Relative Time, Part 2

Relative Time, Part 2

“Eternity is in the present. Eternity is in the palm of the hand. Eternity is a seed of fire, whose sudden roots break barriers that keep my heart from being an abyss!” Thomas Merton[1]

Last week I gave examples of common experiences that lead me to question the assumed regularity and reality of what we call time. My uncertainties about time emerge from the difference between my experience of the passage of time compared with how time is measured, which is based on the earth’s rotation on its axis at sea level and its orbit around the sun. The first example I cited occurs when our attention is sharply focused and time appears to pass more quickly. The second occurs in dreams where we can span and include vast expanses of dream-time in relatively short periods of earth-time. I believe we mislead and confuse ourselves by analyzing our life experiences in the context of sequential days and years. The ticking of the clock and passing of days provide helpful information for functioning in our daily lives. That limited concept of time, however, is not helpful – and can be misleading – for a deeper understanding of our lives in the context of eternity, or even for understanding our life as a single experience instead of a collection of seemingly unrelated and random events.

We tend to think of chronological earth-time as the standard, the consistent, the absolute measure of time. But earth-time is a human calculation, divided into segments of hours, days, and years. Our life-experiences, however, do not fit into such divisions. Regardless, science has proven that earth-time is far from the absolute or reliable measure we give it credit for being. A clock measuring earth-time that is located significantly below or above sea-level will measure time as moving slower or faster than a clock at sea-level because the rate of time passing varies according to the distance from the earth’s gravitational core and how fast we are traveling. Time intervals are relative to our location, speed, and other factors.

The difference between our measures of earth-time and our experience of the unfolding of our earthly-lives attains increasing significance as our awareness expands beyond our physical bodies and environment, such as when we focus on mindfulness and/or spirituality. In other words, our experience of time varies with the focus of our conscious attention, with earth-time being more relevant to material considerations. This is not surprising since earth-time is entirely based on the physical universe, but our attention and other activities of consciousness occur in both physical and non-physical realms of reality. While we measure the passing of our days in years, which we equate with the aging of our bodies, the unfolding of our lives does not occur in a strictly sequential, rhythmic manner. Our lives unfold across time periods and are shaped and understood according to where we place our conscious attention.

In consideration of eternity, we are unable to formulate a workable concept of eternal life when our sole model is earth-time. We know the physical aspects of our being, like everything of the earth, are transitory and temporary, subject to deterioration and death. Eternal life for the body occurs in the recycling of the elements that make them up into new bodies for other beings. Most of us find little comfort in that reality. We know there is a hard stop to our days of physical embodiment on the earth, although we cannot know how or when it will occur. The eternal life that is more inspiring and reassuring is that of the conscious spirit that animates our physical bodies. That consciousness existed prior to our time on earth and continues to exist beyond the point we lay down our material bodies and relinquish our physical attachments. That part of us exists outside of earth-time. Our True Self, our soul, understands our earthly experience as one part of a much greater life.

Eternity for the non-physical core of our being is not defined by earth-time. It simultaneously extends in infinite directions and various dimensions, all with the present moment as its entry-point. No past, no future – only conscious, transcendent, eternal awareness here, now, and always.

This is the 7^th in a series of Life Notes on Space, Time, and Eternity. The opinions expressed here are mine and not necessarily those of others. To engage with me or to explore contemplative spiritual direction, contact me at ghildenbrand@sunflower.com.

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[1] Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas, Harcourt Inc., 1953, p. 361.