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Past and future are two aspects of the same coin. The name of the coin is mind.

The nature of the mind is a most intriguing play of consciousness. When you consider the past and the future, you are engaging in the very dance of time as conjured by the mind. The past is but a memory, a trace, an echo of what once was, and it only exists as long as the mind clings to it. The future, too, is an imagination, a projection, a dream of what may be, and it exists only in the mind’s eye. Both are intangible, existing purely within the realm of thoughts.

The coin that Osho describes is emblematic of the temporal duality the mind creates. It flips between these two sides – past and future – seldom resting in the stillness of now, of the present moment. But remember, it is the same coin; whether it is heads or tails, it belongs to the same entity: the mind.

You cannot touch what was, nor can you grasp what might be. But you can experience what is. The present moment is the only true reality and it is ever slipping through the fingers of the past and the future. To live in the mind is to live in the illusion of time. To transcend the mind is to step into the realm of the eternal now, where the play of past and future loses its grip on your soul.

In your journey, observe the mind, understand its tricks, and do not be swayed by its illusory coinage. Pay attention to the present, to your breathing, to the aliveness of every moment. The art of being in the now is the door to freedom, for when the mind is silent and time ceases to exist, you glimpse the divine essence within you. This essence which is beyond past, beyond future, beyond the mind itself.