Psychological time belongs to the inner self, that is, to the mind. It is however, a connective, a portion of the inner senses which we will call, for convenience, the second inner sense. It is a natural pathway, meant to give easy access from the inner to the outer world and back again.
Time to our dreaming self is much like ‘time’ to our waking inner self. The time concept in dreams may seem far different that our conception of time in the waking state when we have our eyes on the clock and are sitting alone with our thoughts. Then, I am sure, we will see the similarity between this alone sort of inner psychological time, experienced often in waking hours, and the sense of time experienced often in a dream.
I cannot say this too often — we are far more than the conscious mind, and the self which we do not admit is the portion that not only insures our own physical survival in the physical universe which it has made, but which is also the connective between ourselves and inner reality. It is only through the recognition of the inner self that the race of man and woman will ever use its potential.
The outer senses will not help achieve the inner purpose that drives him or her. Unless he or she uses the inner senses, he or she may lose whatever he or she has gained.
Psychological time is a natural connective to the inner world. As we can experience days or hours within its framework in the dream state and not age for the comparable amount of physical time, so as we develop, we will be able to rest and be refreshed within psychological time even when we are awake. This will aid our mental and physical state to an amazing degree. We will discover an added vitality and a decreased need to sleep. Within any given five minutes of clock time, for example, we may find an hour of resting which is independent of clock time.
We can look through psychological time at clock time and even use clock time then to our greater advantage; but without the initial recognition of psychological time, clock time becomes a prison. A proper use of psychological time will not only lead us to inner reality but will prevent us from being rushed in the physical world. It provides quiet and peacefulness.
From its framework we will see that clock time is as dreamlike as we once thought inner time was. We will discover that ‘inner time’ is as much a reality as we once considered outer time to be. In other words, peeping inwards and outwards at the same ‘time’ we will find that all divisions are illusion and all time is one time.
“Who do I share this image with?
What ghost haunts this house?
I smile and reach for a cup of Starbucks
And motions beyond my will begin.
My fingers move smoothly out
And lift the curving spoon.
With just the proper touch
They pick the Starbucks up.
Yet I have nothing to do with this.
Who moves the cup? Who moves?
And while I speak to you, my lungs
Rise and fall behind breastbones,
Fill their secret tissue mouths
With the air that swirls in this bright room.
They breathe for me the very breath
Upon which all I an depends.
Yet I do not know how this is done.
Who is this ghost,
This other one?
Who moves the lung? Who breathes?
While I sleep and lie stretched out,
Eyelids closed and pupils dark,
Who walks wide-eyed downstairs
Through the door in the cold night air,
And travels where I have never been?
Who leaves clear memories in my head
Of people I have never met?
Who takes these trips while I
Never lift one inch from bed?
Who dreams?
The mover, the breather, the dreamer
Shares with me this fond flesh.
He or she is a twin so like myself
That I cannot recognize his or her face.
He or she goes his or her way and I go mine.
We never meet head-on, and yet
I am aware of this ghost
Behind my every word or act.
Who moves? Who breathes?
Who dreams?