Ch. 10 The Eternal (continued)
The Eternal Question of Life
What is the purpose of our lives? Should we focus on the present moment or what has happened in the past or what is to come in the future? How will we reach fulfillment? Is life eternal? Does God exist in time, outside of time, or both? Do we relate to God in time, outside of time, or both? Does anybody really know what time it is?
According to Einstein's special theory of relativity in physics, the passage of time is not an objective feature of the world; rather, it is dependent on the frame of reference. General relativity throws gravity into the mix to curve and further complicate space-time. Since we humans all exist within the same frame of reference, we experience space-time similarly but that does not mean that we experience time objectively since other frames of reference exist. Philosophically, presentism suggests that only the present moment exists, the past and future do not. Eternalism suggests that there is no objective flow of time and that future events already exist in being if not in location. Block theory suggests that past, present, and future all exist. Growing block theory suggests that the past and present exist and the future is coming into existence. There are also theories for shrinking blocks, growing and shrinking blocks, and no blocks at all. Does time exist on its own unrelated to events? Is time eternal or does it have a beginning and an end? No wonder we are too full of sleep to understand how far the unknown transcends what we know.
While I value and admire the efforts, my head spins and quickly fatigues when I take in information from the realms of scientific or philosophical theories of time. I better relate to the poets. In Auguries of Innocence, William Blake speaks of the mystical moment that occurs in time yet touches beyond time: “To see a World in a grain of sand,/ And Heaven in a wild flower,/ Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,/ And Eternity in an hour.” In To know just how he suffered would be dear, Emily Dickinson inquires about eternity: “Was he afraid or tranquil?/ Might he know/ How conscious consciousness could grow,/ Till love that was, and love too blest to be/ Meet – and the junction be Eternity?” In Burnt Norton, T. S. Eliot reminds us of the importance of our temporality: “To be conscious is not to be in time./ But only in time can the moment in the rose garden,/ The moment in the arbour where the rain beat,/ The moment in the draughty church at smokefall/ Be remembered; involved with past and future./ Only through time time is conquered.”
If God were eternal, then God existed before time began, exists during all moments in time, and will continue to exist if time itself were to cease to exist. In the quotes above, William Blake and Emily Dickinson refer to the eternal God that exists in moments in time and outside of time. T.S. Eliot reminds us that we, limited by our humanity, must exist in time to touch God's eternity which exists both in and out of time. The moments when we share our eternal God's love, goodness, and fairness are our intimations of immortality wherein we touch God and in that touch share God's eternity. We touch God when we live in God in our mystical moments and when we live out God in our embodying God's love in service to each other and creation. “Insofar as the mind sees things in their eternal aspect, it participates in eternity.” (Baruch Spinoza, Ethics)
