The future beckons us with the promise of a better life…

Or sometimes — perhaps more often than we care to think about — we’re beset by the threat of fearful things to come when “this” or “that” happens.

A good analogy is that we’re on a train, going down a track, headed towards a place we hope holds the promise of some new happiness, or peace of mind. And then: “Wait, what’s that I see? Oh no… it looks like the bridge is out just ahead!”

In a heartbeat, we’re no longer relaxing in a first-class cabin, but now we’re shoveling coal into the belly of some great engine… even as we struggle to shunt our train onto a sidetrack, hoping to avoid yet another painful collision with life!

And this happens to us on such a regular schedule it can make us doubt whether there are brighter days ahead, or not.

But here’s another take on the future, what it can be, and what it might mean to us. This new view tells a very different story:

There are two futures, one in time and one in scale, one horizontal — the other vertical and always there, just above our present state. — Maurice Nicoll (1884 – 1953)

What a fascinating proposition this suggests. Applying this to our train analogy, it’s as though rather than going off on another track on the same plane, we have the possibility of becoming free of the train and the track and soaring up into another plane altogether! And this entrance into a new level of being is what the spiritual journey is all about!

A Lesson About Time in an Ancient Symbol

This reminds me of a diagram OneJourney founder Guy Finley has used a number of times in class, showing a picture of the cross and revealing its esoteric meaning. He explains that the horizontal bar represents the plane of human time (like the train track), and the vertical bar represents the plane of timelessness, of eternity.

We live and die and have experiences on the horizontal plane, but when we have moments of spiritual awakening we’re raised up into the vertical plane, the plane of the timeless. From this wholly different position we see the big picture of our life and realize all the events that feel so important to us are just passing waves in the ocean time. From the higher perspective we see that Reality contains all of it and at the same time is free of the individual passing events.

I think this is what Nicoll describes in his quote. We have two futures. One in time and one in scale. On the horizontal plane of time our future is the next set of events that we speed inexorably toward. Depending on what they are, and whether they are wanted or unwanted, we rejoice or suffer, but it’s always a temporary state until the next event is met — and it’s all outside of our control.

Our second future is on the vertical plane, and it sits outside of time and above our current level of consciousness — in another scale of existence altogether. This different future is not so much made up of different events, as it encompasses a different state of being. From that higher vantage point, we’re not so caught up in our reactions to the individual events as they come and go on the line of time. We are not defined by them. We observe them all, and depending on what they are there may be pain or rejoicing. But in either case we are not shaken to our core because we are connected to a higher level of consciousness with its timeless awareness, higher understanding, and higher emotions.

This may seem esoteric, but in fact it has everything to do with our experience of life every day. When we live in time, for time, every event can carry us off into highs and lows. We’re like a puppet guided by strings with no will of our own. If we can live more on the timeless plane, when unwanted events come we have the equanimity of knowing “This too shall pass.” And when good things come we can enjoy them with a full heart, savoring the moment but without fruitlessly trying to hold on to something that is bound to change just with the passing of time.

It is this second future, not so much bounded by time and founded in our connection with the Divine, that is what we really want. Doing the work of self-discovery and self-realization helps lift us out of the line of time, and into the safety of the timeless life where our higher being, our new nature, is our better future.

Changing Your Future Starts Now

Here is helpful wisdom from OneJourney founder Guy Finley that gives further insight into the relationship between our being and our future:

We will never again hope, in vain, for a “better time to come” once we realize this spiritual truth: the character and quality of all our moments ahead are determined by what we give ourselves to in the now. — Guy Finley (1949 – )

For more on the importance of seeking happiness in our higher nature now, and not in events in a time to come, here is a link to an article by Guy: Learn to Stand in the Light of Wholeness. Just click here and you will be taken to a page with the article.

Best Wishes,

Ellen sig.
Dr. Ellen Dickstein
The OneJourney Project

PS: You are invited to join Guy Finley’s FREE talks on these life-transforming ideas. All his talks are livestreamed and archived! For details visit guyfinley.org/freeclass