time

Time has become the ultimate luxury.

Learning how to transcend time is a good way to use that luxury, if you have it.

multi-dimensional living

Why live in one dimension when you can flip between many, choosing the right dimension at any particular time for what you want to do? 

I don't mean a spatial dimension, I mean something like a sci-fi 'other dimension'. Something experiential, where, because of altering your sense of time or priority, all your experiences are altered. With multi-dimensional living you actively seek to alter the way you experience things.

Multi-dimensional living is a new way to think about things you have probably intuited right at the edge of existence, in the shadows so to speak. It’s time to bring them out into the full glare of the spotlight.

Multidimensional living starts by attacking the prevailing accepted myth that we live in one dimension, that time passes at an even rate, that human energy, coincidence, alignment are all pretty irrelevant. When in fact they are key.

In a subjective sense time passes slowly when we are bored and quickly when we are interested. But it’s more complicated than that. When we are LEARNING time slows down-when we are consuming pleasurable experiences we may not really notice time passing- but probably sense it as going past rather quickly. The first two days of a holiday seem to last forever. The last two rush by. Everything is new on the first two and we are keen to enjoy ourselves to the full. We’re in another dimension.

One dimension is the ‘flow state’ you are in when doing something you enjoy, well. Cooking, climbing, playing bridge- you are carried along and ‘outside time’.

Another dimension is when you are learning something demanding. It takes all your attention- and though it is satisfying it is ‘like fun only different’. Time can pass very slowly in this dimension.

A third dimension is when you lying in bed and letting everything fall away. You are content just to lie there almost thinking nothing. Maybe you are observing yourself, the contents of your mind.

Is a dimension just another name for a mental state?

No. I think a life dimension is a combination of doing something, some activity, and the mental state that is generated by that activity or required by it.

Is there a ‘worry dimension’? A shallow dimension? What about talking about the past, remembering good times? That’s a kind of dimension.

Then there is making plans- the future dimension. Can be a blast.

Then there is the creative dimension. Making something new, maybe with others. A surge of energy as you set free the creative spirit.

The play dimension, when it just isn’t serious, when you can say anything, nothing is stiff, nothing cannot be bent to accommodate a different shape.

People at work inhabit the ‘professional dimension’. Is there are ‘friends dimension’? One for old friends?

We shift between dimensions accidentally. Some of us, of course, contrive to stay in one dimension all the time. The alcoholic uses booze to maintain the play dimension long after he should have quit trying so hard. The workaholic seeks to extend the sense of flow into every crevice of his life. Or hers of course.

When we are exhausted our bodies flip dimension without warning. You get depressed which is another dimension.

People in one dimension may not even notice those in another. Students out enjoying themselves may not even SEE another person quietly walking along the street observing them with a cautious or even envious eye.

Multi-dimensional living, which remains a project, a fantasy of sorts, nevertheless has its roots in the achievable- which is- the ability to identify other dimensions and like Captain Kirk and Spock- zap right into them. Flip into a new dimension to GET THE MOST out of life AT THAT MOMENT.

No, that isn't quite right. What I really mean is: being able to inhabit a new dimension where the unexpected can occur. It's not about repetition of tried and tested experiences. It's not about setting up a consumption experience, its about creating a sense of travel in the very moment of living. 

I mean that feeling when you arrive at a party, maybe there are some strangers there and perhaps a few friends- probably the party is in a strange place maybe abroad and suddenly all kinds of things are happening and being said which DON’T USUALLY HAPPEN. Rimbaud wrote that he sought ‘the systematic disorganisation of the senses’ in order to write fresh poetry. Surely he was trying to broach another dimension.

It’s about the vibe you give out. Because we mostly live in the same dimension we feel we give out 'no vibe' when in fact we are giving out the 'same vibe all the time'. Sometimes we realise this in seemingly trivial ways. I came back from a week long trip around Europe and sat in a coffee shop and people just started talking to me. This never usually happens- in England at least. I had a different vibe. Multi-dimensional living is about being able to alter the vibe you give out in order to experience a different reality.

Multi-dimensional living hides from us because it's evidence seems to lie in the flippant and 'unimportant'. I have found that wearing a loud crazy shirt to a party ensures that people are happier talking to me and more laid back than when I wear a black shirt…and yet giving a public speech in a black shirt works better than wearing a loud shirt. Clothes are a significant way to change dimension. Hence the attraction of fancy dress and cross-dressing parties. Who could be more important to the sanity of the court than the jester?

