Tag Archives: Eternity

A Statement of Faith

From Wallpaperflare.com

Perhaps we all wonder at one time or another why there is so much pain and suffering. Why is life so difficult at times? Why do “bad” things happen to good people? And many other perplexing questions.

We have to accept that there are some things that we are not meant to know or that our current level of spiritual awareness precludes understanding. I believe in the old adage: “Everything happens for a reason.” This is a statement of faith in spiritual processes aimed at fostering our spiritual development. 

It’s important to remember that understanding what is beneficial or harmful to our spiritual development requires a view from the perspective of eternity to which we are not privy. Something thought to be “bad” now, may in fact, be good for our development in the flow of eternity. After all, we tend to become stronger, more spiritually enlightened, and to learn lessons best from adversity.

You might like to see the following related articles:

What is Faith?

Faith and Spiritual Awareness

Do Angels Watch the Clock?

 

Background: Crab Nebula
Composite by Blair Atherton

 

What is time? Does it exist? Most of us would say that it does, but could it be an illusion, construct, or artifact of our physical existence? Perhaps it is all of these.

It is said that the soul/spirit is eternal. Eternity by definition is never-ending. If we place our spirit-self in the context of eternity, does time have any meaning or importance? A period of incarnation of the spirit is vanishingly small on the scale of eternity. In fact, “scale of eternity” would seem to be an oxymoron.

Eternity confounds measurement just like infinity. To try to scale eternity with a measure such as this thing we call time would seem to make no sense. At the same time, during our very brief, finite period of incarnation, time and distance are useful measures within the physical life.

Does the concept of time make any sense or have any utility when we exist purely in spirit form after death? Likely there are many different views relating to this question. In physical form we know our lifespan is finite. Therefore, it seems natural to apply measures to our daily activities on Earth.

However, in spirit form we presumably know that we are eternal. Therefore, the length of any particular lifetime or the sequence or length of events on Earth likely does not matter to the spirit. The only thing that may matter is how the experiences of our physical life inform our spiritual growth and understanding.

You might like to see a related article titled On the Nature of God. The article describes God as enigmatic and paradoxical with attributes beyond our comprehension that conflict with our worldly notions of time, space, and form.

These are difficult topics and no doubt there are many different ways of thinking about them. I would very much like to hear your perspective.