Whether God created man in his own image, or man created God in his own image, one thing is certain: man's ideal image.

Almost every spiritual belief in the world recognizes creativity as God's most predominant feature.

Almost all of them claim that in the beginning there was nothing, and then God thought or said "Let there be light" or something else.

And then out of that void, that nothingness, light or whatever else that God desired was created.

So if our ideal image is the God image, then we should also endeavor to create our desires out of nothing, with complete and divine indifference to circumstances.

After all, what circumstance could be more challenging than to create something out of nothing?

Every cell in our body is also a conscious and thinking being. It is alive with life and thought. It also has needs and desires. Each cell needs food and oxygen, and needs to eliminate and multiply.

But somehow, every need of every cell in our body is already taken care of.

Whenever it needs food, the food is readily available to it. When it needs oxygen, our blood brings it the oxygen.

When it needs to eliminate waste, the circulatory and elimination systems take the waste away, thus cleaning up the environment for the cell.

Somehow, the body has figured out a way to provide for every need and desire of the cell, before it even knows it has them.

And the cell has the choice to partake of the food and oxygen and grow and multiply, or not, or mutate and become sick and die, or even become hostile and cancerous.

Nevertheless, the body provides for every need of that cell, before the cell even has it.

In the same manner, we are like individual cells within our planet and universe.

Our world provides for our every need, before we even have it.

Yet we may choose to receive those gifts, or deny them to ourselves, or block them, or abuse them.

We may become martyrs or even hostile and destructive. But that is the freedom of choice that we have.

The universe has done its job of providing for our every need and desire, before we even have them.

This is what the Quran means by saying that the Father provides for our every desire before we even think of them.

The genius of the human potential movement and the New Age movement has been to recognize this divine capability, this creative ability in us.

However, their failing has been the relegating of the object of desire to the individual human mind.

Much like the cell in our body has freedom to choose to fulfill its needs, we also have that same choice.

However, in the case of our bodies, we have a mind which is more powerful than the mind of the individual cell.

It is, in fact, the synergistic totality of every little mind within our body. It is more than all the individual minds.

The mind of the individual cell is subject to the choices of our mind.

If I decide to go to the bathroom, no matter how much the individual cell may wish to go to the kitchen, or sit still, it is going to end up in the bathroom.

That is because the greater mind over-rides the lesser mind, within the same system.

It is much the same in the universe.

The Universal mind, God, Higher Power, or whatever other name we may wish to call it by, which is the synergistic mind of the totality of the universe, over-rides our individual mind choices.

Within the general workings of the God-mind, we have the freedom to choose our behavior and responses and creations, yet there is a greater mind which determines the general flow of our lives.

We may ideally align ourselves with the general flow, or "follow our Bliss", and then we will find that the universe will deliver opportunities to us in ways that we could not even have wished for, what we call "synchronicity".

Yet we have the choice to oppose this flow, block it, or fight it, and ultimately leave the general scheme through death in this physical world.

When we recognize the greater mind, the God-mind, and when we allow ourselves to follow its general direction, without fear and without attachment to how things should be or should turn out, then we follow our destiny and allow it to unfold.

The paradox is following our destiny gives us most joy, and is achieved with maximum ease and least effort.

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Chaos raises its ugly head everywhere. Confusion seems to be the order of the day.

Change is the only constant, we are told. Everything is unstable, and nobody knows what is happening tomorrow.

Naturally we are all worried. Concerned for our jobs and businesses, for our savings and wealth, we try to take it one day at a time, and every night, we are grateful for making it through one more day.

But why?

Simply because we have been trained to believe that stability and equilibrium are desirable. That constancy is a sign of maturity, wisdom and success. But this is not so.

Everywhere we look in nature, we find signs of disequilibrium, because disequilibrium is what creates a potential, a natural state of tension which then becomes fertile ground for creation of resolution.

Nature does not say "Oh my God, something is wrong.

Things are changing too fast. I am confused. I am panicking."

