Shibari and the Eternal Now

Time is one of humanity’s greatest obsessions. We are aware that time goes by with every second, and we want to always move forward toward tomorrow. On the other hand, we’re afraid of the future and we strive helplessly to stop time. Shibari, as is the case with all genuine artistic expressions, can actually stop time. And that’s why in this article we explore the relation between Shibari and the eternal now.

For this purpose, we will recall a couple of ideas of the French philosopher Henri Bergson, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927. He said that we are used to see time as a measure: hours, minutes, seconds. This measured time always goes forward and can never be stopped. On the other hand, however, we can see time as duration, meaning by this that we change our concept of time from a measure to a presence. This means that things last as long as we remember them. So, for example, I may have had lunch two hours ago, but if I recall the taste, the smell, and the joy I experienced while eating lunch, I somehow bring it back in time. I make it present and, therefore, alive, in a way.

What does this have to do with Shibari? Shibari, as any bondage enthusiast will tell you, is the art of stillness. During a Shibari scene, you can’t measure time, because you’re staying still and doing “nothing”, in the usual meaning of the world. On the other hand, however, you are totally present in the scene, and there are strong feelings present. During a Shibari scene, participants switch from time to duration. You are completely in the now, instead of being part in the past, part in the present, and part in the future. And that is the “eternal now”. As you can see, there is a relation between Shibari and the eternal now.

And some people still don’t believe that Shibari is an art.