The Way of the Gong™

Grab a cuppa and relax, as we are going deep in this blog… Defining Time Time . It's such an interesting concept. On one hand, we are so tied into it - clock time . On the other hand, we can experience a point where it doesn't exist - no time . Like when we get engaged in an activity so deeply that we lose our sense of time. We finally finish that project we were working on, look at the clock, and realize that 4 hours have passed. But it didn't seem like 4 hours. It really didn't seem like anything. We were engaged in the activity and not aware of time -  there was no time . Another example is, after I finish a Meditation Session, where I've just played for 60-70 minutes, and people comment that, “It seemed like it was only 10 minutes.” We can also experience the opposite, where time seems to drag on forever, like when we are waiting for an appointment, or at a shopping checkout, or when we are doing an activity we are not engaged in. There is a sense of elong...

Time. How do we actively work with it, mold it, change it, and change our perception of it?  Self Perception of Time We live in a modern culture that is based on time . Clocks, computers, and other machine dissect our world into tiny increments of perceived space/time. Our lives are directly tied into this clock time . Everything we do is directed by clock time in some form. Let's look at a type of time perception and how to change it. We all are intimately bound to music in our lives. The beat often drives us in our daily work, or daily activities. As a drummer, I'm extremely aware of how time works and how it is used in our modern music. Let's look at some basic exercises to establish a sense of time, and then move away from it. Counting This is a bit esoteric, and there's no need to be exact in your counting. As you move your notes further apart it becomes difficult to keep track of the time  in-between them. This is OK. This is one continuous exercise. P...

Contrary to most people's thinking, time and space are not absolutes. One of the current waves of scientific thinking is that time doesn't actually exist, except in our own minds. In fact we, and the world we experience, may not exist and are merely projections of our consciousness.  With this in mind, Gongs, Bowls, and Bells are the perfect instruments to use in order to break through our perceived notions of time and space. After an hour long Gong session, it's not unusual to have someone say, “That seemed like only 10 minutes.” It's also not unusual to have someone say, “That seemed like all day long.”  The same session.  Different people. Different  experiences. The illusion of time Time is an Illusion We've all experienced our day dragging on, seemingly like it would never end. We've also experienced being engaged in some activity and having the time fly by . These 2 examples show that time is more a perceived experience than an absolute....