Understanding the Concept of Time in Maharaj & Heidegger

Here is yet another segment from the Science and Nonduality Conference - Mila Makal speaks about the Concept of time in Maharaj and Heidegger.



Understanding the Concept of Time in Maharaj & Heidegger from Science and Nonduality on FORA.tv

ONE WHO IS AFRAID OF TIME BECOMES A PREY OF TIME: Radicalization of understanding of the concept of time in Nisargadatta Maharaj and Martin Heidegger
by Mila Makal

If for us humans, life is a disease with a very poor prognosis, for philosophers the certainty of death opens up possibilities and thus time. Only for mortals does time pass. For God, years neither go nor come – they are, according to Saint Augustine, “completely present all at once.” “Time is the child of a barren woman,” states Nisargadatta Maharaj. “One who is afraid of time becomes a prey of time. But time itself becomes a prey of that one who is not afraid of it.” To fear time is like fearing an unborn child. For Martin Heidegger, being is time. Time is only because we are mortal. Our being finds its meaning in death. Authentic existence is the courage ‘for anxiety in the face of death’. Time itself is the presence in the unity of presence and absence. What defines our very existence, indeed, what gives the sum of Descartes’ ‘cogito sum’ meaning is that it is ‘sum moribundus’. We humans are destined for death and Heidegger believes that this ultimate limit or end makes all possibilities eo ipso time intelligible. Plato argued that the task of philosophy is to charm away the fear of death. Maharaj insists that if you meet a lion, “You threaten the lion since either way it is going to kill you. So why die like a coward out of fear? Attack it bravely and knock out some of its teeth. If you are certain of your death, why suffer a lowly death? Die nobly and honorably.” The philosopher and the sage triumph over death, they do not run away from it, but look it straight in the face.