Times Square

Have you ever been to Times Square at night? In the last few years, that is?

After Kathy and I took in “A Chorus Line” on Broadway, we walked back to our hotel which took us through the Times Square area at 11 o’clock at night.

Coming from rural Washington State, experiencing this part of NYC is like being transported to another universe! I’m telling you, I’ve never seen anything like it.

High rise buildings lining the street for a mile or more leading up to Times Square are plastered with flashing, pulsating, blinking, bright electronic billboards advertising messages, playing videos, and selling countless wares and services to titillate the senses.

Talk about sensory overload!

I’m not talking about 2 or 3 electronic displays here and there, but about every available inch of space for one to two hundred feet straight up and in all directions flashing every possible color, picture or graphic display Madison Avenue could think of to grab attention and push a message on unsuspecting wayfarers.

The sidewalks were jammed with hordes of people walking in all directions. Stores were open and packed with customers. The atmosphere was like a carnival. It was hyper. And the pace was just starting to pick up. In the minds of most, the night had just begun.

As Kathy and I weaved our way through the masses of bodies, I thought about the choices we make in life and the effect they have on our well being.

To the physical senses, the glitz, brightness, and lighting schemes on that street, the immense crowds, and the noise from it all could be mesmerizing. It was so materially intense and the messages and advertising so extremely aggressive it was easy to lose yourself and get mentally absorbed into what was being thrown at you from all directions.

You don’t have to be in Times Square to have a similar experience. The aggression of mortal mind comes in many different forms. For instance, a suggestion of disease can be as assaulting. A picture of conflict, an empty bank account, or feeling of failure, can feel as overwhelming.

But we have a choice, I agreed, while thinking this all through and computing the massive assault on my senses from around me. We don’t have to become a victim of mortal mind suggestions.

And that’s what I saw in Times Square. Suggestions!! All those flashing billboards and video displays were suggestions. I could accept the suggestions and get sucked into where they wanted to take me, or I could reject them and walk on without paying them any heed.

I practiced turning the physical senses off and on to prove the point.

I would stop looking up at the signs, quit listening to the entire ruckus around me and tune into Truth. I would search for Love, and as soon as I felt totally at peace with God, I would look up again at the signs and take in the sensual sights.

As the physical senses filled up with all the noise and clamor, I’d instantly stop it all by tuning it out again and go back into my secret place with divine Love. I did this a few times and it felt terrific!

I felt control rather than being controlled. It was a simple exercise to demonstrate my dominion over the aggressiveness of mortal mind and prove a bit more to myself that I am never helpless.

No matter how convincing mortal mind tries to be with its aggressive suggestions, they are not convincing to the spiritually minded perspective.

In my right spiritual state of mind, I could walk down that noisy, loud, blaring street oblivious to all the material commotion and totally aware of God’s omnipresent Love. It was a choice I could make and follow through with.

It’s a choice we can all make no matter what form “Times Square” may be taking in our life at the moment.