Nature very calmly looks the confusion in the eye, and then resolves to proceed with what it desires to create.

And every time without fail, nature creates something new, which overshadows the old.

During a family visit to mount St. Helens, I was amazed at the extent of devastation and destruction that took place.

But more amazing than that was witnessing how life seemed to find its way back into the region.

New plants and animals started growing back within weeks of the eruption, and today in the landscape one can witness new life flourishing next to the old devastation.

Every evolutionary jump in our natural history has taken place by allowing for a period of confusion and even complete chaos.

The species in question seemed to have tried to evolve in every possible direction, and for some time it did. Until finally one direction became the predominant evolutionary change.

Out of the confusion came the next direction of growth.

In our business world today, we seem to be standing on the brink of one of these evolutionary jumps.

Our old institutions are undergoing change at a volcanic speed and scale. And all of us are running around, trying to survive day by day, waiting for the next evolutionary jump in our economy.

Perhaps we should have more faith in our economy and our own creativity.

Perhaps we can recognize this confusion and chaos as a necessary step in the evolutionary growth of our economy. We should realize that confusion is good. It is fertile ground for creativity.

Instead of falling into the trap of our old training and giving in to desperation and panic, perhaps we can become more proactive and creative.

Perhaps we can even use our imagination with such faith and confidence that we can steer the direction of our economic evolutionary growth.

Who knows, our idea which may have seemed insignificant to us, may just be that next evolutionary jump waiting to happen.

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Just as in the physical world so far we have perceived four dimensions, three spatial and one of time, in the spiritual realm, or the realm of consciousness we can also perceive three dimensions.

Naturally there may be more in either worlds yet to be perceived and discovered.

The 3 dimensions in the plane of consciousness are Thought, Faith, and Love.

Thought is the dimension of creativity.

This is what creates physical and non-physical things.

Things such as objects, buildings, software, stories, visions etc.

While Thought is the `what' of creation, Faith is the `how' of creation.

The quality of Faith differs from that of Thought.

Faith is the absolute knowing of possibilities.

While Thought determines what mountains to move, Faith is what moves mountains.

Nothing may be created without the trust, belief and Faith that it can be created, be it material or immaterial.

And finally comes Love.

Love is the quality of creation.

Whereas Thought is the blueprint of creation, and Faith is the mechanism of creation, Love is the grace, the essence or the quality of creation.

Love determines the closeness of the creation to perfection.

To use another analogy, Thought determines what is to be written, Faith is the pen with which it is written, and Love is the handwriting.

Or Thought is the content, Faith is the clarity and contrast of the ink and paper, and Love is the gracefulness and beauty of the writing.

These are the three orthogonal axes of the spiritual world, the dimensions of consciousness.

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Assuming the universe is Unlimited, Abundant, and Benevolent, the following are the only logical conclusions that may be reached:

Regardless of whether the universe is self-organizing or not, no matter whether God is the mind of the universe or its detached creator, being is the correct response and the highest state of consciousness.

Without any necessity to think and work hard to create, without any need to go out of our way to exert energy to bring about results, we can simply tune in.

Discover what the universe is asking us to concentrate on. Listen to and feel the inner impulses, understand our inner desires.

Then simply follow those impulses, intuitions, and natural directions.

If the universe is benevolent, it would not desire anything but our best happiness.

It would have given us the means of understanding our best good.

It would have created a path of least waste, a graceful path to our highest good. And the universe has.

At our highest level of consciousness, we simply need to be. To listen to our inner selves, and to follow the directions that we are given by the universe through our inner receiver.

And then simply act or do accordingly.

More often than not the graceful path will simply appear. All we need to do is to be aware and open to its guidance and follow the path.

If the universe is abundant, then it provides us with abundance, since a benevolent universe wishes its highest for everyone.

The universe will simply put us on a path of natural growth into abundance. With this assumption, our natural state of being is to enjoy the abundance of the universe.

And all we need to do is to be, and follow the guidance of the universe, without fear, and with complete trust.

