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Briefing Document: Themes and Ideas in Jacob Needleman’s “Time and the Soul”

   

Overview:

This document provides a briefing on the main themes and important ideas presented in the provided excerpts from Jacob Needleman’s “Time and the Soul.” The text explores our contemporary experience of time, its relationship to our sense of self (“soul” or “Self”), and the wisdom traditions’ perspectives on these matters. Needleman contrasts our modern anxieties about time with deeper, more meaningful ways of understanding and experiencing it, drawing upon personal anecdotes, philosophical inquiries, and interpretations of sacred texts.

   

Main Themes and Important Ideas:

1. The Illusion of Our Understanding of Time: Needleman immediately challenges our common-sense understanding of time. He suggests that our anxieties and attempts to “manage” time are based on a flawed perception. He introduces this idea through the anecdote of his conversation with a Tibetan scholar, Lobsang, who questions the very definition of a “human being” amidst a rushing crowd: “How many human beings do you see?” This quote highlights the idea that simply existing in time as a physical entity doesn’t equate to fully realizing our human potential. Needleman further emphasizes this by stating, “Surely, time is not what we think it is. We are wrong about so many lesser things; how could we imagine we understand the greatest of all mysteries, time?” This sets the stage for exploring alternative perspectives on time offered by ancient wisdom.
2. The Rarity and Preciousness of Human Existence: The Tibetan metaphor of the turtle surfacing through an ox-yoke emphasizes the incredible rarity of being born human. This underscores the potential inherent in human life and implicitly criticizes the way we often waste or fail to appreciate this precious opportunity.
3. The Disconnect Between Our Outer Lives and Our Deeper Selves: Needleman introduces the fictional narrative of Eliot Appleman to explore the possibility of encountering a deeper aspect of oneself across time. The older Eliot’s realization that “I have never really remembered; no one has. What a fraud: all this remembering is only the work of a small part of the mind, mixing its accidental thoughts and feelings with scattered, random fragments of the past. We have never deeply remembered! We have never really gone back in time. We have never seen the roots of our being with the whole of our mind” suggests that our ordinary perception of our past and ourselves is superficial.
4. The Call of Fate and the Deeper Current of Life: Needleman contemplates the existence of “fate” as a deeper current beneath our daily struggles with time, carrying something essential in us towards a predetermined future. He asks, “And what would that something be within ourselves that lives, or tries to live, wants to live, beneath the surface of time as we know it; that wants to break into the daylight of our consciousness—there to grow with us, perhaps?” This introduces the idea that a deeper aspect of ourselves is constantly trying to emerge into our conscious awareness, hinting at a purpose beyond our everyday concerns.
5. The Fear of True Self-Knowledge and Reality: The encounter between Eliot and his older self evokes terror, which Needleman interprets as the fear of seeing our choices and their consequences, and realizing how little we understand the purpose of life. “But to see into the future would mean to see into ourselves, to see what our choices really have been and to see the consequences of all our actions. But it would also mean—and here terror enters—seeing how little we have understood what life is really for; it would mean seeing what we have thrown away.” This fear stems from confronting the insignificance of our ego in the face of a greater Reality. However, Needleman also suggests that beneath this fear lies a “calm knowing, like a warmth, an intimation of joy,” indicating the presence of the deeper Self.
6. Time as a Question, Not Just a Problem: Needleman argues that we often treat time as a problem to be managed, rather than a profound question about our existence. “But time is more than a problem; it is a question, perhaps the greatest question that a man or woman can face and perhaps the most important one. Such great questions cannot be answered with the part of the mind that solves problems. They need to be deeply felt and experienced long, long before they can begin to be answered. We need to feel the question of time much more deeply and simply than we do.” This shift in perspective is crucial for moving beyond superficial solutions to our time anxieties.
7. The Ancient Wisdom’s Perspective on Mastering Time: The ancient wisdom traditions teach that our attempts to master time through mere techniques are futile because we lack a fundamental feeling of our own existence and a genuine way of seeing ourselves. “If we listen to the teachings of the ancient wisdom, we will hear them telling us that none of our methods for mastering time can work. The reason they cannot work is that we do not feel that we exist, we do not see ourselves with the soft eyes of the heart.” True understanding of time requires a deeper connection to ourselves, blending intellect, heart, and instinct.
