DHARMA THE CAT . . . MULTI-FAITH COMMENTARY ON EPISODE ONE

AUTHOR’S COMMENTARY
"DHARMA THE CAT" EPISODE 1 - "TIME"
by David Lourie
[view the cartoon]

In the first episode, titled "Time," Dharma the Cat reveals a part of his nature that is familiar to many of us, which is our tendency to interpret principles in ways that serve our own purposes.

The principle being bent by Dharma to suit his own needs is the idea that much of our apparent reality, including the way we conceive of Time, is illusory.

Time as we know it is a blend of our subjective perception combined with an unfolding which exists from its own side. But we believe that Time exists entirely from its own side, and misconception is the illusion Dharma refers to.

On the one hand, Dharma has the Right View to understand that Time is illusory. On the other hand, Dharma is exploiting that understanding when he contrives his own kind of illusion (with the clock) to get an early feed, then rationalises that by asserting that since Time is an illusion anyway, one more illusion won't matter. He is motivated by his craving for food, and craving is bound to create karma and eventual suffering.

The fact that our daily life involves so many such perceptual or conceptual ‘illusions’ like Time does not justify creating your own additional illusions to manipulate other people. That would be a departure from Right Speech and Right Conduct. It would be fanning the flames of illusion, so to speak. It’s as if you were to say, "Well, since the problem of illusion already exists, and it's such a big problem, it won't matter if I just add my little bit to it."

But in fact it will matter, in terms of the karma you are creating. You see, "your little bit" will come back to you! But it's entirely your decision -- after all, there is no Good & Evil in Buddhist thinking, only Consequences which correspond to actions. It's your karma!

However, on Dharma's behalf I must observe that when he takes liberties with his conduct it seems more amusing than alarming. After all, less is expected of you when you're in the Animal Realm . . . Funny how there are some persons in life who just seem to get away with everything!! That's karma!

Now, if you want some Buddhist commentary that has a great deal more scholarly authenticity than what I’ve just given you, tune into PETER MASEFIELD’s erudite explication. And to get some non-Buddhist points of view on "Time," check the MULTI-FAITH commentary below, by representatives of Baha'i, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. -- David Lourie

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A BAHA'I PERSPECTIVE
DHARMA THE CAT: EPISODE 1 - "TIME"
Baha'i Commentary No. 1 of 2
by Paul M Booth
[view the cartoon]

This cartoon about "time" put me in mind of one of the talks by 'Abdu'l-Baha', the son of Baha'u'llah and exemplar of His teachings, in the book "Some Answered Questions"*. In a commentary on the Bible John 17:5: "And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." He states:- "The second sort of preexistence is the preexistence of time, and that has no beginning.  The Word of God is sanctified from time. The past, the present, the future, all, in relation to God, are equal.  Yesterday, today, tomorrow do not exist in the sun."

This last sentence simply but effectively illustrates that the hours and days that we have adopted as our units of time are irrelevant from the perspective of the sun. He is,  of course, making a far deeper point that, from the perspective of God, past present and future are one! This, of course, explains why God's Messengers are able to foretell "future" events. In a talk about predestination in the same book he says:- "The hidden secrets of the future were revealed to the Prophets, and They thus became acquainted with the future events which They announced.  This knowledge and these prophecies were not the cause of the occurrences. For example, tonight everyone knows that after seven hours the sun will rise, but this general foreknowledge does not cause the rising and appearance of the sun."

The Prophets of the past have each foretold the advent of a "Promised One". The teachings of Hinduism presage the advent of Buddha; those of Judaism, the  Messiah; the teachings of Christianity, the coming of the Paraclete and those of Islam the advent of Baha'u'llah who, from a Buddhist perspective many see as the promised fifth Buddha - the Buddha Maitreya Amitabha.

Dharma the cat makes the point that "on the one hand time is an illusion...on the other hand illusions must be dealt with". Our time on this plane of existence, albeit an illusion, has been been given to us for a purpose. We best "deal with" it by determining the Creator's will for the age in which we live and following wholeheartedly His guidance.

