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Where Does The Time Go?
The Jam to Enlightenment - Part 2

by Dave Rioux

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During the first part of this essay; The Jam To Enlightenment, I tried to explore where we go when we are in that space of absolute perfection as a listener or performer of music; the seamless blend between physical and spiritual being. Why we go where we go, and what happens while we are there. The end result being an accumulation of more questions than answers. Questions that can only be answered by the individual, and even then with only a marginal grip on anything even resembling absolute. And like the rest of this paradox, I ended at a beginning. That beginning is the entrance to the question of "What happens to time while we are there?" More than the steady measure of a metronome, or the silent swish of a Timex; I want to know why it passes in fleeting haste while I am engulfed in perfect harmony. Or, for that matter, why it takes forever to listen to even one Celine Dion song.

Decades ago Albert Einstein set out to prove that time was, in fact, relevant. His did so by theorizing that two simultaneous lightening strikes being viewed by a person riding on a train traveling at the speed light, who was precisely in the middle of the two strikes when they happened, it would appear to that person that there was a slight gap in time between the two bolts. Staggering to the scientific community; but merely cool filler for my story. The point is: Time is relevant; the speed of light is constant. The speed of light having nothing to do with my argument either, unless you want to theorize that my mind was also cranking along at that particular speed while I wrote this.

When I am in that perfect place of oneness; that realm between the refreshment stand and the divine; why does time go by so quickly? Maybe it's easier to attack that question from the back-side. Why is it when I am not enjoying myself even in the slightest amount, do things seem to last a small eternity? It appears to me to center around the ego. When the ego is fully engaged it seems to act like a white dwarf star as it collapses in on itself, becoming the mythical black hole of self pity. That place where nothing escapes; not even light, let alone self-respect. I am outside of myself, looking in. I end up the center of my tiny universe, and quite unhappy. I am focused "in" on "me." Things are taking forever, and I am miserable.

The more I remove myself from the equation (not starting the thought at me), the less I engage the ego. It is apparent to me that the more I enjoy something, the less I think about me. There is simply that beautiful sense of being that words can not describe. Music flows through me and it happens. I find myself following a bass-line as it wanders down a deserted path. Or soaring with a stellar guitar solo and exploring the stratosphere. Lyrics that were once words on a page, now become sonnets of my childhood; reflections in my soul. I have entered myself perfectly, and am looking "out" on "all." The next time I look up, the band is taking a break and an hour and a half has flown by!

Where did the time go? Or maybe a more precise question would be: Where did I go, when I left time? Is it possible I transcended to a higher level? Mark Twain referred to our four-legged brethren as "the higher animals." Perhaps meaning that they have evolved to a higher state of being. Most have certainly been around longer than we have, and all of them seem to have done just fine without the "gift" of reason that we wear like a white, dusty wig.

Let's take dogs in particular. It's widely believed that dogs have no concept of time. This statement is usually followed by the "I leave home for 5 minutes, or 5 hours; and he is just as happy to see me" explanation. But a concept is an idea born of reason. If you do not have the ability to reason, then do you even have, or need the ability to conceive ideas? Time has become irrelevant and only the present holds any reality. Patterns of behavior are merely learned actions, and only help dictate how the dog handles his "now." His "now" is still the only reality he participates in, leaving the past behind, and the future unpredicted.

Therefore, when I am at that perfect state of "oneness" with the music I am completely "present" in that reality; that "now." When I have disengaged the ego and stopped thinking on an intellectual level, I transcend to a higher level of consciousness. Meditation in a traditional sense, is merely a way of accomplishing this goal in a more ritualistic way, but it is by no means the only way! One needs only to think of any number of cultures where the the rituals of dance and music are paramount.

So the only conclusion I can come up with is: Time did not go anywhere, time was never there. I, on the other hand, went beyond this particular reality. It's quite possible I transcended to a consciousness where time is not only relevant, but irrelevant. A place where the clinging restraints of past and future have shrunken to pin-points on the horizon, and the now spreads out around me in an undulating current. A consciousness where the only basis for orientation is the swell and flow of emotion and external stimuli, and I am only a participant and witness; and neither judge nor jury.