And finally if the universe is unlimited, it would not only provide us with the abundance of what there is, but also with what there could be.

Since it is unlimited, what there could be is anything that can be conceived of.

So all we need to do is to be, to open up to our inner guidance, to understand our true desires, regardless of whether they exist in material form or not, and to follow the path that is presented to us by the universe.

Would a benevolent, abundant and unlimited universe wish us anything else? Would it ask us for exertion of unnecessary energy? Would it drive us down the path of un-beauty, disgrace, and waste?

This is what the masters and sages of the past meant by asking us to devote our lives to the service of the almighty, and know that our every wish and desire will be provided for, before we can even think of them, and more.......

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A patch of dry soil, by itself is lifeless. It is stagnant and dead. Every now and again, a creature may walk over it or crawl through it, but the soil patch sustains no life.

That is until we add water to it. If we now tend to this patch of soil simply by adding water to it, given some time, various plants will sprout and grow from it.

There is no need to do anything. The vegetation will eventually cover the entire patch of soil easily and effortlessly.

Can we say water is neutral? If we consider life to be good, then we must consider water to also be good. Water is not neutral.

It sustains life. Whether it is in the form of the oceans, clouds, streams and rivers, or underground deposits.

Water in and of itself has the tendency to effortlessly propagate and sustain life.

Now let us say that we just keep the soil flooded with stagnant water. The water is not allowed to move, flow or even evaporate. Although initially we will see various life forms grow within this patch of soil, eventually the soil will go dead again.

But it takes effort to keep water stagnant. So the eventual death that is resulted from flooding by water is a result of the conscious effort to imprison and seal water in a confined volume.

The essential quality of water in its interdependent relationship with the other three elements of nature is its tendency to flow. Water is an element in nature which creates and sustains balance.

In its oceanic form it sustains a substantial proportion of life on the planet. In cloud form it transports the life giving element to different parts of land.

As streams and rivers, it cuts and erodes and renews the form, features and function of the soil. In permeating the soil and storing itself in the pores of the grains of sand and pebbles and cracks of rocks, it makes itself available to the vegetation for growth.

In its flowing and stationary underground reservoirs and overground lakes and streams, it makes itself available for the various species of the animal kingdom.

Water is constantly flowing, and it is by its flow that it sustains life.

Whether it is the waves of the ocean dissolving oxygen for the creatures within it, or the rain bearing clouds carrying it around the planet, or the flowing streams, or even the evaporating reservoirs, water is constantly flowing, and it is effortlessly life giving.

Seal it and imprison it, accumulate it and stop its flow, and it becomes deadly. Stagnation is death, and it takes effort.

Money or wealth is also very similar to water. In and of itself, it is an expression of the loving, creative and sustaining energy of nature. It is good. Block it, accumulate it, seal it, imprison it, and stop its flow, and it becomes draining, destructive and even deadly.

On the path to enlightenment, many recognize that it is not money but what it can do which is either good or bad, that money is neutral.

I propose that money is not neutral. It is good. And to use it in the service of evil is unnatural, takes effort and drains energy.

The effortless, loving, creative and sustaining power of money and wealth is in its ability to flow. In its potential and tendency to create and provide by purposefully flowing from one place to another.

By facilitating an easy means of interchanging and exchanging our creative powers and love as individuals.

Just as water is life giving because of its tendency to flow, money propagates love, and creates and sustains, also by its tendency to flow.

Wealth and money are good, just as water is good. Let us eliminate the fallacy of neutrality from our beliefs.

Turn into our innerself,and let us reflect upon Allah's Word's.

May Allah Swt Bless us all.Ameen

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The other day, I was sitting in my room, looking out of the window, thinking about nature and the winter, and about the challenges of my own life, when suddenly two sparrows came to my balcony.

One went directly to one of my flower pots, and the other landed on the railing, joining the first after a pause and brief observation from its vantage point.