The biggest obstacle is when we are in a rush. Then we focus on our objective and send out a vibe that signals ‘don’t try and make contact with me’.

A party can create another dimension- not just through drink- through the shared experience of being there, perhaps in a strange place.

I have recently been reading about people who go ‘skipping’- finding stuff at night in supermarket skips. The writer compared the excitement and fun of it with the tedium of forking over cash at the till for the same goods (often they are in the skip because of being a day past the sell by date or the packaging is damaged). I remember the thrill of ‘getting a book for free’ from a publisher- by offering to review it- compared to the boring ease of buying the same book.

Could it be that making something that is usually easy, into something hard, is a way of slipping into a different dimension? The thrill of making fire with a bow drill compared to using a match is extraordinary. But sometimes you’re in a rush…rushing again.

When we are in a different dimension we have the kind of experiences that only usually happen to ‘other people’. Often we have amazing luck- good and bad. Naturally we prefer the dimensions that seem to supply good luck.

To be a master of multi-dimensional living one must primarily NOT be in a hurry. This is increasingly hard in our high-speed world. I suspect that many of the best dimensions exist in the realm of ‘unexpected downtime’- finding yourself in a situation which is unusual, where no one has to rush off. I find that literary festivals- especially those far away, can be like that.

Going on a trip helps- a friend of mine, I discover, is going to make a week long dogsled journey- now that will be entering a new dimension for sure.

Aren’t I just saying travel is a way to get into new dimension? well, maybe. But when you travel and know someone in the place you are visiting it seems easier to enter the new dimension then if you know nobody and you are in that old familiar me-alone dimension.

Multi-dimensional living is about being able to leave the old luggage behind. It is about sending out a new vibe- maybe having the ability to shift any occasion into something NOT BORING.

Drugs are the obvious way to enter a new dimension- but I don't want to be beholden to drugs. For it to be real you have to be able to do it without power assistance, so to speak.

I think the first task is to simply start observing yourself as you move through your daily life: ask yourself- what dimension am I in right now?

don't manage time, manage energy

What separates top tennis players? Their power, skill, talent? Nope. How they manage their downtime, the time between, games, sets and matches. Those that chill, relax and refocus always beat the one stamping and pacing and berating himself between points.

In a world of unpredictability time is something you can never manage perfectly. You're always going to be late or early, or have your time 'wasted', or be trying 'to do too much'. Time management is always a kind of fantasy. Even when people only do so much per time slot, never over running, they are in fact managing energy not time.

I know from writing if I allow a two hour slot only, I'll get more done than an open ended 'do as much as I can' set up. The time constraint makes me focus my energies. But if I then get greedy to do more I find the next day I can't get anything like as much done. By finding the optimum energy concentration slot I maximise my output.

A good soldier always sleeps whenever he can- he never knows when he won't be able to.

You can a manage your energies very precisely. It is entirely within your own control how much you bring to the party, or how you choose to relax. By focusing on managing your energies you regain a sense of control over your own destiny.

Time can't be owned with anything like the same precision. And if you are normal you will want to 'give time' to others. Well that can't be budgeted in so you either accept your timetable is shot or be ungenerous to others.

The function in Zen Buddhism of a very precise timetable is not to lock the monk in. On the contrary if anything important comes up a monk is free to depart from his set routine of work and meditation. The timetable is there for when there ISN'T anything 'important'. It's there so that you always know what you should be doing, you're never at a loose end dribbling away your energies.

Energy needs a focus or framework to be maintained. Think of a pipeline with loads of holes in it- only a fraction of the water pumped in arrives. That is what happens when you start with energy and no focus, no framework. The energy doesn't build. But if you have a time constraint or a very specific achievable target you have a pipe with no holes. Energy is maintained as momentum- that carries you on to the next thing you want to do that day.

We can be tyranised by a timetable instead of using it as an aid to energy maximisation. Use the timetable to construct slots that allow for maximum output. Don't try and 'get as much done as possible' treating yourself like a knackered horse pulling a cart, instead plan the day so your energy builds and does not wane. Think of those formula one drivers who have to ration their fuel so as not take badly planned pit stops.

