TIME
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We exist, have our being, our loves and sorrows, at the very end of infinity. From the time zone of a beam of light traveling in free space to that of the space within the confines of the event horizon of a black hole, the topological spectrum of four-dimensional spacetime, encompassing all regions of the known Universe, is covered. It is an accepted fact of cosmology that free light exists in infinite time, that is, from the moment of its inception it will not age one iota, while the material universe, for its part, passes through its many stages towards whatever end entropy has preordained.
How then does one account for the obviously contradictory facts that we are able to see things around us, that plants are able to utilize the energy of light to manufacture protein products supporting the base of the food chain, for example, in a time zone where it appears that light, en masse, does indeed come to an end? Can these two disparate and mutually exclusive time definitions, with their respective effects, share the same spatial Universe?
We eat light; we need it to see; it warms us on a summer's day and sharpens the shadows on a forest snowscape. How then can each and every beam also exist for all time? Appearance only?
When I was a young man I wanted to be an engineer; I got sidetracked; one can't be everything in the time alloted to us. But I would then be someone else, someone else with, possibly, different values and perhaps even a distinctly
different personality. Nonetheless, can it be said with certainty that other lives, happening in other times and spaces, are not, in truth, actually going on or 'have gone' on concurrently with what we know? Is the Universe connected through both time and space? Is that a naive question?
If an individual light beam can exist for all time and space yet end its individuality in the collision of the photoelectric effect, then can it be said that infinite time acts as a kind of fixed point of zero displacement, a zero vector of a field each tangent of which stands for different rates of change? And
if time is anchored in infinity, could not space likewise be? Matter does not "occupy" space; matter and space are one. Another closed loop?
The extreme points of the spectrum of spacetime are not simply 'the next step or phase.' They are of another class altogether, the result of a leap in dimensionality. Coming together, time-effect-wise, they form a ring or circle,
two complementary, not contradictory, aspects: ideal points on the projective plane of eternity.
Is it not true that upon deeper and deeper inspection into the weave and cross-section of time, layered onion-skin-like, texturing our particular time zone, we approach, discontinuously, that "No-Time," the well-spring and anchor of the Universe?
If all times are happening at what may be thought of as local spacetime-connected sectors of the Universe, are these separate loops existing as such only in appearance? Does one time flow smoothly into another? How can this be? Whatever could be transpiring at the borders, the boundaries between time dimensions, to explain quantum changes in relative rates? Are there actually 'borders,' or are all parts and segments merely 'border-like' to our limited perception and imagination? Are these different regions characterized by respective wavelengths, whole wavelengths typically quantum-like? Or are all possible phases engaged at once?
Finally, is it a fact that we are indeed existing at 'all' times and spaces, and that our 'deaths,' and by inclusion- 'births,' actually occur only at the end of infinity, that idealized point from which springs all local time loops?
This last would seem to be the case. A light beam traveling free in space never touches down; it never gets anywhere yet it gets everywhere, simultaneously. It is everywhere, at least in the sense that everything material is composed of it and has its being because of it.
How can a sun nova into dust and interstellar gases, coalesce into planets and systems, other suns, eventually precipitating, given the necessary and sufficient conditions, the existence of intelligent life capable of questioning its origins? Moreover, how can this life-form deduce that light itself lives and has its being in a time frame outside of the context of an ageing process, forever detached from the life of the contemplator, immanent yet transcendent?
Time stands still for light; it never reaches us and yet, our very molecules and that of the Earth, the biosphere, are made of it.
Relationship -- the triumvarate: an individual with him or her self, with other people, and with Earth and Universe at large. These layers hardly suffice to do more than generalize scales. One glances at a flower in passing; inhales a warm,
fragrant breeze; imagines one's lover; shares a beer with a friend after a hard day's work; or fathoms the mysteries of the great beyond (empirically, rationally, or spiritually), -- Relationship.
The infinity at the end of time, within us to the depth of intimacy; degree of consciousness evolution and development; and that peculiarly human kind of interpenetrative 'touching' with the mind and heart; together join in an endless whorl, a vortex, an aperture of time dilation, different aspects of one same something.
At this depth of knowing, coming about only when attention to the moment is at its most intense, we must be able to have access to that spatial dimension within which, or through which, or by means of which, we share, at an intersection, the
timespace of light.
I submit that our local time is not springing up somehow 'before' the end of infinity, but rather that it and that of light's are emerging, transpiring, and entering Mind simultaneously.
We approach light on tip-toe in most cases, or in armored skins. Our instincts and intuition bringing into awareness Earth within, is only a means to adapt the tools; a means whereby sensitivity is honed to the wavelength of our own local time rate of change. From the point of view of the solar system, if we do not feel at home on the planet, then we will in all probability not be able to locate other than our own limited linear timespace. Alienation cuts us off, in our minds and hearts, to live our lives believing in the past and future as realities set in concrete; a sense of the eternal present liberates us from these constraints, it resides permanently in the very tissue underlying the substance-matrix precipitating mind.
There are fractal layers of time (space in its temporal aspect) interweaving alternatively between spatial-dependence and spatial-interdependence, the linear and the non-linear. Their relationship is symbiotic; their separate existences, an illusion.
