There Is No Universal “Now”

I’ve always heard, and stated, “Time is relative.” But even though I understand the meaning, I’ve decided to look deeper into this concept of time. I am obsessed with time. I have measured my life in how much productivity I can accomplish within a timeframe. Quite frankly, I’ve grown tired of it and have spent the last year and a half trying to break my toxic relationship with time. Then I watched Interstellar recently (I know… late to the game…don’t judge), and that took me to another level in defining time. 

Let me define the phrase, “Time is relative,” just so everyone’s on the same page. The idea comes from Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, and it’s safe to say that this has been experimented with and confirmed as true. It is defined as time not passing at the same rate for everyone under every circumstance, with two variables being how fast you’re moving and how strong gravity is. For example, a clock that stays on Earth and a clock that flies around Earth on a shuttle: the clock on the shuttle will have measured less time. Both clocks are accurate. One was flying very fast, and the other was on Earth. The stronger the gravitational field, the slower time passes. And I found out something interesting as well: as I was looking up the definition of the phrase, the clocks on GPS satellites are faster than Earth clocks, and engineers have to correct for this every day. Why? Because the satellites are farther away from gravity. Clearly, this is shown in the movie Interstellar on the water planet (AKA Miller’s planet) and its relationship to the black hole, Gargantua. I seriously got stressed out knowing that 1 hour on the planet = 7 years on Earth, 1 minute is about 51 days, and 1 second is about 20 hours. For those who haven’t seen this movie, I won’t go into details on what that meant for our characters. 

This brings me to: there is no universal “now”. Think about it. We can observe the same event in different locations and have different perspectives. You can be standing in the middle of a fast-moving train, while I am standing on the ground watching the train you’re in pass by. We both see lightning; however, from my point of view, I see that there are two bolts that hit the front and the back of the train at the same time. You, however, who are standing in the middle of the train, based on where you are, are also moving along the train, see the lightning bolt first hit the front of the train, and then the back. Both accounts are true based on how you experienced the event. One thing to note is that the speed of light is always the same for every observer. 

Is the past, present, and future all equally real?
Is time something the universe “has,” or is it something consciousness experiences? 

Let’s break the science down in the way I like to learn, “Time for Dummies”: Einstein concluded the following:
Time stretches (the rate at which time passes) 

Gravity changes the rate at which time passes.

Motion changes time 

There is no single cosmic clock. 

I think at this point we can agree to this. It’s what we learned in school and as of now, science still backs this up. We good? Great – let’s move on. 

If physics tells us that time depends on the observer, based on all the above criteria, then what role does consciousness play in the experience of time? 

As kids, the end of school felt like eternity! Summer never got here quickly enough. 

Christmas took forever and a day! 

How about staring at the microwave, waiting for your food to heat up? Those two minutes feel like two days, right? 

Dreams are very interesting because you may feel like you’ve been dreaming for at least an hour, only to look at the clock and it was only 5 minutes, but you’ve lived a whole other lifetime in those 5 minutes. 

That’s what consciousness experiences, also called “subjective time”. 

Physicists and theologists/philosophers have met halfway and propose what’s called the “block universe”. This was created in an attempt to try and define the reason why a “universal now” doesn’t exist. Also called the present. Because what if the past, present, and future all exist in some sense, and consciousness is what experiences them sequentially? What if it’s not time that moves, but consciousness is? 

A way to look at “block universe” is to imagine the universe, not as a movie that’s being created frame by frame, but as an entire DVD (or record for those of us who remember what that was), already containing every frame from beginning to end. That means every moment, from your first breath to your last one, exists within the structure of space-time (DVD). 

What changes isn’t the universe itself, but your awareness moving through it. If that’s true, perhaps we don’t travel through time. Perhaps consciousness travels through experience. 

Meditation offers one of the clearest ways to experience this firsthand. Anyone who has sat in deep meditation sees that the clock says 20 minutes, but it could have felt like two minutes or two hours. During those moments of complete presence, the future disappears because you’re no longer projecting into it. The past quiets because you’re no longer replaying it. All that’s left is awareness itself. 

Now the question becomes: is meditation slowing down time? Or is it simply removing our habit of measuring it?

Let us look at the biblical moment when Moses asks God’s name in the Book of Exodus, and God answers, “I AM THAT I AM.”  In Hebrew, “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” can be understood as:

• I AM 
• I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE 
• I AM BEING

In either of these answers, God doesn’t introduce the past or the future, just the present. It is literally a timeless statement.  Whether intentional or not, God’s answer echoes something similar to the philosophical idea behind the Block Universe. If all moments exist within spacetime, then “I AM” becomes a fascinating statement—not rooted in the past or future, but in an eternal present. While physics doesn’t use Scripture as evidence, and Scripture isn’t teaching relativity, the two invite us to contemplate the same mystery from very different directions.

Neuroscience also explains this as a “flow state”, which we know that athletes, musicians, artists and runners go into this state, where the concept of time disappears, as well as the concept of self. Nothing physically has changed, just consciousness. 

Physics and spirituality ask similar questions and come up with different approaches, and those approaches should be examined equally. Physics tells us that time is relative. Meditation teaches us that our experience of time is relative. The Bible reminds us that beneath all of our rushing towards tomorrow and replaying yesterday is the only place life has ever actually happened: I AM

Maybe our search for enlightenment isn’t about learning how to control time or travel through time, but it’s much deeper than that. 

Maybe it’s about becoming fully present within it.

Because while clocks measure time…consciousness measures presence.  

TAKE ACTION: Curious to explore these ideas more deeply? Connect with Neyda Honda for articles, conversations, podcasts, and complimentary Alignment Consultations focused on consciousness, emotional resilience, and living with greater intention. Every journey of transformation begins with a single conscious step. Together, we’ll explore where you are, what’s ready to shift, and how you can move forward with greater clarity, confidence, and purpose.