No timeline

We see life as a timeline - a story of progress from past to future. Each achievement follows this pattern: set a goal, work toward it, reach the destination. It's how we approach everything, from learning a language to building a career.

Then we bring this same thinking to spiritual seeking. We imagine a path stretching ahead, leading to some future state of clarity or awakening. We collect experiences like milestones, measuring our progress. Remember that profound insight last week? That amazing meditation session last year? Surely we're getting somewhere.

But this isn't another item on your life's timeline. It's not something that happened yesterday or will happen tomorrow. No past experience matters, no future breakthrough will get you there. Even that moment of crystal clarity you had - it's just another memory now.

What we're pointing to is only ever here, in this immediate moment. Not as a dramatic event that transforms your future. Not as something to build on past insights. Just this, right now, before you start measuring how far you've come or planning where you'll go.

This recognition can only happen now - it's the nature of how it works. You can't experience it through memory or anticipation. A remembered clarity is just another thought. A future breakthrough is just imagination. Only this present moment is alive enough to reveal what's here.

Your mind might resist this. After all, haven't you had genuine insights? Haven't you experienced moments of profound clarity? Isn't each experience building toward something? But look closely at this belief. It's just another way of pushing reality into the future, of turning the immediate into another stepping stone.

This isn't a journey that ends with "getting it." There's no finish line, no final achievement. It's an endless unfolding that only ever happens now. You can't be done with now, you can't perfect it or complete it. It's always fresh, always new, always beginning. The moment you try to grab it or claim it as an achievement, it's already just another story.

And yes, I mean right now. Not after you finish reading this. Not once you've figured it out. Right here, before any thought of progress or journey arises. Before you try to get anywhere or achieve anything. Just this.