Wednesday, October 04, 2006


Space and Time... a manic perspective.



1994
We live in a box of space and time, here on Earth, powered by the sun, spinning away through the galaxy and eventually through the Universe, which belongs to no one but God. He has given us minds to think with, and senses to perceive with, and so we have tried since we were monkeys in the trees to shrink space and time to manageable increments, eventually coming up with clocks, and yardsticks, buildings and calendars.
And so, we divided, as best we could, space into measures of inches and miles, and time into blocks called seconds, and minutes, and so on. We lived comfortably in this box, sparing ourselves the chore of examining the infinite and blowing our minds a lot, as it were. If ever we wanted to further reduce, or expand, this box we built, we discovered wonderful, terrible substances and ideas, hallucinogens and philosophies, religions and sciences. And so we struggled with it all, and searched for the truth of things, or ignored it, as the case may be.
Here’s the thing... space and time are not units, nor are they measurable, except to aid us in political and geographical organization. History must be recorded, and measures of time are quite necessary for that exercise. The fastest and farthest must be recognized, hence space must be sliced and diced and worked at by physicists and acid heads. But, space and time are infinite, and unmeasurable.
And, strictly speaking, one exists, and one doesn’t. Various philosophies, if studied with a mental microscope, will leave one believing that either: everything exists, or: nothing exists. Well, space is definitely there, as far as I’m concerned, else I’d visit all my sisters and my brother and my parents and my kids and all my friends all in the same day, then go to Jupiter for a round of golf.
Now, time, on the other hand, isn’t. Or rather, it is right now, but it wasn’t, and it ain’t going to be. Let’s climb out of our little box of time, find some space for ourselves, and think about this for a minute.
Let’s say we’re all human, and therefore need a reference point... okay, let’s make time exist only in this moment. This one, and then there’s a space, and then another moment. We can visualize time, if we like, as now, or a zillion nows lined up previous to, and following, this very now, right now. Time as now, this moment, and artfully represented by, let’s see, little blocks of wood for every moment that comes.
Okay. Now is a block of wood. It’s the same block of wood as it was a moment ago, except it’s got a small chip out of it, or a mosquito has landed on it. Then there’s a space, that wonderful space between moments, that exists actually between thoughts. But that’s another story... then there’s another block of wood, mosquito gone, piece of dirt where the chip was. Then a space, then another block of now - all the blocks that came before are gone, except in our ephemeral memory, which doesn’t strictly exist except in thought.
Same for all the blocks of time to come. They don’t exist, they aren’t there, they haven’t been made yet. So, we have Now as a block with substance, that we can grip and hold and love. But, immediately, as we measure time, that’s gone, and another takes its place. And so on. And that’s the finite part of infinity. Right there, right Now.
So, to take it to its logical next step, time is a series of blocks, all lined up. The past is irretrievable, and can only be affected in the present if we’re willing to work on it in the now, to work on our memory of the past and say we’re sorry, or thank you, okay, so let’s got on with it all. The future is definitely up for grabs, and can only be affected, again, by what we do in the moment, and from such moments come plans, and dreams, and life. We learn (past), we do (present, and what a gift, a present, it is!), we benefit, we fail, we live, we die (future, scary damn place if you try to live there.)
I am alive, now. I have been alive for an infinite number of moments. An infinite number of moments from now, absolutely unforeseeable to me, I will stop, I will shuffle off this mortal coil.
But - my life, our lives, touch infinity all the time. Because, although we suffer, although we cry, here and now, we can make that last just for this moment, and we can decide in the space between our present and the moment hurtling at us at the speed of thought, to close our eyes and go anywhere else we like, anywhere else we’d like to be, and spend as many moments there as we choose. That’s called meditation, and it’s a pretty good invention. And infinite time and space wait for us there.
So, yesterday is gone. Tomorrow doesn’t exist, except in dreams and nightmares. Though the past has caused us all so much pain, we can live with it, because: 1. We have to. 2. We can. And, 3. We choose to. We have permission, from the ultimate Higher Power, to choose to live, in this moment.
There now. That’s how I like to live, anyway. I remember, and I fix what I can. I try to foresee, and I beware the consequences because I really have no final say in things. What I can control is Now. Not necessarily the here, but the now is mine, completely and exclusively, an enormous gift from God.
Thanks for space, and thanks for not inventing time. You’ve always been the Best Provider.

7 comments:

molly said...

Discovered you as I wandered through blog heaven.Love your writing . today's is food for thought--a reminder to seize the present, and not let the past drag you down or the future to scare the s--t out of you. Thanks.....

Tree said...

Crap. Are you manic again? Well at least you're a mind-blowing genius when you're manic.
:)

deepoet26 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
deepoet26 said...

tree sweetie, I wrote this last century (1994), and, come to think of it, maybe I was....

Tree said...

Oops! Phew...

Anonymous said...

Somebody spoke....yes, and I, for one, am glad that you went into a dream....because it has meant an awful lot to so many people. Oh, and hasn't it been amazing?

Anonymous said...

every moment is this moment, though really. the eternal present. that's reality. we live in a dream that keeps us in a cage...for observation? for protection? is it a zoo or a playpen?