First I looked at their innocence and fragility. Sparrows are such under-rated birds. But then it occurred to me that it was the end of winter, and we had just come through a very cold and snowy spell.

It suddenly dawned on me that by all of our usual human standards, these sparrows should have been dead from hunger and cold and the elements. So how come they are still alive?

I recalled that in the spiritual literature of the world, many references are made to having `the faith of the child'. But this goes beyond that. These were adult sparrows, responsible for their own lives and well being.

So I sat in awe, and after they left my balcony, I looked outwards over the tree's and remained still. In a silent prayer I asked to have `the faith of a Sparrow'.

`Dear God, during the winters of my life, help me have the faith of the sparrow, knowing that the renovation of the spring is not far off.

Knowing that the abundance and comforts of summer will shortly follow. Knowing that the harvest of autumn will be plentiful.

And knowing that with each passing cycle, my faith will grow stronger, perhaps until it is absolute, like the faith of a Sparrow.'

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It was dark, and cramped, and humid. The walls were closing in and exerting pressure on the body. It felt as if the whole body was going to implode.

And then an opening, a light at the end of the tunnel appeared. The body started pushing against the walls, and miraculously they gave way. The opening enlarged and the light got brighter. And then, suddenly, as if through sorcery, the walls fell back and the body was released.

A few hours later, the beautiful Madam Butterfly was fluttering about and enjoying herself. This was the ecstasy of freedom, and the magic of beauty.

Suddenly Madam Butterfly noticed a caterpillar clinging to a branch, slowly inching its way to the next leaf.

And this brought back a flood of memories. Madam Butterfly remembered the time that she was a caterpillar, and was glad for her decision to weave her cocoon, to go through the solitary period of transformation, and emerge as this agile and wonderful creature.

And then with a second glance at the caterpillar, a rush of compassion and love flooded her body.

She thought, `If only this poor caterpillar knew that it could decide to transform, and become a butterfly....'

As if through divine revelation, a whole myriad of possibilities opened up to her. She then discovered her mission.

To let every caterpillar know that all they need to do is to decide, and patiently go through the trials and tribulations of transformation, and they will automatically emerge as butterflies.

Yes, she decided that she could spend the rest of her life doing this.

So without hesitation she approached the caterpillar and started telling him her own story.

The caterpillar listened intently as if listening to a mythical tale of magic and enchantment.

The story reverberated at the deepest levels of its being, yet it was too fantastic to be true.

So caterpillar challenged Madam Butterfly to come and tell the same story to the entire caterpillar colony.

`Wonderful!' thought Madam Butterfly, `Nothing could have been more synchronistic!' And off they went.

At a gathering where a number of younger and elder caterpillars had formed a circle, Madam Butterfly was introduced.

She went to the center of the circle and started telling them about her own story of transformation.

Everybody was delighted, yet a few of the elders became slightly apprehensive.

Then they thought this was only a story and no harm was done. They thanked Madam Butterfly, and politely hinted that they were waiting for her departure.

Madam Butterfly did not know how to react. `I suppose they don't understand that I am telling them that I am one of them.'

So she went directly into an arousing speech: `I am not here to tell you stories of myth and legend.

I just told you my own story. I was one of you, and one day I made my decision. I found a secure spot and started weaving.

I went head on into the unknown, having faith that this transformation was for the better.

I weathered many challenges, and at times I was lucky too.

And finally I emerged as this free and beautiful creature that you see.

Each and every one of you also has the same potential. But you must make the decision. It is your choice. Stay with the known with all of its limitations, or challenge yourselves, go into the unknown and let your inner beauty emerge.'

The elders by now were visibly agitated. At first they tried to discredit and denounce Madam Butterfly.

But her persistence and dedication finally won through.

Then seeing Madam Butterfly as a threat to their way of being, they openly opposed her and made every effort to shield the young caterpillars from her, and to isolate her and even banish her.

But she was determined, and she knew she was on the side of the inevitable, of growth and evolution.

Eventually a few of the younger caterpillars decided to try this adventure for themselves.