"The first and foremost duty prescribed unto men, next to the recognition of Him Who is the Eternal Truth, is the duty of steadfastness in His Cause.  Cleave thou unto it, and be of them whose minds are firmly fixed and grounded in God.  No act, however meritorious, did or can ever compare unto it.  It is the king of all acts, and to this thy Lord, the All-Highest, the Most Powerful, will testify...." (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah)*
*Available from sales@bahaibooks.co.uk

ANOTHER BAHA'I PERSPECTIVE
DHARMA THE CAT: EPISODE 1 - "TIME"
Baha'i Commentary No. 2 of 2
from Shirin at the Youth Desk,
Baha'i Faith, Sydney, Australia
[view the cartoon]

The Baha’i Faith has a calendar beginning 1844 C.E.(or AD whichever you prefer) and 1260 AH (Islamic Calendar). Every day has a name which reflects an attribute of God. As do all of the 19 months in 1 Badi’ (Bahá’i) year. Every year has a name and on the 19th year, Váhid, the year of Unity, the cycle of 19 years begin again. 19 Váhids constitute 1 Kull-i-Shay’ that is 1 Kull-i-Shay’ lasts 361 years. Thus the cycle of days, months and years continue each turning whilst orbiting the nucleus . At the center of all this hubbub is the moment.

Time is a gift and by remembering the attributes of God we cherish the gift of time. Once we appreciate that time is a gift we realize the latent potential of each moment and we love and utilize each moment. Indeed, for us, the value of time is realized in how we appreciate and utilize it. Dharma could have used the moment Bodhi chose to meditate to practice patience or alternatively change the clock as he did. A moment in itself is gone to us and is of little significance on a day-to-day basis. Yet every moment is pregnant with infinite possibilities and of supreme significance. Every person’s life passes in a fleeting moment yet every person is unique and infinitely complex and, in that sense, wonderful. We are, however, all a part of something bigger. The whole is nothing without the moment and the moment is insignificant without the whole. We can choose to love time or not.

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A BUDDHIST'S COMMENTARY
DHARMA THE CAT: EPISODE 1 - "TIME"
by Peter Masefield, Pali scholar
[view the cartoon]

Actually, time is not an illusion.

Rather, it is our perception, or understanding, of time that is illusory. Buddhism accepts the three time-periods of past, present and future, but also encourages us to focus only on the present, since the past has already ceased to exist, whilst the future has yet to be.

The fact that Buddhism encourages us to live in the present may sound rather trite, but closer attention shows that we all too often find ourselves either:

(1) concerned with the past, going over things that have already happened, reliving past experiences and torturing ourselves with embarrassment, wishing that things could have been otherwise, without realising that we are powerless, at this stage, to alter things; or else:

(2) constantly anticipating--constantly being "pre-occupied" with--the future, worrying unnecessarily, and equally powerlessly, about things which have yet to take place (and which might not, in fact, ever take place).

We hardly ever live in the present. It is almost as if the White Queen were right when she told Alice:

"The rule is jam tomorrow and jam yesterday but never jam today".

"It must come sometime to 'jam today' ", Alice objected.

"No it can't", said the Queen.

Or, as John Lennon once succinctly put it: "Life is what happens to you whilst you are busy making other plans".

In a sense, then, we are continually preoccupied with trying to interfere with, and re-arrange, time, rather than utilising the present moment for our self-development.

2. The Buddha frequently pointed out that concern with the past and future were two hindrances to successful meditation, and it was to counter these that he advocated the practice of mindfulness (sati), in which one seeks to train the mind to become aware of such futile wanderings and to force one's awareness back onto the present moment at all times, to be constantly aware only of the present.

In the present context, Dharma cannot wait for his feeding time to come round. He wants what belongs to the future now.

Bodhi, on the other hand, equally unaware of the true passage of time through improper attention to his meditation, falls for the trick. Had he been mindful, he would have been aware of how much time had transpired since he had commenced his practice. (In fact, certain monks adept at meditation were once able to enter a seven-day trance, during which their breathing and heart-beat lapsed. To do so, they had firstly, before entering the trance, to set the time-limit, by determining that they would emerge from that trance seven days hence).

Now Dharma, clever as he may be, has failed to consider what will happen when Bodhi realises the clock has been altered. The probability is that he will do so, sooner or later, after which Dharma will find he has to wait an extra two hours his next meal--surely not the result Dharma had hoped for. But such is the law of karma.

Mention of time in connection with karma should cause us to recall that in the Pali Canon the usual expression that is used to indicate that a person has died is kaala.m karoti", literally "has done (i.e. has completed) his time", and the conclusion to be drawn is that each of us has, in each lifetime, to endure or undergo a specific mount of karmic time.

What, then, does the Buddha have to say about those who, either by resorting to euthanasia or to suicide, attempt to foreshorten such karmic time ? The answer is remarkably little, despite the fact that the texts record a good many instances in which various individuals committed suicide in one way or another, the more usual method for men being by taking to the knife, and for women hanging themselves from a tree, though others are also said to have either taken poison or thrown themselves over a precipice.