A hi-energy encounter can be a 1000% more successful than a low energy one, or a wrong energy one. Use your time to manage such energy.

how we think about the future

Depending on state of mind we visualise the position of the future differently. For example, in a panic, we may see ourselves facing the past as it rushes away as we reverse into the future with who knows what shocks coming to hit us on the back of the head. Or, when mellow, we could see the future someway off to the right with the past off to the left as we proceed along the broad front of the present. Or maybe sometimes we see ourselves eyes wide open steaming face first into the future leaving the past well behind. I wonder if there is a benefit in trying to shift from one mode to another?

I don't have enough time

How many times have I heard this? “I don’t have enough time to read books.” “I don’t have enough time to write my novel”. “I don’t have enough time to start a business.” “I don’t have enough time!!!!”

All wrong. You never lack time, you lack energy. Remember as a kid those summer days that stretched away forever? You had more energy then. Seems like time just flies by? Why? You have less energy now and do less ‘new’ stuff and more boring repetitive stuff like going to work and getting drunk.

When you learn something new there is always loads of time- an hour set aside to learn ancient greek- I guarantee that hour will NOT fly by. And when you look back on a year and say- I learnt this and this- it doesn’t seem like it flew by at all. Likewise if you make trips throughout the year you ‘slow’ time down through the expenditure of energy in doing new things.

You never lack time, you lack energy. You work for twelve hours at a desk not moving except to get coffee and go to meetings- are your surprised you lack energy in the evening? Especially because then you thrash yourself at the gym and drink a couple of beers in front of the latest hot TV series which you own on dvd. What better way to dissipate your energies than giving it away?

You never lack time, you lack energy. As you get older you have more commitments and more responsibilities. These take energy- but probably not that much if you corral and marshall how you expend it. You can also build energy- primarily by breaking down mental barriers. One way of energising yourself is to talk like a complete prat (watch Tom Green’s ‘Who fingered Freddy’ if you want lessons in pratdom) in front of people who won’t hold it against you- you family and your closest friends. We are so used to exercising control over what we say- not lying, not boasting and not fantasising that taking the brakes off releases a ton of energy. I think it’s worthwhile to start ‘big whopper’ clubs where the idea of the evening is to tell obvious big whoppers all evening. Nothing subtle at all. Great fun.

You never lack time you lack energy. We dribble away energy in a thousand ways. We have routines that take energy from us, we have habitual encounters we have decided we ‘hate’ and these also rob us of energy. Learn to spy the energy vampires and pirates who lurk out there just waiting to grab your precious vitality.

You never lack time you lack energy. Energy is not like money- which is a kind of temporal substitute for energy- energy belongs to the ‘realer world’ of abundance. The more energy you give, the more you get. Ever wondered what that mysterious parable of the talents meant? Exactly this: the more you give the more you get. OK try this: next time you go to a party talk in a really loud cheerful voice. Boom it out. Watch successful school teachers- they all have loud voices- for a very good reason- the more you give out the more energy you’ll get. Energy somehow flows back to fill the space vacated- AS LONG AS IT WAS GIVEN AWAY CONSCIOUSLY- and not squandered or stolen.

You never lack time you lack energy. Remember that time when you were a teenager. Lying on the sofa feeling you could hardly move, hardly even answer the ringing phone? But you do- party at a mate’s house- hey suddenly you have a million volts running through your body. Tiredness is not the opposite of energy- sleep is. If you are sleepy- after doing some kind of physical exercise- this being the test because we con ourselves too easily otherwise- so do five minutes of hard walking or cleaning the house- if you still feel sleepy- then sleep. But just being tired means you still have energy except it is locked up and needs to be released.

You never lack time you lack energy. How to release that ton of energy that is locked up inside you? Break down the barriers- work really fast at something- so fast you cannot check or inhibit yourself. I do this in writing- but I learnt it in aikido. They have a method called ‘hajime training’- you simply do the same technique again and again as fast as possible. It is knackering but you get to stop thinking. You switch to autopilot, glide control- and miraculously you build energy rather than lose it.