They left the colony to find a safe and sacred space, and start weaving a cocoon around themselves.

Madam Butterfly located the few individuals who were going to undertake this transformation and warned them about the difficulties of this endeavor.

That some of the cocoons will be dislodged by wind, some will be soaked by rain, others would be pecked at by birds, yet others would be eaten with the branches by the various animals of the forest.

That the process was far from being smooth or certain. But the by now inspired caterpillars responded that life as a caterpillar was not certain.

In fact the only certainty they had was the hardship and eventual demise. And they embarked on their journey.

Every day, more and more caterpillars would find the courage to undertake such heroic journey, and every day, the elders were getting more and more concerned.

Some tried to increase their indoctrination of the old ways.

Others tried to find half hearted solutions at modifying their old ways, coming up with some compromise attempts at prolonging the status quo. And all of them started attacking each other's ways.

But as Madam Butterfly had known deep in her heart, she was on the side of the inevitable.

By this time, some of the first caterpillars who embarked on this journey returned as butterflies and started talking about their ordeals.

The similarity of their stories with Madam Butterfly's was striking.

But what was more, some of them remembered many details from their days as caterpillars, and started sharing them with the rest of the colony.

A few weeks later, when there were still many skeptics and a few hardened caterpillars, a pair of butterflies returned with their eggs which had just hatched into larvae.

They had given birth to many larvae. And they told the rest of them that this was the only way they could increase their numbers.

That the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly was a part of their process of regeneration and growth.

That each transformation was an individual ordeal. That their off springs were born as larvae to become caterpillars, only because they had to face their own individual ordeals and go through their own transformations.

It was only then that the entire caterpillar colony realized that this transformation was not about my way or your way, but about the natural way.

That the ordeal of transformation was a part of life, and it was only by going through this ordeal that their colony could regenerate itself and flourish.

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We all have an image of what our ideal world should be like. Whenever our actual world does not reflect our desires, we sense a shortcoming, a something missing.

One way of experiencing this shortcoming, this missing "thing" is stress.

Our ideal or desired world represents a potentiality. Our existing world, our reality reflects an actuality.

The difference between the two represents an uphill incline, a path to traverse, a destination to reach, a challenge to overcome.

And this is naturally a potential stress.

So how do we overcome this stress?

There are two conventional ways, both of which are based on reducing the gap between our potential and actual worlds.

1. Reduce our expectations and desires, so that our potential world approaches and more realistically resembles our actual world.
2. Increase our activities and focus, so that our actual world approaches and more closely reflects our potential world.

Both of these techniques require us to have clarity of vision and perspective, energy, motivation and discipline.

To closely know and define our desires, but also to clearly see our reality as it is, without any filters of wishful thinking or fear.

To also manage our time and energy better. And to have the self-control to say "yes", when appropriate, and to say "no", when necessary.

But paradoxically, even with total clarity and the best control systems, we will only increase our stress.

In the first case, we know that we are compromising our desires and values, that we are not striving for our full potential, that we are short-changing ourselves.

And this self-deception actually increases our inner turmoil and stress.

In the second case, we have to work harder, eliminate our time wasters, our diversions, and even some of our creativity and spontaneity, because we want to maintain our focus.

We work smarter and harder, and burn out more dramatically.

We miss the journey for arriving at the destination faster, only to realise that it was a simple step along our way to yet another destination.

And the cycle of stress perpetually continues.

So is there a solution?

Perhaps the best way to solve this problem of stress is to rise above it.

To go beyond the paradox, the either/or solutions, and perhaps instead of resolving the problem, we can simply dissolve it.

We are organic beings with a dynamic self-correcting, self-repairing body.

When we are sick or injured, our body has a tendency to restore itself to health.

Naturally, with proper intervention we can help our body and speed up the healing process.

Perhaps we can also consider our life as a dynamic self-adjusting and self-directing mechanism.

And perhaps in the same way as we trust our body with its self-healing processes, we can trust our life with its self-directing processes.