The only concrete instance recorded in the texts in which the Buddha did make some pronouncement was when certain monks, unable to endure some physical ailment, took to the knife. In such cases, however, the Buddha maintains that no blame was incurred, since all the monks concerned had attained arahantship prior to their dying moment.

3. It is not clear what the Buddha's attitude was in those cases in which the persons involved had not attained arahantship; though we may presume that it might have been something like this: unless the person concerned had been karmically pre-destined to commit suicide--that is, that that person's suicide had itself been a karmic consequence--then any attempt at escaping some karma-based predicament, such as the pain of an illness, by committing suicide would, no doubt, prove as empty a victory as would Dharma's attempt at manipulating time. For such a person would, as a result, not have "done his time", with the consequence that whatever remaining karmic effects had seemingly been escaped by an early death would, in fact, still have to be experienced in some later life, just as Dharma will, at some future point, have to undergo the two-hour wait he thought he had so cunningly avoided.

* Buddhism -- A Concise Introduction

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A CHRISTIAN'S COMMENT
DHARMA THE CAT: EPISODE 1 - "TIME"
from Rev. Bern Stevens
The Uniting Church, Sydney, Australia
[view the cartoon]

It is with every good intention that Bodhi reminds Dharma of the right time for his next meal. To suit his own appetite, or greed, Dharma deceives Bodhi by altering the clock. Good intentions are obviously not enough. Bodhi falls into the trap! Has he lost track of time during his meditation? Maybe he has lost the plot!

The clock is a device to help us time our activities according to our needs and within the discipline of our chosen lifestyle. It helps us to cooperate with one another to achieve our goals together. It also guides us in timing our various activities such as eating, sleeping, working, playing, meditating and praying. However, the clock should never be allowed to dominate our lives. We need a freedom to use our time to our benefit, to be ourselves within the framework of our hours and days, set as they are by the rotation of the earth and its movement around the sun.

The Bible of Jews and Christians has a useful reference to the place and importance of time in our lives. In Chapter 3 of the book of wisdom called "Ecclesiasts" is this wise saying:

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance".

This reminds us of the importance of being aware of our present situation and how we should act at each "time" in our day and in our lives.

Time can be an illusion if we think only of a clock which we can manipulate to suit ourselves. If we try to do that we will be the losers in the end. Then illusion will control us.

However, our lives, to be worth living, need to be disciplined to make the most of our opportunities to grow in the skills of living and serving others. To love fully our neighbours and our environment, we need to accept the discipline of taking time for quiet reflexion on the purpose and quality of our lives and our relationships with other humans, other creatures and the universe in which we live. We have but one lifespan to use wisely.

For Christians that means taking seriously the examples of Jesus in the Christian Scriptures and of people in the past and present whose lives convey the Christ spirit of caring for each other, come what may.

There is, in the concept of time, a temptation to put off until tomorrow, or later, what is important for us to do now, especially if we fear some discomfort or inconvenience as a result of the decision to act in obedience to what is good.

Dharma has much to learn about life. Bodhi needs to be alert to reality as well as recognising the illusions in life.

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A HINDU PERSPECTIVE
DHARMA THE CAT: EPISODE 1 - "TIME"
by a monk from Hinduism Today Magazine
[view the cartoon]

Excuse my brevity. . .this is deadline week for the October issue and we are deeply immersed in the consciousness of a future reality which we know will in fact occur but which cannot occur unless we envision it completely in the present (grin).

And if there is no time as such, then another option to consider is that all things are already complete, even that which you think may not occur yet. So contemplation can also take a form where, in the now, we see the "thing" in its totality, through all phases of its manifestation, yet we are still completely in the now, because obviously the future doesn't exist and so the question of having lost the fullness of the now does not arise,
because really the fullness of the now is all there is.

It simply means that one person’s now is focused on the input from the five senses, which they may deem to be the "real" now un-cluttered with the past or future, while another person's now may in fact be full of "plans" which simply means that his now if full of the thing in its various phases of manifestation and not merely in the singular manifestation we call this moment.(grin). Just kidding. . . the issue is simple, one is either consciously conscious or not. The content or focus of consciousness is secondary. . . . Om shanti.

HUMANIST (ATHEIST) PERSPECTIVE
DHARMA THE CAT: EPISODE 1 - "TIME"
by Daniel Foster
Humanists of Idaho,
a chapter of
the American Humanist Association
[view the cartoon]

Humanism calls upon us to exercise our intellect by exploring even the most complicated aspects of our universe with an open mind.

