Good morning Gentle Reader.
Have you ever had a challenge (think: problem, polarity, paradox, or dilemma) and exchanged it for another challenge? I have, way too often. When I become aware that I am doing this type of exchange I realize that this pattern will continue until I address the root cause, the root cause called ‘Richard.’ In order to help us address the root cause, the great mystics, whether Eastern or Western, ask: Who are You? Who are you choosing to become? Why are you choosing this becoming? The mystics tell us that these are the three most crucial primary questions.
Many of us Christians think the most important question is: Who is Jesus? Other folks believe it is: Does God exist? Still others think it is: Is there life after death? How many of us ignore another primary question: Is there life before death?
My experience is that there are those (at times including myself) who don’t know what to do with this life. They are all hot and bothered about what they are going to do with another life.
One sign that I am awake and aware and that I am living in the ‘Now’ is that I do not concern myself with what’s going to happen in the next life. I am not bothered about it; I am not anxious – it is as if I am not interested.
When I do think of ‘another life’ I ask: What is eternal life? I used to think it is ‘everlasting’ life. But the great theologians who come from a faith tradition that embraces the idea of an ‘after life’ tell us that this is crazy – ‘everlasting life’ is still within time. It is time-focused. Eternal means timeless – NO TIME. As a human I cannot understand this concept for I am time-bound. I can understand time (well, perhaps I cannot even truly understand time), what is timeless is beyond my comprehension.
The great mystics tell us that eternity is right now. NOW! Eternity is the endless ‘NOW!’
When anxious or dis-eased or distressed I find myself ruminating about my past. I find myself being ashamed of things I did, or didn’t do and I find myself still feeling guilty about choices I made. For me, part of forgiveness involves ‘letting go’ of the past and part of living life is to ‘live in the Now.’
When I am able to do this I believe I do experience a taste of eternity which seems to be an endless ‘Now’ – no past and no future in eternity, just the endless ‘Now.’
Searcher-Seeker 