Thoughts on Eternity, Love and God.
A New Blog
10 years ago
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Eternity
Copyright 2009 by Stefan Bolz
I have been thinking about eternity lately. What prompted it was the realization that all my life I had looked for love in the wrong places. Those two thoughts had, on first glance, nothing in common but in thinking about it further, I realized they are very much related. I found myself having a conversation with myself and building the argument for the very strong relationship between looking for love and eternity. At some point I decided to write it all down for clarity purposes. This is in no way meant to be complete nor its logic to be seen without flaws.
For the sake of this argument, let's accept one basic premise: eternity exists. Let's assume that there is such a thing as eternity. Eternity, by definition, would be something that lasts forever. There is, therefore, in eternity no beginning and no end. We can't really make this statement of anything in this world, correct? Nothing here lasts forever. Everything is in constant change, including ourselves, our bodies and our thoughts.
In other words, let's accept, for now, that we do not have even one eternal thought in our mind. Our thoughts come and go. They shift, move around, and change. Therefore, our concept of eternity must be based on our own very limited perception of it. In other words, what we think is eternity, is based on our own thoughts and ideas which are not eternal. And because our own thoughts and ideas are anything but eternal, we can't really grasp what eternity truly is. Right? We can just speculate. The best we can do is think of it as something that outlasts us. That's as far as we can go because we have no concept of something without beginning and without end. Even the universe, the very atoms and molecules that make matter, have a beginning and therefore an end and are therefore not eternal.
Accepting the basic premise that eternity exists and that we do not have a clue what it is, lets go one step further: Let's assume that if something is eternal, it is also changeless. It can't have grades. It can't have nuances. It can't have parts that separate and come together again at times. Eternity must also be timeless, meaning it can't have time in it because time is equal to change. Eternity can therefore only be found outside of time. It can't be found in space either. Space changes. Planets, atoms, galaxies and bodies, suns and stars, change constantly. Eternity is therefore outside of both time and space.
So far so good. Another thought that came to me in this context was the following: If there is a God and one of his attributes is that he is eternal, he must have the qualities that come with it: He must be changeless, he must be forever, and he must be outside of time and space. He, for example, can't really have the ability to judge - good or bad. He can't have the ability because, first, there is obviously no 'ability' in eternity because abilities are subject to change. And secondly, there is nothing outside of the eternal to be judged. At least not from the 'perspective' of eternity who/which can only 'see' itself. So, if God only knows himself, if he only knows eternity, all of his qualities must be eternal, must be changeless, and must therefore be outside of time and space.
The first question that comes up is: ok, if there is a God who is outside of time and space, who is changeless forever and ever and who can't even conceive of anything outside of eternity, who made time and space? One part of the answer seems very simple. Obviously it wasn't God.
The final attribute of eternity, and the one I thought of in the beginning of the argument, is, in my view, one of the most misunderstood attributes of this world. It has been distorted, changed, manipulated, and made responsible for much suffering. Its present meaning is, in my opinion, so far from its essence, it is almost unrecognizable when we encounter it in truth.
This attribute is love.
We all speak of eternal love. Most of our songs, movies, books and stories, evolve around love - lost love, changed love, abused love, not reciprocated love, misunderstood love, longed-for love.
Let's just assume we are right in one aspect with regard to love. Let's say love is, in truth, eternal. If it is eternal though, it must, by definition, have all the other attributes of eternity. If it is eternal, love must be changeless. It must be outside of time and space, meaning not in this world and it must be unable to judge. It must be forever what it is, without interruption, without change, without degrees, without special parts and without limits.
Ok, so, if the love we think we know changes from person to person, from circumstance to circumstance, from morning to night and from day to day, it cannot be true love. When I realized that I am looking for love in the wrong places, I realized that I was looking for love in the world. In time and space. I was looking for something eternal in a place of time - in a place of beginnings and endings and in a place of change.
All my life I was looking for love in relationships. I couldn't find it. I know now why. I think what dawned on my mind lately was that I wasn't looking for illusory love anymore. If I was, I would have been satisfied with 'love' in relationships. But I was looking for true love now. And I can't find it here. I have to look in the one place where it is in truth. That place is in me. I think we all have access to eternity within us. One image I have (it's not my own but I find it very helpful) is that of a straight uninterrupted line. Each of us is a fragment hanging from this interrupted line, connected by a thread. We live our lives here, outside of it in our own 'private' spot in time and space. But we are nevertheless still connected to the eternal love that is changeless within us. For there is a place within where eternity abides. And if there is eternity, there must be love. Searching for love where it is, makes much more sense than searching for it where it is not, right? Our lives as we live them are preoccupied with the search for love outside of eternity. How can we find it there? It is a futile search that is hopeless at its best and utterly devastating at its worst.
What does this mean practically? It means, I cannot find love here. I tried but failed miserably and with misery. But not finding it here doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I just have to look in a different place for it - in the right place. If I look for love with another person and in another person, I can now see that, even though love is not where I thought it was - in the other person and accessible only by my desperate attempts to somehow get it - it is still there. More so, it is always there because it is eternal and changeless forever. So, for me it is now the slow process of changing my perception and my thought process of where to find it. It is frustrating at times and very rewarding at others. It is what it is. But it feels like, if I go through with it, if I change my mind and direct it towards where love truly is, I can and will find it eventually. The outcome of the proper search is guaranteed because love is eternal.
