behind the wheel for many hours and then stepping out of your vehicle and feeling a little bit as though you have been in a time warp where you started hours ago in one location and have zoomed across the landscape to another location. Now contrast this if you will with the experience of hiking a trail and how slowly you make your way. Instead of 60 ft. per second it is now one step per second. Because of this rate, this pace that you are able to keep up, every single step constitutes the opportunity of a new choice. Only one step away, not a quarter mile away, not half mile down the road but each next step requires your focus, your intention, your purpose, your desire to move forward all must be present every step of the way.

This is time, this is the relative nature of time. In this life that you live, your earthly pace is one step at a time, every step offering the opportunity for you to choose and re-choose, to commit and re-commit, to be present to stop in and take in the view, to desire to move forward. This is the experience of time, the opportunity of time. You are not whizzing through the universe, you are intentionally propelling yourself by your own efforts, one step at a time. You have even fantasized in your science fiction that if you were to go aboard a space ship and leave the earth and travel at great rates of speed that you would not age as all those still suffering the march of time who would certainly suffer its affects.

Your spiritual existence will be unimaginable in its freedom of scope for you, in its potential to be unobstructed by such confines of time. But for now, in this experience, you must march the march of time, individually, yourself personally, you must take each step, you must have the will and the desire to move in the direction of your choosing. Nowhere else after this life experience will you have to slog your way through the environment around you and press forward in such an inhibited fashion as you experience here.

So I support what was mentioned earlier, that of drinking deeply of each and every cup along this journey, taking them in to refresh you after you have had your many steps for the day, to celebrate your direction, your momentum, your progress, because that is what you are here to do and to bring with you the conviction of a great journey before you. Thank you for the opportunity to join you today. It is always my pleasure to insert myself along side you in discussion. I bid good day to you all.

Jonathan: [Mark] I would greet you all as well, is it time for me? I am Jonathan and I love to join you as well. I do so fondly remember the association with what time it was. There was a time for everything, a time to rise, a time to rest, a time to plant, a time to harvest, a time to be at the party, a time to be leaving. Life as a mortal of the realm is so governed by this ongoing march of time that it becomes habitual and pattern-ized and in so doing, it becomes evident that life can be made to conform to these limitations of time simply by choosing to adhere, simply by going to sleep at night on a regular basis or eating meals at regular times or working or playing on schedule.

It is possible to conform your being to interact with this phenomenon of time and this experience of having to conform to the darkness and the light, the cold and the warmth, is such fertile ground for the unlimited opportunities of choice being referred to. The ever growing perception of the desirability to be present, to be focused, are always good topics of conversation. They remain inspirational to the time born creature who must make an active willing choice to seize the passing moment, to grasp the current now because it is marching on, it is moving right in front of us. It is easy to lose track and fall into habit and pattern but it is precious if we will be present to make a current choice, a choice that reflects who we are in this moment of time as we seize it and grasp it. Time is as the river flowing by, constantly in motion and yet you can focus on a section of the passing water and truly experience as it goes by, its unique signature.

I appreciate the time that you allocate to this process, to me and to the others. It is your gift to give what you will do with yours, how you will choose to spend it and I am grateful as are the others that you choose to invest your time with us and in this process. Thank you all for your individual contributions. I bid you all happy hunting for all the opportunities immediately before you. May you seize them and may you choose again in that moment of choice, farewell.

Closing

Gerdean: [Cathy] I am listening to your banter and enjoying the camaraderie. I am most cognizant of lack of a framework of time. This does not in any way limit my focus but it is a totally different way of being and acting. Thank you for including me in the friendly conversation.