Ananta

Leon Lester

Acrylic on canvas

112 x 137cm

$5000 AUD

The illusion of time and the constancy of energy

Ananta is a Sanskrit term which means ‘endless’ or ‘limitless’, also means ‘eternal’ or ‘infinite’, in other words, it also means infinitude or an unending expansion or without limit. Actually, the nature of reality, the creative and innovative manifestation of the universe has this quality. The future, or what seems like that which lies ahead is limitless, it has no end, it is infinite. When one wholeheartedly embraces this, one no long remains fixated on the transient comings and goings in the universe, but begins to align oneself with something that which exists eternally, that which exists always. Many great scientists have observed the eternal nature of reality in terms of energy. In 1842, Julius Robert Mayer discovered the Law of Conservation of Energy. In its most compact form, it is now called the First Law of Thermodynamics: energy is neither created nor destroyed. Albert Einstein later discovered the equation E = mc2 and the above law was merged into the Law of Conservation of Mass-Energy: the total amount of mass and energy in the universe is constant. So the future may seem different to the past and the present in terms of the cosmetic details of the physical universe, but in fact the underlying energy, the energy that animates the physical reality in the universe remains constant, eternal. The implication of this realisation is that in terms of energy, the past, the present and the future are all the same, only the outer appearance of things changes. As a result, one can deduce that the experience of time is really an illusion created by the psychology inherent in the unenlightened human mind. When one is able to see deeper than the outer details of reality, to reality’s underlying energy, it is always constant, the mind generated illusion of time has no bearing on it. An enlightened person who is free of the identification with the unenlightened mind can see reality this way. One such person is Spiritual teacher and best-selling author Eckhart Tolle. He says the “past” is nothing but your own imperfect memory and the “future” is your own inaccurate prediction and time is an illusion. Thus, all that exists is in the now, it contains everything, all energy, the entirety of creation, that which is past, that which is in the future, and that which is in the present all exist now and time at the essential level does not exist.

Leon Lester