I have been thinking about eternity lately. What prompted it was the realization that all my life I had looked for love in the wrong places. Those two thoughts had, on first glance, nothing in common but in thinking about it further, I realized they are very much related. I found myself having a conversation with myself and building the argument for the very strong relationship between looking for love and eternity. At some point I decided to write it all down for clarity purposes. This is in no way meant to be complete nor its logic to be seen without flaws.
For the sake of this argument, let's accept one basic premise: eternity exists. Let's assume that there is such a thing as eternity. Eternity, by definition, would be something that lasts forever. There is, therefore, in eternity no beginning and no end. We can't really make this statement of anything in this world, correct? Nothing here lasts forever. Everything is in constant change, including ourselves, our bodies and our thoughts.
In other words, let's accept, for now, that we do not have even one eternal thought in our mind. Our thoughts come and go. They shift, move around, and change. Therefore, our concept of eternity must be based on our own very limited perception of it. In other words, what we think is eternity, is based on our own thoughts and ideas which are not eternal. And because our own thoughts and ideas are anything but eternal, we can't really grasp what eternity truly is. Right? We can just speculate. The best we can do is think of it as something that outlasts us. That's as far as we can go because we have no concept of something without beginning and without end. Even the universe, the very atoms and molecules that make matter, have a beginning and therefore an end and are therefore not eternal.
Accepting the basic premise that eternity exists and that we do not have a clue what it is, lets go one step further: Let's assume that if something is eternal, it is also changeless. It can't have grades. It can't have nuances. It can't have parts that separate and come together again at times. Eternity must also be timeless, meaning it can't have time in it because time is equal to change. Eternity can therefore only be found outside of time. It can't be found in space either. Space changes. Planets, atoms, galaxies and bodies, suns and stars, change constantly. Eternity is therefore outside of both time and space.
So far so good. Another thought that came to me in this context was the following: If there is a God and one of his attributes is that he is eternal, he must have the qualities that come with it: He must be changeless, he must be forever, and he must be outside of time and space. He, for example, can't really have the ability to judge - good or bad. He can't have the ability because, first, there is obviously no 'ability' in eternity because abilities are subject to change. And secondly, there is nothing outside of the eternal to be judged. At least not from the 'perspective' of eternity who/which can only 'see' itself. So, if God only knows himself, if he only knows eternity, all of his qualities must be eternal, must be changeless, and must therefore be outside of time and space.
The first question that comes up is: ok, if there is a God who is outside of time and space, who is changeless forever and ever and who can't even conceive of anything outside of eternity, who made time and space? One part of the answer seems very simple. Obviously it wasn't God.
The final attribute of eternity, and the one I thought of in the beginning of the argument, is, in my view, one of the most misunderstood attributes of this world. It has been distorted, changed, manipulated, and made responsible for much suffering. Its present meaning is, in my opinion, so far from its essence, it is almost unrecognizable when we encounter it in truth.
This attribute is love.
We all speak of eternal love. Most of our songs, movies, books and stories, evolve around love - lost love, changed love, abused love, not reciprocated love, misunderstood love, longed-for love.
Let's just assume we are right in one aspect with regard to love. Let's say love is, in truth, eternal. If it is eternal though, it must, by definition, have all the other attributes of eternity. If it is eternal, love must be changeless. It must be outside of time and space, meaning not in this world and it must be unable to judge. It must be forever what it is, without interruption, without change, without degrees, without special parts and without limits.
Ok, so, if the love we think we know changes from person to person, from circumstance to circumstance, from morning to night and from day to day, it cannot be true love. When I realized that I am looking for love in the wrong places, I realized that I was looking for love in the world. In time and space. I was looking for something eternal in a place of time - in a place of beginnings and endings and in a place of change.
All my life I was looking for love in relationships. I couldn't find it. I know now why. I think what dawned on my mind lately was that I wasn't looking for illusory love anymore. If I was, I would have been satisfied with 'love' in relationships. But I was looking for true love now. And I can't find it here. I have to look in the one place where it is in truth. That place is in me. I think we all have access to eternity within us. One image I have (it's not my own but I find it very helpful) is that of a straight uninterrupted line. Each of us is a fragment hanging from this interrupted line, connected by a thread. We live our lives here, outside of it in our own 'private' spot in time and space. But we are nevertheless still connected to the eternal love that is changeless within us. For there is a place within where eternity abides. And if there is eternity, there must be love. Searching for love where it is, makes much more sense than searching for it where it is not, right? Our lives as we live them are preoccupied with the search for love outside of eternity. How can we find it there? It is a futile search that is hopeless at its best and utterly devastating at its worst.
What does this mean practically? It means, I cannot find love here. I tried but failed miserably and with misery. But not finding it here doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I just have to look in a different place for it - in the right place. If I look for love with another person and in another person, I can now see that, even though love is not where I thought it was - in the other person and accessible only by my desperate attempts to somehow get it - it is still there. More so, it is always there because it is eternal and changeless forever. So, for me it is now the slow process of changing my perception and my thought process of where to find it. It is frustrating at times and very rewarding at others. It is what it is. But it feels like, if I go through with it, if I change my mind and direct it towards where love truly is, I can and will find it eventually. The outcome of the proper search is guaranteed because love is eternal.
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