What Is Time? Does It Pass Very Differently Than We Think?

With Creation, space and time also came into existence. Nothing within it exists outside space and time. Yet, viewed from another perspective, time may be something quite different from what we usually think it is. “Time passes.” “Times are changing.” “Where has the time gone?” We use expressions like these quite naturally. In doing so, we assume that we are standing still while time passes us by. But what if it is exactly the other way around? What if time stands still – and we are the ones moving through it?

Space and Time Are Part of Creation

If we assume that Creation is a work that came into being, then space and time are also part of this work. According to this view, God Himself stands outside these concepts. He is eternal, without beginning and without end. Such eternity is almost impossible for the human mind to imagine. Creation, however, has a beginning. This beginning is described in the words:

“Let there be light.”

With Creation, different planes came into existence – from the spiritual realms down to the world of gross matter in which we live on Earth today. Our experience of space and time also changes across these planes. The denser a plane is, the more distinctly space and time are separated from one another and the slower our experience becomes. In the world of gross matter, we therefore need comparatively more time to absorb impressions, process them and consciously experience them.

Time Is Relative

Even physics shows us that time is not simply a quantity that passes identically everywhere. Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity demonstrates that time, space and motion cannot be considered independently of one another. There must always be a point of reference. A simple example:

Imagine that we are sitting on a train travelling at a constant speed. On the neighbouring track, another train is moving alongside us. If it travels at exactly the same speed, it may appear as though both trains are standing still. If the other train moves more slowly, we suddenly have the impression that our own train is accelerating. If it overtakes us, our own train may seem to slow down. Yet our actual speed has not changed at all. What has changed is our point of reference.

Our Perception of Time Changes Too

We have all experienced this phenomenon. A boring lecture can seem endless. An exciting afternoon with friends passes quickly. As people grow older, many – perhaps all – report that the years seem to pass faster and faster. Summer begins, and suddenly Christmas is just around the corner again. The phenomenon becomes particularly striking in dreams. Sometimes we experience an entire story filled with many events, even though only a few minutes have passed in the outside world. This illustrates at least one thing very clearly: Experienced time and measured time are not the same thing. Our clocks measure hours, minutes and seconds. But they tell us nothing about how much we experience within that time.

The Inner Clock

Human beings also possess a biological inner clock. We find remarkable examples of this in the animal world as well. Migratory birds know when it is time to depart. Biological rhythms govern migration, reproduction, sleep and many other processes. But beyond this biological clock, we can observe another form of time perception: our inner experiential time. When we are attentive, mentally alert and filled with impressions, a great deal can happen within a short period of external time. This brings us to an entirely different way of looking at time.

Let Us Assume That Time Does Not Pass at All!

In his Grail Message – In the Light of Truth, in the chapter “Awake!”, Abdruschin expresses a remarkable thought: Time stands still. We, however, rush towards it. And Gottfried Keller wrote: “Time does not pass, it stands still; we move through it.” This completely changes our familiar picture. We are not standing at the station while the train of time passes us by. We are sitting on the train. We are moving. The landscape we see changes. Our bodies change. Our surroundings change. Entire cultures arise and disappear. But that does not necessarily mean that time itself changes. Forms change within time.

Time as Part of a Greater Order

According to the spiritual perspective underlying this article, a power flows through the whole of Creation. It proceeds from the Light and works through all its planes. In simplified terms, we might imagine the pathways provided for it as an immense network of nerve fibres extending throughout Creation. The closer a plane is to the spiritual origin, the more directly and comprehensively experience can take place. The denser the plane becomes, the more perception is narrowed. The human spirit therefore experiences only a small portion of what is actually taking place while on Earth. The earthly brain requires time to absorb and process impressions. According to this view, however, the spirit itself possesses a far greater capacity for experience. This could help explain why time can feel so different in different states of consciousness.

Why Does Everything Seem to Be Moving Faster Today?

Here I would like to add my personal observation. I increasingly have the impression that our perception of time is changing. Other people describe something similar: a present-day hour can feel as though it corresponds to only 45 minutes. Of course, the clock itself has not changed. An hour still consists of 60 minutes. I am therefore speaking explicitly about a subjective experience, not a physical shortening of the hour. My explanation for this is spiritual in nature.

At present, an intensified power of Light can be perceived. This power does not accelerate the clock, but rather the triggering and experiencing of events. Things begin to move more quickly. Decisions reveal their consequences sooner. Developments become more concentrated. Connections become more visible. Every day, something new “comes to light.” What we have sown returns to us according to the Law of Reciprocal Action. The more strongly the power works, the more quickly such reciprocal effects can reach their point of release. This creates the impression:

Everything is accelerating. What is meant here is an inner state. When we open our spirit, become attentive, move inwardly, learn, recognise and consciously experience, we perceive considerably more within the same amount of external time. An hour remains an hour. But the density of experience changes. We already know this from dreams: within only a few minutes, we can subjectively experience an astonishing abundance of events. Perhaps this is precisely where one of the keys to understanding time lies.

Past, Present and Future

On Earth, we experience past, present and future as clearly separated from one another. Yesterday is gone. Today is what we experience. Tomorrow has yet to come. But perhaps this strict separation is mainly the result of our limited earthly perception. According to the spiritual view described here, nothing that happens is lost. Every experience remains preserved within Creation. Time, then, would not be a river carrying everything away with it. Rather, it would be something through which we travel and within which our experiences find their place.

The Great Opportunity of Our Time

If reciprocal effects are triggered more quickly today and developments become more concentrated, this presents not only a challenge. It also presents a great opportunity. For the same universal laws are equally at work when we build something new. If we act in harmony with these laws, keep a clear goal in sight, and take the right steps with joy, confidence and inner conviction, the fruits of our actions will also become visible more quickly.

This applies to our personal development just as much as to a project, a business, or building a community of people who come together for a good cause. What matters is that we take action. Let us get to work with fresh energy and confidence! Inertia, mistrust, excessive deliberation and the constant objections of the intellect hold us back. It is far better to wholeheartedly embrace something we have recognised as right and move forward with determination.