Not what you think. Not like a game ending buzzer. More in the direction of time going into slow motion. Like in a car wreck or falling off a roof. (I hope you have more pleasant examples.)
In the book, “I Am That”, Nisargadatta Maharaj says “The real does not die, the unreal never lived.” So, while some consciousness gets wrapped up in schedules and deadlines and goals, other consciousness returns to its timeless roots. And what is that journey like? Most of that trip is the distance between identifying with the body and stuff and not identifying with the body and stuff. The end of the trip is the ancient city of Consciousness. The journey can take lifetimes, or it could happen now.
Georgieff taught his students how to ‘die before you die.’ We normally identify with so much that is not real. Make a quick inventory of all the stuff you own. It is said that what you own, also owns you. Try a brief exercise. Just now, imagine it is all gone. It might take a minute to really feel it.
Did you do it? And here you still are. This journey we’re talking about, must be traveled very lightly. You might work at it and get down to a few suitcases. Then with more work, you may get down to just a backpack. Then the backpack gets lost. And there is still more that must go.
For as long as you can remember, you have been carrying this body around. You don’t remember what it was like before that. You have identified with your body so consistently it has become an unconscious assumption. It’s probably true also that when those brief electrical storms happen inside your head (thoughts) we identify with them, too.
So, the instructions tell us that to reach the ancient city of Consciousness, we can’t even take “our” body or “our” thoughts. We get there when we float through the gate on absolute emptiness. In the city of Consciousness there is no time. The city is even much stranger than that. Everyone there has no boundaries. Also, there is no up or down or inside or outside. This is the place – the source – of where all things are possible. We find here the peace that surpasses all understanding.
You have already started this journey. You have let go of some things that hurt you. Maybe there is more to let go of in that realm. There is something right in front of each of us, where the work is to learn how to let it go. Of course, everyone works at their own pace.
Wishing you well and have a nice trip.