With this basic assumption, we will understand that our life has a natural tendency to find the least wasteful path from actuality to potentiality. The path of least entropy, the stress free path.

And perhaps with certain interventions along the way, we can speed up the process.

With this attitude, we trust that whatever our objective is, we can simply focus on the process of achieving it, with full trust in the process itself.

With this trust, we will devote most of our energy to the constructive work of manifesting our objectives, and not the wasteful and stressful process of worrying.

We will perform better, and enjoy our moments and years more.

And who knows, in the process, because of our ability to be aware and pay attention to the task at hand, we may even become better human beings.

Paradoxically, it is only by transcending the paradox that we can find the ideal approach.

It is only by dissolving the problem of stress that we can truly resolve it.

Denial and suppression only exacerbate the situation.

But faithfully and wisely trusting the nature of our life processes, we can safely say: "Stress? What stress?"

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Many of us spend our lives operating in high gear, dashing from one appointment to another, grabbing a bite to eat in between meetings, getting stressed in traffic jams, and being overwhelmed by our workload. We think our problem is time or the lack of it.

But it is not. Our problem is really lack of order. In other words, it is chaos.

If everything were orderly, we would have a relaxed, enjoyable breakfast that would be well digested.

If order prevailed in traffic, we could calmly find our place in the rush and go with the flow, without being obstructed by old ladies, or harassed by the bad taxi drivers.

Our telephone would ring just when we were ready to accept calls.

Our E-mail messages would have been sorted out in their order of priority, and our coffee break would be exactly that—a coffee break.

But, alas, our world appears to be unavoidably chaotic, and must be negotiated as well as possible.

Yet this perspective is based on the old paradigm.

Science and Systems Theory tell us that chaos is not an element of randomness, but rather a lack of understanding of the level and complexity of order.

In a non-linear universe, what we call chaos is, in fact, the freedom of movement or latitude given to the elements of the system to be able to evolve through self-organization.

Whether we look at the spontaneous concentration of the gases around the denser clouds shortly after the Big Bang, or the spontaneous evolution of the chemical soup into the first life form, or the gathering of the first hunter tribe of apes to form the first community of humankind, we see self-organization at work.

The constantly-changing yet somewhat predictable weather patterns, the seeming chaos of a bee hive, and even the spontaneous creation of political movements such as communism, the Reform party, or Ross Perot, are all expressions of self-organization at work.

Self-organization is an essential part and mechanism of evolution.

And chaos is the initial condition that gives rise to order. It was this same mechanism that created the civil rights movement, the feminist movement and the environmental movement.

It was chaos that triggered the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Communist Bloc, and the freedom of Nelson Mandela.

It was also chaos that brought about the downfall of the mainframe computer in favour of the PC, the resurgence of alternative healing against the institutional medical structures, and the embracing of spirituality as a reaction to the rationalistic materialism of the previous era.

Chaos is necessary, and chaos is good.

Whenever a system has reached a static point of equilibrium and has no more room to grow and evolve, it is fertile ground for chaos to take over.

In a chaotic environment, ideas flourish, limitations and boundaries dissolve, risks are taken, opportunities arise, and many attempts lead to failure.

But it is out of the same trials that eventually one or more attempts evolve as the most likely to succeed and flourish.

And then the other elements within that still-chaotic system spontaneously decide in favour of some of the alternatives that are most likely to succeed and, through a mechanism of self-determination, organize themselves in line with their chosen paths of evolution.

This is the mechanism of self-organization. It is evolution through the exercise of freedom of choice.

Often chaos evolves much better than order. We have all noticed that when a traffic light is out of order, there is actually less traffic congestion, and cars move more quickly and easily.

That is because the mind of the self-organizing system takes over and pushes the imposed rules aside, voting in favour of self-regulation and orderly traffic movement.

Following the same model, in many of the forward-thinking corporations, a structured and hierarchical management with imposed rules has given way to a flat, functional and self-regulating organization.

