Tim Freke - How Long Is Now?: A Journey to Enlightenment...and Beyond

My life has brought me to this moment. I am here and now. But where is here? Is it the spot beneath my feet... or the room I am sitting in... or the country I inhabit... or the whole universe? And how long is now? Is it this breath... or this particular day... or my lifetime... or forever?

I want to tell you about the extraordinary events of my life and what they have taught me about living in love with the ever-present, ever-changing moment. But where should I begin? Tim has been enjoying this magical mystery tour we call life for a little more than 49 years... some 2,500 weeks. But my story begins long before, because Tims brief adventures can only be understood within the context of the grandiose story of life itself.

In this book, I want to take you on a philosophical journey of discovery into the mystery of the moment by sharing with you some personal experiences that have led me to profound ideas. But I think that it will be fun to start our time together by going back before time... to tell you a fabulous story about all that has led to us being here and now.

This story is an epic saga about the evolution of consciousness, the rise and fall of empires, and the inexplicable allure of game shows on daytime TV. Its a strange and poignant tale about you... and me... and everything. Im going to give you a heavily abridged version, because to tell the whole thing would take forever... literally. And it wont be an easy story to tell, since its impossible to really put into words. But what the helllets go for it anyway.

The Evolution of Consciousness

Once upon a timeless now, there existed the mysterious source of all that is. The source was an infinite nothing, pregnant with the possibility for everything... the possibility of quarks and galaxies, inanimate matter and sentient life, unconscious nature and conscious reflection... the possibility of seeing and feeling, of fearing and hoping, of thinking and loving... the possibility of beautiful art and terrible cruelty, of justice and genocide, of lies and wisdom... the possibility for you and me... the possibility for this moment right now.

Before the beginning, there was a primal imagination with the power to imagine everything... so thats exactly what it did. Everything is a lot to imagine, so it started with some basics and worked its way up to more complex things. First up was the idea of time, because it takes time to imagine everything. And with time came the idea of space, because if you want stuff youve got to have somewhere to put it all.

There was also energy and light. And tiny particles that combined to form swirling constellations of stars. And self-organizing cells that cooperated to become flora and fauna. Like any innovative process, this was a continual dialectic between creating and criticizing, bold experimenting and ruthless editing, stupendous successes and disappointing dead ends.

The process of evolution may have been hit or miss, but it was definitely heading in a particular direction. The forms became more and more complex, and as they did, they also became more and more conscious. Eventually, the primal imagination conceived of sentient beings through whom the universe could look at itself, hear itself, touch itself, as well asby necessityeat itself.

It was only a matter of time before some big-brained bipeds called human beings became self-conscious. These clever monkeys were not only conscious of the world around them, they were also conscious that they were conscious. And they started to ask some pretty interesting questions, such as Who am I? Why am I here? and Where did everything come from? And this brings us to the dilemma that gives dramatic tension to our story....

The Illusion of Separateness

Before the beginning, the primal imagination was like a big mind slumbering in the unconscious nothingness of deep sleep. Then it started to dream the adventure of life; as it did, it became conscious through each of the forms it was imagining itself to be. As a hippo, it experienced itself to be a hippo. As a hummingbird, it experienced itself to be a hummingbird. As a human being, it experienced itself to be a human being. And this is what created the illusion of separateness.

Human beings presumed that they were no more than the separate individuals they appeared to be in the life-dream. They had no idea that, in reality, all was one, because everything was an expression of the primal awareness that was dreaming up the universe. This cosmic case of mistaken identity would just be comical if it werent for the fact that the illusion of separateness caused such huge amounts of suffering.