The nature of time will probably never be resolved to the satisfaction of all, though the intrigue of it is immense. Be it an illusion or not, time is truly master of our lives in this busy world. Dharma would feel at home in my workplace in the late morning, as we all watch the clock hoping for lunch time to arrive.

Dharma seems almost to mock the concept of time as illusory, and I find myself reminded of our human tendency to formulate values that are so philosophical as to be impractical and illogical. Dharma's stomach, which is hardly illusory to him, doesn’t care about the nature of time - it simply cares whether food arrives now or in two hours.

In the end, Dharma does not manipulate time to get his way, but rather he manipulates Bodhi’s perception of time. The amusing aspect of this exchange lies in Dharma’s trickery – and, more specifically, with the rather naďve response of his master. Bodhi did not say, “feeding time is in two hours,” because that would allude to time – a concept that is supposedly meaningless to him. He merely states that the hands of the clock are to be in a certain position. Dharma, sensitive to the reality of this growling stomach, makes the change himself.

Bodhi is duped - is it because he failed to see through Dharma’s trickery, or because he holds a belief that doesn’t make sense in the first place? He clearly wished to feed Dharma later, not sooner, though he did not explicitly state so.

The Buddhist might fault Bodhi for not remaining more aware during his meditation; I fault Bodhi for adhering to a senseless notion.

The Humanist position is that ethical concepts should be practical, and should pertain to what is known about reality. In reality, time is an inseparable part of our lives (much to our chagrin, of course). Dharma could have waited, and the ease with which he toyed with Bodhi’s perception is a telling view of the real-life pressures of time. As a mortician, I am frequently awakened at every hour of the night to respond to a call -- I speak with authority when I say that time is, in fact, very real.

On another note... Communication being as complicated an issue as it is, it certainly falls upon us all to look beyond the words of others into the desires at their origin, and Dharma certainly did not do this. Though Bodhi doesn’t believe in “time,” he clearly did not intend to feed Dharma so soon.

In dealing with others, and especially when we are already feeling stress, we too easily jump at an opportunity to manipulate the words of another in order to get our way. We should rightfully strive to acknowledge our own needs while not forgetting to respect the needs of others around us.-- Daniel A Foster df@pobox.com  The Humanists Of Idaho  http://www.freeyellow.com/members3/humanists.
"If you don't want to be criticized, don't do anything, don't say anything, and don't be anything."

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INTERFAITH PERSPECTIVE
DHARMA THE CAT: EPISODE 1 - "TIME"
by Paul Trafford
[view the cartoon]

Greed can find ingenious ways to try to satiate its craving. Here we see Dharma the Cat manipulating Bodhi, his master, by taking advantage of a rigid view of time. Unfortunately, the cat's instincts dominate completely and he really displays no insight. Rather, his brain has obeyed the instruction to "acquire and digest food ASAP" by computing a cunning plan using the knowledge that "Bodhi adheres strictly to what time the clock indicates" and throwing in the justification "time is illusory" as an excuse.

When our life is ruled by blind attachment to hours, minutes and seconds together with many other artificial constructs floating in our heads, we lose focus on what we are doing and why we are doing it. Instead we wander off into reflecting on the past or speculating about the future. In order to gain more sense, it is important that we come to our senses ("guard the sense doors" as Buddhist scriptures say) so that we realise more fully the present moment. In this way we make more sacred every instant.

The practice of mindfulness is an effective method for this purpose, but it requires discipline in order to flourish otherwise the weeds of unconsciousness will soon take over. Often it is necessary to deliberately stop what one is doing and reach some stillness in order to return to the present moment and then be able to act more meaningfully. At most Interfaith gatherings, there are usually periods of such stillness - silent meditation or prayer - before proceedings commence, so that the time that follows is well used.

Developing one's awareness more deeply, one can start to see more clearly the limitations of 'clock time'*: we know that "time flies" when we are absorbed in some enjoyable activity. On these occasions, we may touch "a greater reality", something that is beyond linear time, something eternal. This is spiritual growth.

Views may differ as to what this actually is: some may look at time as "given to us", whilst others perceive that time is our own mental creation. However, as awareness increases, more meaningful experiences can be shared.

