The Now: Where Time and Matter Dissolve”

Let’s start with something everyone understands: time. We plan, we remember, we dream about tomorrow or next week. But have you ever really thought about what ‘time’ actually is? If you try to reach out and touch ‘yesterday’ now, where is it? Or ‘tomorrow’? Everything you have, everything you experience, always happens… Now. But why is that? And how does matter fit into this?

Scientists are increasingly discovering that what we think of as ‘matter’—the things we can touch and see—is actually mostly made up of empty space. If you were to magnify an atom, from which everything is made, to the size of a football field, the nucleus would be the size of a pea (and then the question arises: what is that made of?) in the center, and the electrons would be dancing somewhere in the outer rows. The rest? Pure emptiness. So, what we consider solid and real is essentially emptiness.

This makes us wonder: if matter is mostly empty, then what is truly real? This is where the Now comes into play. All the thoughts we have about the past and the future, they actually only exist in our minds. Everything we experience happens in this moment. When we’re not caught up in thoughts about what was or what will be, we begin to feel the truth of this moment. That truth is not material, not solid, but simultaneously empty and full—full of life, consciousness, and possibilities.

You could say that the past and the future are like a mirage in the desert—they seem real, but when you get closer, they vanish. What remains is the emptiness of the Now. And that emptiness isn’t frightening, it’s liberating! Because in that Now, you have the freedom to experience everything anew, without the weight of a “fixed” past or the pressure of a yet-to-be-formed future.

It may sound a bit like science fiction, but it’s actually the most real thing there is. When we begin to understand that matter is empty and time is an illusion, we can embrace the power of the Now—the only moment we truly have influence over. It’s as if you’re constantly painting on a blank canvas, and you can always start again.

We all know people who love to hold onto the idea of a solid, unchanging past. “Look at my photos!” they say. “That proves I was on vacation 10 years ago!” Or: “This house took a year of hard work to build, you can’t just ignore that!” And then there are the parents: “Our children are now ten and fifteen, and they didn’t just appear out of nowhere!”

Absolutely, from a conventional perspective, that all seems perfectly logical. But here’s the catch: when you look at that photo or think back to that year of building, where is that happening? In the past? No. It’s happening now, in this moment. That photo, that memory of building your house or the birth of your children, you experience it in this moment.

The photo itself is just a piece of paper or a digital image. What you make of it, what you think and feel about it, happens now. The same goes for your children: yes, they are ten and fifteen years old today. But the experience of seeing them, feeling their age, all happens in this moment. It’s not that we’re denying the past—you’ve certainly experienced things, but those experiences remain alive because of your awareness of them in the Now. You shape the past by the meaning you give it now.

Imagine you’re watching a movie. You’ve seen the beginning and you know how the story unfolds, but you’re still sitting in front of that screen now. The past of that film is playing out in your mind, while you’re watching the next moment unfold. It’s all a constant flow of Now-moments moving through you. The memories are like chapters you’ve read, but the experience of remembering them is always in the present.

The essence of the story is that what we think of as solid and unchangeable—like the past or time—is actually always flexible and changeable, because it’s always being recreated in the present moment. Your children were indeed born ten and fifteen years ago, but you’re experiencing that timeline now. The house you built still exists, but your experience of that year is only alive thanks to the memories and emotions you carry with you now.

It might sound a little philosophical, but once you start to feel it, life becomes much lighter. The past doesn’t have to be a heavy burden; it’s a collection of stories you can retell in every moment.