ABSTRACT
What if we don’t think of time as linear? What if something does not come ‘after’ postmodernism? What if we think of time as circular, or like a spiral? This idea was introduced to me through Zen Buddhism, teaching us that we spend our lives trying to remember what it was like before we were born, when we were one with the universe, and we find our way back to the beginning by ‘letting go’ of the things that hold us and bind us to the present, such as material possessions. What if we let go of the belief that our self is continuous, solid, and permanent, and instead embrace the idea that our selves are impermanent and constantly changing? The continuous vicious cycle of confirmation of existence is called samsara, meaning continuous circle, ocean of confusion (Trungpa, 1988). Buddhism teaches us that the dharma of impermanence, emptiness, and the non-substantiality of the self is the way to enlightenment.
