THE INSANITY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TIME
You will not have any doubt that psychological time is a mental disease if you look at its collective manifestations. They occur, for example, in the form of ideologies such as communism, national socialism or any nationalism, or rigid religious belief systems, which operate under the implicit assumption that the highest good lies in the future and that t{here}fore the end justifies the means. The end is an idea, a point in the mind-projected future, when salvation in whatever form - happiness, fulfillment, equality, liberation, and so on - will be attained. Not infrequently, the means of getting t{here} are the enslavement, torture, and murder of people in the present.
For example, it is estimated that as many as fifty million people were murdered to further the cause of communism, to bring about a "better world" in Russia, China, and other countries. This is a chilling example of how belief in a future heaven creates a present hell. Can there be any doubt that psychological time is a serious and dangerous mental illness?
How does this pattern operate in y{our} life? Are you always trying to get sOMew{here} other than w{here} you are? Is most of y{our} doing just a means to an end? Is fulfillment always just around the corner or confined to a short-lived pleasures, such as sex, food, drink, drugs, or thrills and excitement? Are you always focused on becOMing, achieving, and attaining, or alternatively chasing sOMe new thrill or pleasure? Do you believe that if you acquire more things you will becOMe more fulfilled, good enough, or psychologically complete? Are you waiting for a man or woman (or politician) to give meaning to y{our} life?
~ Master Tolle, The Power of Now
