The boundaries of events (start and end) are illusory and are completely subjective and arbitrary. Experience is always one and continuous stream of impermanence.
Characteristics of Events
- Fleeting and Momentary: Events do not stay; they appear, peak, and disappear in a split second or appear to last for ages and eons. They are defined entirely by change and impermanence.
- Causal and Predictable: Within the relative framework of the mind, events are bound by the laws of cause and effect. Every event has a cause, and every cause leads to an event. This predictable sequence is interpreted as time.
- Recorded in Memory: An event is only registered because the mind has the ability to store impressions in memory. We perceive an event by comparing the present sensory data with the immediate past memory of it.
The Witness of Events
- The Affected Mind vs. Unaffected Self: While events can cause physical or mental changes in our body-mind complex (such as joy, pain, or stress), they never touch the experiencer.
- The Screen of Consciousness: The Self is the silent, unchanging screen on which the movie of events is played. The screen is never wet by the water in the movie, nor is it burnt by its fire. Events simply appear as temporary patterns on its surface.