You never lack time you lack energy. Orde Wingate the unconventional but highly successful special forces commander in WW2 believed you could store energy by lounging around taking it real easy and then you could expend it during a mission going day after day with hardly any sleep for months on end- JUST AS LONG AS WAS REQUIRED. This is the key. Many people try to force themselves to do lots of tedious tasks they don’t like and much more importantly, don’t think are meaningful. When you have a mission you unify your sense of meaning with the momentum that comes from focusing on one task. Momentum energy is a massive force- see it as reusing the same energy over and over, kind of like a rebreather, or a kid on a swing who only needs a well-timed small push to go higher and higher. Politicians out on campaign give impassioned speech after speech- how? Momentum energy. How am I writing this article- momentum and removing barriers – just letting it flood down. Can always edit it later.

You never lack time you lack energy. One way to keep the momentum going is to have a refrain or mantra such as the above- use it to get back on track, refocus your thoughts. Distraction is the enemy of energy, dissipation is the enemy…unless you embrace it as another opportunity to play and be uninhibited. Why do we crave wanton sex and drunkenness? Because it allows us to uncork that bottled energy. Wouldn’t it be better to have access to it any time? To be able to use it to achieve our goals?

You never lack time you lack energy. When we get a success- by which I mean something we do seems to work- we get an energy payback. Lots of entrepeneurs report that they were ‘lazy’ until they saw how much money they could make…ie. they saw how to make a success of something. Success is in the eye of the beholder, but one source is ‘being wanted’. If more people want us- give us a job, buy our book, want to go out with us- we get more energy. If we are unwanted- rejected, scorned, then we lose energy. It’s the law of abundance- that which has a place in the world gets rewarded. But we are human, we are not dumb machines- we have the power to create meaning out of seeming chaos, we also have the power to create a ‘success situation’ where others just see ‘normal life’ or ‘nothing special’. You want to feel wanted: have a party. You want to have a quick success? Paint an abstract painting- a really crazy one, then frame it nicely. Do ten and have an exhibition party. Write a haiku. Write ten haikus and post them on the net. Clean a public space you love of garbage, every last bit. Have a garbage collecting party. Build a model kit. I made a model boat the other day and it gave me a massive buzz, weirdly disproportionate to the effort- but that is energy for you- it’s there, all around us, ready to flow into us as we dispense it. But the law of the universe is this; you can’t squander and waste it. You have to pour that energy into things you find meaningful. So the more you can find meaning the more energy you will have. Expand meaning and you will expand the inflow of energy.

You never lack time you lack energy. I have just written this in about ten minutes.

the time paradox

“What kind of rule is this? The more time saving machinery there is the more pressed a person is for time.”

Sebastian de Grazia

do you have more money than time?

My sister raises money for charity from time to time. In her home town, a rich commuter suburb, she arranged a charity showing of a yet-to-be released film. Though she almost sold out, not many people actually came to the film. They had more money than time. They want to give but not to do.

I’ve heard the same thing from various voluntary groups. With a bit of common sense it’s easy to raise money. The hard part is finding people- more volunteers, more people to do things.

When people have more money than time what does it mean?

It means you should sell time!

Initially this was done through selling time saving devices- dishwashers spring to mind especially for some reason.

But now we have an infinite amount of claims on our time. It’s called the net. Every waking moment can be filled when you sit plugged into the world behind your computer screen. You can work and play to your heart’s content.

This means that, as of about five years ago, you WILL NEVER AGAIN HAVE ENOUGH TIME.

EVER.

So rather than be in a perpetual angst ridden rush until the end of your days it makes sense to start timeshifting.

Timeshifting is to time what exercise and a sensible diet is to certain Pacific Islanders. In the past they had little food and had to do a lot- so they ate everything they could. That same strategy has turned many of them into giant lardasses in the present abundant world they live in.

In the past we had less things to do, less claims on our attention, TV that went off at midnight and no internet. All that free time is just …gone.

Timeshifting often means MOVING temporarily someplace that has no internet- for example going on a walk- so that during that brief period you are experiencing time as you used to, without competing claims.

Deeper timeshifting means altering the way you look at your life. Life shouldn’t look like one damn thing after another.

My guess is we need to limit not just how much information we take in (turn off the TV, stop surfing the news headlines), but also how much we can POTENTIALLY take in. We do this through being in an environment that, temporarily, turns its back on outside information. When you go skiing don’t take the blackberry and text people at home, don't check the cricket results as you wait for the ski-lift. Grow your own small-group-feeling instead. Try to get a GANG together that has its own mythology and group purpose that does not rely on being plugged into the giant nipple of sky sport, sky news, the world wide web or your phone contact list.

For fans of EM Forster: Only disconnect.