Just to indicate how clock time has an influence on even advanced practitioners, I have read an account of a Buddhist nun famed for the accuracy of her predictions, who was very pure and a powerful meditator. One day she predicted that she herself would be simultaneously bitten by three cobras, before 7pm.  As a precaution she recommended that everyone stay indoors until after that hour had elapsed.  As the hour approached, she herself arose from meditation, glanced at the clock, thought it had elapsed and proceeded to walk outside, whereupon she was immediately bitten by three cobras!  Apparently, for a moment her mindfulness had slipped and she misread the clock.  Fortunately, she recovered and could warn others to strive to retain awareness. [the account is from Chapter 7 of 'The Life and Times of Luang Phaw Wat Paknam' by Dhammakaya Press, Thailand, 1996].

* It was Ven. Sangharakshita, founder of the FWBO, whom I first heard using the term 'clock time' as an indiscriminate measure, which he contrasts with 'organic time', which is meant to relate to quality of experience (if I remember rightly).
-- Paul Trafford pt@easynet.co.uk web site: http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~pt

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ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE
DHARMA THE CAT: EPISODE 1 - "TIME"
by Saifullah Khalid
Ahmadiyya Muslim Association of Australia Inc
[view the cartoon]

"Time" is the property of creation. Everything that is created at a particular time will destroy, die or end at another. Only the creator is independent of time; and the creator can not be compared or likened to creation as Quran says, "And there is none like or equal to Him in attributes" (112:4). The universe was created at a particular time and will be rolled up again to the starting point after its expansion, as Quran says: "Then He turned to the heaven, while it was (something) like smoke, and said to it and to the earth; ‘Come Ye both of you (in obedience) willingly or unwillingly’. They said, ‘We come willingly’" (14:11).

Before the universe was created it was in the form of something like smoke i.e. amorphous or nebular mass (gas, dust, carbon, molecules etc) and was converged at one point from which the explosion occurred and universe created, as God says: "Do not the disbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were a closed up mass, then we opened them out? And We made of water every living thing. Will they not then believe"? (21:30.

The universe then started expanding as God says, "And We have built the heaven with might and We continue to expand it indeed" (51:47).

But this expansion is also for a finite time and the universe will again be rolled up and brought to its original starting position. God says, "The day (or time) when We shall roll up the heavens like the rolling up of written scrolls (by a scribe). As We began the first creation, so shall We repeat it - a promise (binding upon) Us; We shall certainly fulfil it" (21:104).

Therefore, according to Quran time is the property of creation and cannot apply to the creator (otherwise He too would be reduced to the level of creation by having come into existence at a particular point of time and would be subject to death at another point of time". There being a continuous change taking place in universe, time can not be regarded as illusory. The change itself involves the concept of "before" and "now", which determines the limits of time, between any two events.

Time can not be infinite as any part of infinite is also infinite, which is not possible. The time taken by me to write these lines is a definite portion of time, and since infinity divided by any number is also equal to infinity, I have taken billion of years (rather infinite time) to write these few lines, which is obviously absurd. Had the universe and the forces of nature operating it always existed since eternity, time would have been infinite and any part of it also infinite which is obviously not correct. Time is related to change and before the creation of the universe, when there was no question of change, there was no time. God, the creator being free from change is not subject to any measurement of time. "He is one and Alone Independent of all but everything depending on Him for existence; He is neither the son nor the father of any one and so is the absolute first and the last; and there being none like Him, he can not be compared or likened with any other being. He transcends all in His Attributes (Meaning of Chapter 112 of Quran).

Time also has relevance with the dimensions. The dimensions of time and space do not exist in the life hereafter and so do the measurements of time. According to Quran even the shades of fire in the life hereafter are three-dimensional as it is said to rejecters of truth, "Aye, move on towards a three pronged shadow" (77:30). How three-dimensional shades can be imagined in this world? God Who is the creator of both the words (rather all the worlds, which we don’t know) can not, therefore, be bound by our human concept or comprehension of time. Even the current scientific theories suggest that time is not absolute. According to the theory of relativity, a clock moving relative to an observer appears to run slower than a stationery clock. In 1938, H.E. Ives used a hydrogen atom as a moving clock. He found that a fast moving hydrogen atom does slow down in its rhythm, just as Einstein predicted the moving clock would do. The slowing down was shown by a change in the frequency of the line given off in its spectrum. The theory tells us that the question "When" has no absolute meaning and the answer to the question depends on the system we choose.

