by Amit Misra
25 June 2023
As is the notion that humans use on an average only about 10% of the brain capacity meaning 90% is unused brain, also meaning that we do not even know what we have not explored so far. When anything new comes up on this exploration journey about this existence it becomes a discovery and is considered a bold step towards our quest as a species. When the word unknown comes to us we usually talk about the universes that are unseen and accept that there lies something beyond our understanding, anticipation and guesswork. We can live with this oblivion as we think that this not knowing does not directly implicate our presence here.
It’s interesting to reckon that science still contemplates and doesn’t agree unanimously on the existence of time and many physicists do not approve the existence of anything called time but we have accepted its existence as per the last proven hypothesis. From our childhood we are told that time is money, it’s above all, and it’s imperative that we respect it, not waste it but make use of it in self-interest. With countless clocks hovering around us, Time is a silent but an intimidating observer of our life, our acts and thoughts and simultaneously with mortality being definitely a no need to be proven inevitable entity this becomes a catch 22 situation. The effect of this hypothesis created by the 10% usage has encapsulated and bracketed life itself. These brackets are mostly social that have unconditionally become our way of living. Racing for having more in less time, becoming someone and something are dictating our kind. The consequence of this is witnessed now in the deteriorating condition of the planet and it seems this is not stopping sooner until something catastrophic happens. It will be hard to believe that all of a sudden humans will start becoming less selfish from tomorrow, and will consume less, make and construct less. As a matter of fact this is not how we are with continuous insecurity of mortality and greed playing tricks. The insecurity to leave some for others and the vulgar hedonism of consuming more in less time, the robotics ignorance of deterioration, and the trend of coining every emotion on this side or that side is how we have become permanently. While all this goes on this is decreasing the shelf life or the best before of the planet as its being consumed with every new act of ours.
In meditation, time if it really exists or it does not cease to interfere with the mind, the body and the intellect. Nothing really passes or has passed or will in future. In these moments, lives a new possibility to inquire through the unused 90% brain, to settle down a little and enjoy this stillness away from the right and the wrongs, the pros and the cons of this social conditioning, freeing us from this web of time. A way to look into this is that if we count in metrics of time we may be giving more time to this planet by doing just nothing for some time from all the time that we have. This effort that we actually make in search of self-realization is the biggest blessing in disguise for the planet and for all the other beings that also live here. Here all that is needed is to just sit and breathe quietly with nothing in our mind. This is oneness in nothingness. This is prayer. This is selfless faith. This is union with existence. This is love.
