Hidden Hands

According to new research the notion of time flowing on its own is wrong; European scientists recently asserted time is merely a measure of the numerical order of change. In other words, time doesn’t exist beyond the clocks we humans create. Meanwhile, other physicists are putting out credible theories that our universe endlessly expands and implodes, whether as part of an infinite number of Big Bangs, or, alternatively, expanding and contracting with no beginning and no end.

So what? First, we live in eternity, we inhabit “forever” now, as Joseph Campbell and others have stated. The jewel is in the lotus and all that. Do you know what this means? If we live in eternity, and what we call our universe repeatedly is created and destroyed (or expands and implodes, if that’s more accurate) over and over again - lather, rinse, and repeat literally forever - it stands to reason that in the infinite or eternal cycle of the universe’s creation and destruction, even after we die we may very well come to exist again.

What? Well, is it logical to assume that with the universe being created over and over again infinitely, it follows that it is likewise infinitely possible that our galaxy, our planet, or at least “us,” one’s consciousness or being-ness, have endless possibilities to be recreated, re-manifested? Which is to say, all of my atoms and molecules have all eternity to rearrange themselves back into “me” somehow - and into a world where we can meet again - as part of this endless cycle?

Or am I just kidding myself, and that when we die, that’s it?

— Image: Van Gogh’s “Sorrowing Old Man (‘At Eternity’s Gate’), 1890.

A still from Notorious (1946), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant. One of the greatest films ever.

In looking to religions old and current what has helped me to understand the meaning of good and evil is the Norse myth of Ragnarok. In sum, the gods know that in their final, world-ending battle against giants and other forces of evil that they are destined to lose, to die. Yet they go to their doom willingly, refusing to side with the forces of evil who ultimately will prevail.

In my own reasoning, searching, and worrying about whether or not consciousness is eternal or if there is an afterlife, this seems instructive for each of us. We know that the forces of darkness - death - will consume every one of us, there is no escaping our fate. And thus we have a choice: live to satiate our desires, our wants and needs heedless of the consequences to ourselves and others, or live to help others, to spread kindness and compassion for the general good. We are unified in our fate in that we will all face our own Ragnarok, and when we die we may not know what, if anything, comes next, but in our acceptance of what is foretold we can embrace what is good and adds to the vitality of life for all of us everywhere.

Why do we seek to control others, whether through the imposition of moral, religious, political, or other rules? First consider, how much control do we exert over our own selves? Should we expend ourselves forcing others to live as we believe they ought, or use the force and energy of our wills to live up to our own high standards for human behavior? The freedom to think and act as one believes they best should while respecting the liberty of others to do the same is a radical, blissful state!

We communicate and network to be heard, understood, to validate that we are here and what we do is important before we die. Yet fame, notoriety, and the ambition to preserve or record our physical presences here on earth are all illusory. The stories of millions of lives are lost in humanity’s pre-history; some are fortunate to have their lives and actions explained to us by the stewards of history, through the media, and so on. But we will die all the same, whomsoever tells us these people or events are more important than others. We are all important! A simple unseen act of kindness carries as much weight as a world war!

Why is the expression of our innermost experience, our hopes, dreams, worries, and fears so often a cause for scorn or embarrassment? Who are you, what makes you happy, what terrifies you, what will make our shared experience here and now a comfort? To commune with God, the universe, with you - if only the innermost desire to express what we hold most dear would be stronger than our fears!

Pictured: Engraving (?) by Charles Lebrun (French, 1619-1690), Expressions of the Spirit’s Passions, c. 1663.