The perception of time is also very important. The perception of time of a person who is in sleep, coma or meditation is not the same as that of a waking person. Who knows how, for instance, the cat perceives time vis-a-vis human being and vice versa. Similar is the case of other animals, birds, insects and bacteria etc. It is also worthy of note that what humans perceive of time is not of their own making, dor do they have any control over the fashioning and inter-relationship of brain and mind to feel or perceive in a particular way. The setting of mind to acquire knowledge through perception etc is the work of God as He says in Quran: "... He knows what is before them and what is behind them; and they encompass nothing His knowledge except what He pleases..." (2:255). Therefore, all forms of knowledge that humans can receive either through sensory or extra-sensory perception is determined by the creator Himself. And that includes time.

Yours sincerely, Saifullah Khalid, A/g Amir/President

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A PAGAN (WICCAN) PERSPECTIVE
DHARMA THE CAT: EPISODE 1 - "TIME"
by Mari Powers
[view the cartoon]

Time is the way we perceive life and death. It is not a particularly Pagan view to see life, or time, as an illusion. However, Pagans do acknowledge that our perception of time is much less incremental than a clock or a calendar. Whether time seems to go fast or slow, or as with our friend Bodhi, appears to stand still, it nevertheless continuously moves on.

The clock and the calendar are simply tools for measuring time in a socially agreed upon regular and incremental fashion. These tools are not very useful in measuring our perception of time, particularly in sacred space. In magical work we experience time shifting. Our perception of the past, present and future shifts when we are in the “space between the worlds.” Here our perception of time changes, and we also experience a feeling of timelessness.

These two factors together are a part of how we work magic in our lives. Not only does our sense of the passage of time change, how we choose to perceive our past, present and future is a key to personal power. We often say, “Magic is an act of shifting perception at will.”

Dharma the Cat has worked magic on Bodhi monk. If the monk had, through meditation, stopped his perception of time, he would have worked magic on himself.

Magic, aside, there are needs that must be met in time, like hunger. Dharma knows that all head and no body is no fun. He would no doubt eat as often as he could, or at least until he needed to sleep. In Wicca we seek to honor the needs of our body and our spirit. In fact, we positively celebrate the desires of our body and our spirit. We can experience time shifts in a magical way, but it is important that time is not, and will not be denied.

Therefore, time is real. Pagans often refer to it as “The Great Wheel”. Within the Wheel we celebrate the passages in our lives.-- Mari Powers

A RABBI’S PERSPECTIVE
DHARMA THE CAT: EPISODE 1 - "TIME"
by Rabbi Brian D, Fox AM.,DD
Senior Rabbi Temple Emanuel Sydney Australia.
[view the cartoon]

The great Jewish thinker, Maimonides, would agree with Dharma's "on the one hand and on the other" for time is composed of a past that is gone, a future that does not yet exist and a present that serves only as a limit between the two. But Dharma exists in time. And Dharma's hunger is real.

Therefore the illusion of time has a reality within it: hunger. Feed the reality first and then indulge in the illusion!

Dharma The Cat is gradually understanding the concept of holy time. Time may be an illusion, but once we invest time with holy acts -- and eating is one of the holiest of acts in Judaism -- then time ceases to be an illusion and become an opportunity to serve God. In fact when there is a choice between prayer and allowing one's pets to suffer, pray must give way to relieving suffering. -- Rabbi Brian Fox.

A TAOIST'S PERSPECTIVE
DHARMA THE CAT: EPISODE 1 - "TIME"
by Charles Cromer
Founder of the Taoist Circle Organization
[view the cartoon]

Time, as Dharma points out, is an illusion.

The phenomena we call time does pass and is real, but it is the label we put on it that is the illusion. The word "Time", as with all labels, is a mere word we place on any of the "ten thousand things" to generalize them. This labeling process prevents us from seeing that all things are actually all from the very same source, the Tao.

Granted, among the many things in this world there are many differences. Thus there are many labels. But with all of these differences, there is one unifying factor, the source. All things come from and will return to the Tao.

It is the goal of a Taoist to see beyond the differences and recognize the unity that all things share in the Tao. How do we obtain this goal? Bodhi points out one way, proper meditation. There are many different ways, each path is individual to the traveler. I choose the path laid out by Lao Tzu. Some choose other paths such as the teachings of Chuang Tzu or Lieh Tzu. Some follow their own unique path not written down in any book. There are many paths leading to the very same goal, but each is a personal journey.

So yes, Dharma, "Time" is an illusion, and it must be dealt with. This is done so by seeing past the illusion of labels and duality and merging with the oneness of the Tao. -- Charles Cromer Ccdrogan@aol.com Founder of the Taoist Circle Organization http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/7201/index.html

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