Time As Duration Vs. Time As Meaning

What does it really mean to stay in the present moment - especially when it seems that, as soon as we think of the present moment, we're in the next moment? There's a way out of this problem: we can distinguish between what is mere duration from what is a meaningful experience.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Chris Largent and this is a very quick note about time versus meaning,

Two completely different ways to experience,

Well,

Experience.

What's going on when someone says you should live in the moment?

I don't know about you,

But for me,

I think,

Well,

Okay,

I'm in the moment,

Well,

No,

The moment just went by.

Okay,

Now I'm in the moment,

Nope,

That just went by.

I have a little trouble with that because I'm not really sure what it means if people are talking in terms of time.

That is,

If moment means stay in that present moment in time,

That's nearly impossible to do.

As I'm recording this,

I'm watching the seconds tick by,

Hoping I'll keep this under a minute.

What really is going on there is there's an assumption in the way in the ancient world that you hear that each way you experience time that is out of time really means you're looking at the meaning of the thing.

If something feels meaningful,

Then you stay in that sense of meaning.

For instance,

If I'm watching a film that I really like,

It can seem so good that it's 15 minutes and this two-hour film is done,

But the meaning stays with me.

It's meaningful,

So it seems to have this quality of going by quickly and being something that I can grasp as a whole very quickly.

The meaning is clear to me.

If I'm sitting,

For instance,

In a lecture,

Including one of my own,

It's really boring.

What happens is it seems as if it goes on forever.

That's because it's not meaningful to me and the time duration takes over and I feel trapped in that duration.

That's the final big point here.

To get out of feeling trapped in time,

Even when someone says stay in the present moment in time,

I have to focus on what that experience means,

How it has this deep sense of value and purpose and so on for me and for the world around me.

I hope that's helpful.

Thanks for listening.

Reviews

Very interesting reflection

Excellent perspective on staying in the moment.
Thanks, Namaste ✨️ 😊

This helps. Thank you!
I suffer sometimes from time, its really hard to grasp and understand it and make it work for me.