The timeline is a highly beneficial tool of measurement. It helps us to understand the changes in our lives within the context of a larger environment. Every life form in existence is expanding and contracting, living and dying. By comparing our timeline to the timelines of other life forms, we are better able to appreciate our place within the hierarchy of life (i.e. my cat is 2 years old, I am 37 years old, and the earth is 4.5 billion years old). As long as we are utilizing the same timeline as those with whom we interact, we can make appointments, celebrate rites of passage, and measure the overall advancement of our species.
We live in a reality of change. The timeline helps us to live in accordance with that reality. But, it also limits our perspective.
The timeline is directional. It begins at point A (the birth of the life form in question), extends in one direction, and ends at point B (the death of the life form in question). Thus, we tend to view life as directional. I was born in the past (point A), I will die in the future (point B), and I exist as a dot somewhere in the middle.
Though this perspective is highly conducive to measuring change, it does not account for the cyclical nature of life. We measure life according to change. We experience life in cycles. There is another view of time that illustrates this.
Change is not only directional, it is also cyclical. Though our lives change progressively, in a linear fashion, change happens in cycles. We experience the same phenomena over and over, only from a different perspective. For example, it is summer again, but I am a year older. The timeline does incorporate cyclical elements–hours, days, and months repeat in order to coincide with the rotation and trajectory of the earth. A true cyclical view of time, however, goes a step further.
The Circle
If we were to view time as a circle (Figure 2), then life itself would be cyclical. Just as the end of one day is the beginning of another, the end of life is also a beginning. According to this view of time, life is ceaseless. Birth and death are united in the ongoing dance of creation.
The cyclical view of time is prevalent in the Hindu traditions. Samsara is the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. At the end of our life we return to Brahman (God) and then are reborn. The cycle lasts until we are able to liberate ourselves from it (moksha). Man, woman, tree, day, thought . . . each and every life form comes from God, lives, and then returns.
According to both the timeline (Figure 1) and the circle (Figure 2), we come from God, live, and then return to God. Yet, both concepts of time have their limitations. Though the timeline is more conducive to measuring change as a progression, it does not illustrate that if God is both alpha and omega (beginning and end) then beginning and end must be synonymous. The cyclical view of time helps us to shatter the illusion that life and death are somehow at odds, but it does not shatter the illusion of time itself. As long as we are a dot moving through time, we will never be able to view life as God does, from eternity.
Eternity
In the book of Genesis, God creates the first human in an act of breathing. “Then the LORD God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (2:7). According to this image, our lives are animated by the breath of God.3 Life expands as it is filled with God’s being and then contracts as God draws it back in.
If you look around at the innumerable forms in creation, you will notice this pattern being repeated time and again. Life expands and contracts as the breath of God moves in and out of the formless void that is God’s eternal being. In fact, many scientists believe that the universe itself is expanding, which seems to indicate that it will eventually contract. Time is what we use to measure the rate of this expansion (and contraction). Life changes as the breath of God animates it.
God, however, does not change. God views the expansion and contraction of living forms from the same eternal moment. In fact, we all do.
God views life from the eternal now. And, though our minds are constantly interpreting the eternal now within the context of time (i.e. yesterday this happened, tomorrow I would like this to happen), now is all that exists. Now is the moment of eternal awareness. It is the single point of consciousness from which we view the changes in our lives. Life is expanding and contracting around our awareness of it. We are experiencing life from the same eternal moment as God. It is always the beginning and always the end, because it is always now.
In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus said, “The Father’s kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it” (113:4).4 The Father’s kingdom is eternity. It is the eternal now from which God views creation. We typically do not see it because we are caught in the illusion of time. We believe that we are a dot moving along a timeline. The dot, however, does not move.
The Spiral
The spiral view of time illustrates the relationship between change and eternity (Figure 3). The dot at the center of the spiral represents the eternal moment from which God views the expansion and contraction of living things. This is the same moment from which we experience life. The dot is consciousness, both God’s and ours. Life expands from God (the dot) in a circular motion (the spiral).
The image of the spiral opening upward illustrates the directional momentum of life as well as its cyclical nature (the repetition of days, seasons, etc.). You could, therefore, utilize the timeline or the circle to measure the changes that take place as the life form expands. The timeline would measure the rate of expansion in a directional sense, and the circle would measure time in cycles.
The outer edge of the spiral represents this moment as we experience it within the illusion of time. We typically consider now to be a certain hour of a certain day of a certain year. We are not, however, looking at life from the edge of the spiral. We are looking at it from the center. We have been conditioned to consider our lives as a dot moving on a timeline. The dot (consciousness), however, does not move.
We experience life from the same eternal moment as God. Our lives expand and contract around the eternal now. Spiritual practice is concerned with shifting our center of awareness from the edge of the spiral to the center, from an identification with change to an identification with God.
By altering our concept of time, we are better able to view creation from God’s perspective: eternity. Yet, eternity is not just now, it is here. Life expands and contracts as it is animated by God. The rate of this expansion (and contraction) is time. The relative distance between various aspects of creation is space. Just as the eternal now from which God creates does not change, neither does God’s orientation to what God creates. The here and now are both represented by the dot on the spiral view of time (Figure 3).
We are used to measuring space according to the position of our bodies in relation to other objects in creation. My body is in this location and your body is in that location. However, though our relative positions may differ according to the tool of measurement that we are using (inches, miles, light years, etc.), our experience of them originates in God’s eternal being, the here and now from which all life expands and to which all life returns (the dot).
Eternity is here and now. Life simply changes around it (the spiral). By shedding our illusions of space and time, we are able to experience God’s eternal presence. Here and now, we are able to view creation from God’s eyes and discover the reason why God creates.
Un-Manifest
All “beings” that exist in temporal reality (the reality of created things) are manifestations of God’s eternal being.5 You and I are human beings, meaning we are human manifestations of being itself. We could, therefore, refer to a tree as a “tree being,” a dog as a “dog being,” and a star as a “star being.” God’s un-manifest reality is being without form, the eternal presence of God within and beyond creation. The un-manifest God is the alpha from which all forms arise and the omega to