8. The Story of Kirzai and “Another Kind of Remembering”: The Central Asian tale of Kirzai meeting himself in the desert illustrates a different kind of relationship with oneself and a deeper form of “remembering.” Needleman emphasizes that this story is “a story to live with” and evokes a feeling rarely encountered in daily life, a feeling connected to our early childhood before the development of language.
9. The Bhagavad Gita and the Call to Inner Battle: The reference to the Bhagavad Gita and Krishna’s call to Arjuna (“Whence this lifeless dejection, Arjuna, in this hour of trial? Strong men know not despair, Arjuna, for this wins neither heaven nor earth. Fall not into degrading weakness … and arise like a fire that burns all before it.“) suggests an inner battle that must be fought, a “remembering” that goes beyond the surface level of personal history.
10. The Desire to Live One’s Actual Life Differently (Real Time): Needleman expresses a yearning to live his current life with a different experience of time, rather than different circumstances. “It is this life that I wish to live, the same life I am living, but with one great difference: a difference in the experience of time.” He recognizes that he is not truly living his life, but rather being driven by it, reflecting the common feeling of being overwhelmed and lacking control.
11. Time Famine as a Symptom of Metaphysical Starvation: The pervasive feeling of “no time” in modern life is identified as a symptom of a deeper spiritual or metaphysical emptiness. “The time-famine of our lives and our culture is in fact a symptom of a metaphysical starvation.” This suggests that our anxieties about time are rooted in a lack of connection to something more profound within ourselves.
12. Rebirth (Palingenesis) and the True Self: Drawing upon the Corpus Hermeticum, Needleman explores the concept of spiritual rebirth. Hermes’ teachings to Tat emphasize that true freedom comes from being “born again,” not from a physical womb, but through the “nourishing womb” of wisdom and the “seed of the new beginning” which is the true aim for a human being. This rebirth involves recognizing a selfhood beyond our ordinary perceptions, a self that is a “son of God, serving God’s will.” This true Self is not the self we think we are or remember. “His self is now the All that is in all. His self is composed of a completely new substance or energy unlike the materiality of the bodies and things of the world we see and live in.”
13. The “Thieves of Time” – Our Lesser Selves and Negative Emotions: Needleman identifies our negative emotions and the repetitive, unconscious patterns of our lives as “lesser selves” that steal our time and psychic energy. “Each little “self ” within us—and they are many—has the power to take away a portion of our time. These “selves” do this again and again, over and over, as we repeatedly act out the limited number of inner and outer scenarios that make up our lives.” Overcoming these requires witnessing them with conscious attention.
14. The Importance of “Trying”: Echoing Krishna’s call to Arjuna, Needleman emphasizes the necessity of active effort in the inner search, even when understanding seems impossible. “Cut it out, Appleman! Try …try. …” The process requires consistent attention and a willingness to step back from our habitual ways of thinking and acting.
15. The Power of Turning Attention Away from Thoughts: Needleman recounts a personal experiment of simply ignoring his thoughts when feeling rushed, demonstrating the transformative power of directing attention consciously rather than being controlled by mental chatter. “I simply turned my attention away from all my thoughts. Suddenly, swiftly, gently, without bargaining with them at all.” This led to a more focused and efficient state of mind.
16. The Pathology of Worrying: Worrying is identified as another way we waste time, a “meaningless imaginary reality invented by the mind in service to the revolving automatisms of emotional reaction.” It prevents true thinking and vision, which are necessary for navigating the future effectively. Jesus’ teachings against anxiety about worldly needs are invoked to highlight the importance of seeking the “kingdom of God” first, trusting that our essential needs will be met. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.”
17. The Limits of Intellectual Understanding and the Necessity of “Inhabiting”: Needleman emphasizes that understanding the deeper aspects of time and the Self cannot be achieved through intellectual analysis alone. Drawing on Emerson, he suggests that “An answer in words is delusive; it is really no answer to the questions you ask. Do not require a description of the countries toward which you sail. The description does not describe them to you, and tomorrow you arrive there, and know them by inhabiting them.” This highlights the need for experiential understanding.
