Chris Zimmerman

We were reflecting on our shared experiences as students, and we started talking about a concept that we learned some years ago. Our talk really inspired me, and left me with a renewed appreciation of this idea, which I thought I would share here.

From our point of view, the concepts of time and space are all-defining, all-encompassing ideas that we operate within. But in truth they exist only in a relatively small portion of reality - I'm talking real physics here, not just spirituality.

According to quantum physics, to string theory, and many spiritual traditions - whatever could be, already is.

The importance of this idea to me personally becomes particularly relevant in times of personal struggle.

For example - within my own life, if I am struggling to unite different companies, people and so on (I am), if I should feel discouraged, I take comfort in the ramifications of this idea:

There already exists a version of me that has already overcome all these, and many other obstacles. He's sitting at the end of a successful journey, enjoying the well-deserved fruits of his efforts.

Sure, in my limited, temporal frame, he and I are separated - by cause and effect, by time and circumstance. But he really IS there.

According to my teacher - consciousness, the pure, thought-energy at our beginning and end, transcends the dimensions limited by space and time.

So, even though this other version of me and my current version seem far apart in this level of reality - in the world of consciousness we can literally merge...subject to a couple of rules!

I could actually connect to a "me" that has already overcome all of my obstacles - even the most intimately guarded, secret struggles that I have never shared with anyone - because he really IS me.

It sounds amazing - living with all the wisdom and experience of a long and successfully executed life at our disposal. So why don't we do it all the time?

Here's the catch - in the realm of consciousness, things are not connected in time and space - only by similarity of essence, or form.

Meaning; once I have a consciousness similar to that version of myself, I can literally open a channel to that person - like a fibre-optic cable through time and space - through which his ideas, perspectives and wisdom can be downloaded directly to me.

The downside though - if I am sitting here, feeling defeated or discouraged, I can not connect to the consciousness of some future, powerful winner.

Somehow, I have to remember something and draw strength from this: he IS me, he comes from the same source, we have the same beginning and the same end.

Regardless of whatever circumstance I am in right now, I can use my emotions and imagination to bridge the gap and begin to attain a consciousness similar to that of the "me" I wish to connect to.

So here's the rub - if you feel down, defeated, without answers or options, well then, you truly are. Because sadly, you're just too different from the "you" with all the answers to connect. It's like losing your bank card - the money may still be in the account, but you simply cannot access any of it. Your password to all that treasure is the required attainment of a similar perspective, a consciousness like the "you" that you wish to draw from.

How does this person feel? What is their point of view? What motivates them? How do they view the world around them?

By the way - this same type of questioning is equally useful for connecting to the people around us.

I asked our teacher once, "how are you able to communicate so effectively with people?"

He answered, "I try hard not to think at all about what I want to say, or even what I want. In my own mind and heart, I ask questions in an attempt to connect to that person's consciousness. Once I see the world the way they do, we are of one mind and we can truly connect."