The only problem with chaos is that, as individuals working within the chaotic system, we have neither the foresight nor the insight to grasp the bigger picture.

We are too involved in finding our way through the mess. We are too preoccupied with answering that telephone call or avoiding that bad driver.

Particularly at the onset of a chaotic system, which is always fragile, too much energy seems to be wasted.

We keep going back and forth, spinning our wheels, avoiding undesirable situations, or even trying to restore the status quo.

We are too busy addressing our fears.

So chaos is not the problem either.

The problem is merely our perception of chaos. If we could simply see the usefulness of chaos, and give it the right perspective in our lives, then we could deal with it appropriately, without fearing it.

In fact we might even want to create chaos and trust that the mind of the system would lead to self-organization, spontaneously, without much effort on our part.

And, still in the bigger picture, if we can see the universe as a self-organizing system that has worked for billions of years without any help or direction from us, if we could only recognize God as the mind of the universe, and not merely as its creator, then we would trust nature’s self-organization capability.

We would not try to dominate or subjugate it. We would simply recognize chaos as part of growth, and very calmly proceed with our lives, without wasting any energy on our fears.

In the self-organizing system of our universe, of the Gaia, of humanity, of our country, and even of our family, work and traffic, chaos is cool.

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Time is a dimension of the physical realm - at least so say most spiritual beliefs as well as physical science.

In other words, in the spiritual realm, there is no time.

This is both a revelation and a problem at the same time. If there is no time in the spiritual realm, then our soul or spirit - if we have any - is beyond time.

Or to put it another way, we are spiritual beings who experience the physical through time and space.

But this also causes a big problem. Our language is based on the paradigm of time. And so is all of our communications.

In fact communication can only happen in time, at least the way we understand communication and time.

Not only that, but our every thought is also based on time and in time. We cannot think in no time, and we cannot even think of no time.

No time, or the timeless, in our initial guesswork is considered to be eternity - which is really defined as a very long time.

Then we think of the eternal - which means beyond time, or without time, or something that is outside of the dimension of time.

And then we stop.

Because we cannot really comprehend anything that is outside of time - at least not as long as we are thinking in physical terms.

And when we want to think outside of the physical realm, then we have to dissolve space as well as time - since we cannot think of space as anything outside of, or independent of the temporal.

To illustrate this, let us think of some questions:

Cause and effect can only happen in time. Then does that mean that in the spiritual realm, nothing is caused, and everything just happens?

And if it happens, when does it happen? Is not "happening" itself a temporal process?

If time is an attribute of the physical realm, then why do we even think of creating such spiritual notions as "Resurrection", "Judgment Day", "Heaven and Hell", or even "Reincarnation"?

Are these not terms that require time in which to exist?

What about using terms like "God will forgive us" or "God is compassionate".

When will God forgive us?

In which timeframe is God compassionate?

But is not God beyond time?

Some go as far as to say that time is not an attribute of the physical, but a function of our thinking, or a creation of the mind.

But then we run ourselves into trouble again. If time is a creation of the mind, then when did we make it up?

Or if time is a mental paradigm, and if paradigm shifts happen in time, then will we ever shift the time paradigm? If so, when?

Will that be the end of time?

Time can only serve to confuse us (which itself can only happen in time) if we insist on describing the spiritual in temporal terms - unless we assume that time also exists in the spiritual domain.

But if the spiritual is timeless, then what is the meaning of enlightenment?

Would it not mean that enlightenment can only become possible when we can suspend and transcend time - and by definition space?

And if we transcend time and space, and experience the purely spiritual, without any contamination of the temporal, then we must become empty of all that is - because all that is, only is, if it can be in time.

In other words, God is not. God cannot be. Otherwise, by definition, God will have to be temporal.

And the only way we can think of a divinity that is all-inclusive yet is beyond what it includes, is to suspend time and thinking. Become blank, and enter the Void.

Therefore, if we assume that there is no time in the spiritual realm, the Void becomes our only access to the timeless Divine.

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