18. The Exercise of Treating Life as Predetermined (Recurrence): Needleman introduces an exercise of looking at life as if it has already happened, treating it like a script or a play. This practice, rooted in the idea of recurrence found in various traditions, is not about intellectual belief but about shifting one’s attitude and attention. It involves three stages: external events, one’s own behavior, and inner reactions. The aim is to cultivate a sense of welcoming and to gradually liberate something subtle within oneself. Surrendering the sense of agency can lead to the feeling that the search for the Self is necessary.
19. The Appearance of Conscious Attention and a New Sense of Time: In moments of crisis, sorrow, wonder, or tenderness, a “conscious attention appears within ourselves that is independent of our emotions, thoughts and sensations. It is an attention that is pure presence.” This brings a new sense of “I am” and a completely new sense of time, a glimpse of eternity. “Time has stopped—or, one might say, a completely new dimension of time has appeared, the time of another self, another dimension, a higher reality.”
20. The Art of Pondering Death and Nonexistence: Needleman suggests that contemplating death and the vastness of nonexistence before and after life can lead to a calming and potentially transformative experience, revealing a new quality of mind – pondering. This lost art allows questions about time, aging, and death to have a beneficial effect.
21. The Childhood Sense of “Soul” and the Distortion of Self: The intimate, wordless sense of “I am” experienced in childhood is identified as the beginning of our awareness of the soul. However, this sense becomes obscured by the socially conditioned mind and emotional patterns imposed by the “world.” “Our ordinary thoughts are not our self.”
22. Moments of “Arrival” and the Two Rivers of Time: Needleman recounts personal experiences of a profound and sudden sense of “I am,” arriving from a realm outside of ordinary time. These moments reveal a deeper, more real home within. He describes two rivers of time: the broad river leading to destruction and a second, back-flowing current that leads elsewhere. The goal is to enter this second current by intentionally searching for the source of our being. “My life had meaning only in those moments when I arrived in the midst of my life.”
23. The Contact Between Ego and Self: True transformation comes from the contact between the ego (our ordinary, anxious self) and the Self (our deeper, essential being). This contact can reveal that the ego’s desires for love, safety, joy, and time can only be truly fulfilled through the Self. “The Self is everything that the ego pretends to be, and the Self has the time that ego searches for in vain.” This allows the ego to accept its secondary and mortal nature.
24. The Teachings on Laying Up Treasures in Heaven: The biblical teaching to “lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt… But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” is interpreted as a call to prioritize the inner life and the search for the Self over material concerns in our time-starved world.
25. The Nature of True Attention and the Example of Max: Needleman describes his old friend Max as embodying true attention and inner stillness. Even in frail old age, Max’s “eyes” (his attention and vision) and voice remained powerful instruments of the Self. His stillness was “an absence inhabited by a presence,” illustrating the difference between the transient physical self and the vibrant, enduring Self.
26. Human Time vs. Mechanical Time: Needleman distinguishes human time (the time of consciousness that can say “I am”) from mechanical time and even biological time. Living closer to biological rhythms can make us more receptive to the real “I am,” fostering real individuality and community.
27. The Reversal of Time in the Life of Evolving Attention: In the “second life,” the life of evolving attention, the flow of time reverses, moving towards birth even as the first life moves towards death. Birth and death become unified.
28. The Purpose of Life: To Allow the Self to Grow: The ultimate purpose of life is for the Self to grow within us. This requires a different kind of time and a different kind of death (of the ego). The Way to this new life exists and is actively seeking us. “May we all, every one of us, be found and remembered while … while there is still time.”

Conclusion:

These excerpts from “Time and the Soul” present a compelling argument for re-evaluating our relationship with time and our understanding of ourselves. Needleman suggests that our modern anxieties about time stem from a disconnect from our deeper Selves and a superficial engagement with life. By exploring ancient wisdom traditions, personal experiences, and thought-provoking exercises, he encourages readers to move beyond the perception of time as a problem to be solved and to embrace it as a profound question that can lead to a more meaningful and authentic existence. The ultimate aim is to awaken to the presence of the Self within, a timeless dimension of our being that offers freedom from the tyranny of clock time and the anxieties of the ego.