The time field includes all space regardless of dimensional properties, attributes and qualities. Therefore, given that we have been designed so, products of light, as it were, I find it impossible to believe that we do not share, intimately and inalienably, in the eternalness of light existing in "No-Time.".
A great many people have taken leisurely trips across the country, myself included. It is not uncommon, in fact it's probably the norm, to have run into towns and even small cities that seem to be stuck in a certain time frame, either
of place or velocity. It is likewise not uncommon to have aquaintances, or to see in passing, individuals, who themselves seem to be stuck in a distinct and personal time frame.
We have the war veteran, the fifties beatnik, the sixties hippie, the day-dreamer who missed the boat and
never applied for another, etcetera, etcetera, all members of a singular equivalence class. We can only fathom to guess at their common ground relationship. They touched something eternal in themselves, or felt a crushing mortality; they loved too well and were hurt deeply; they felt all the parts of their personalities come together for the first time, and held onto that experience through sympathetic magic, filling their worlds with familiars; whatever the case, they have 'stopped' at a moment, that time in their lives, and have ventured no further. They have been woven into the tapestry of history.
From this perch they perceive the world. From here they filter understanding, make decisions, judgments, and act accordingly for better or worse; review the consequences, pigeonhole the results, truncate and discard the remainder. Unfortunately, in all too many instances, self-righteousness kicks in, resulting in a visceral testament to personal fear, loss of true freedom, and a smug disregard for and intolerance of others' opinions, other points-of-view.
Denial of the relativity of perspective and its value in a healthy society is one of the great stumbling blocks to growth, peace and communication.
For people trapped in time, true spontaneity, as opposed to mere
impulsiveness, relegates them to the insecure position of having to be open and
vulnerable in the act of expressing their inner selves. To do so, to act without
self-consciousness, necessitates suspension of local/personal mind set. Without
the taking of this risk, there can be no contact with eternal time. Atrophy of
will comes about after long term incarceration of the spirit; one can maintain
'busyness' without ever approaching the edge of infinity.
But, for those who take the plunge, spontaneity is experienced as an endless variety of tidal zone chaos and activity, activity that can be the very essence of stillness. Chaos here is not meant in the sense of confusion, quite the contrary, it is chaos of the fractal border variety, forever a state of coming into being and dissolving into another twist. A fleeting feeling of floating downriver; a transient impression of a time-event past; thoughts, images, fantasies conjured out of an unconfined imagination; the energetic infusion of linear time combined with the asymmetric tendency of non-linear time can and will find its way into our hearts and minds.
Soaked through to our core by the life blood of the Universe, we incarnate light's transference from beginning to end in a single stilling touch of awareness. This is our birthright, not to be undermined or demeaned in the quest to see time undivided.
That is the other extreme of time incarceration, obsession with the moment, seeking its eternal quality, its across the board dimensional frequencies, ignoring the role of time justly portrayed. When everything experienced demands
acknowledgement of the time stream, it would seem a foolhardy indulgence to fixate on the eternal, to sit on the bank under the illusion of having somehow 'escaped' the vicissitudes of life. Imagination needs time to work itself out,
insight notwithstanding; we are creatures of time, we dream.
To bring, infuse, imbue the eternal element into the physical medium of consciousness is to allow the present to abide within one's self. The present is not 'out there' somewhere as though it were some tangible thing capable of being grasped. And 'within' is not a 'downward' or 'inward' attitude or direction of mental attention that hopes to come in contact with immortality, as though by so doing we might somehow free ourselves from our time-defined state of existence, that we might avoid the 'problem' of being physical.
The Special Theory of Relativity is based on the postulates that all laws of physics are equally valid in nonaccelerated frames of reference. Doctor Einstein, from accounts of his life, grieved to have labeled his accomplishment "Relativity" instead of "Invariance." It was not designed to emphasize non-absoluteness or to be used to equivocate myriad philosophies of life or world views under the banner of
'relativeness.'
This misinterpretation in the nonscientific world has fostered a rejection of anything that presents itself as unconditional and unqualified. "All truth is relative" is a valid statement only on the plane of seeming. Otherwise, the immanent, structural and nondivisible character of eternity, both of time and space, is an absolute we can never get away from. It underlies and gives meaning and reality to the whole of the Universe.
At its outer edges, the envelope defined by the velocity of light is indicative of the phase shift that occurs when the limit of delta time approaching zero is reached. On the one hand, segments of straightness are reduced to 'zero length,' a dubious concept, in order to generate the 'curve of 4-D spacetime.' And on the other end of the spectrum, 'distance' becomes equivalent to the breadth and size of the Universe, whatever 'size' may mean in a nonmetric environment.
This time-rate-of-change is of a different order than what we are used to in our time-frame in much the same way and for the same reason that the surface of a ball is distinguished from its interior by its including and bounding nature. That is to say, the four dimensional 'surface' of our spacetime has no boundary because it bounds itself; 'distance,' for a light beam, is thus compressed to nothingness. No time passes as it travels from one end of the Universe to the other. Distance, the metric, is thus extinguished.
Here we have Invariance by scale. The time loop is completed on the grounds of a black hole. If we were to label the spacetime of light 'eternal present' and
that of the hole 'present eternal' we might be closer to an equivalence, if not
identity. The 'interior' of the hole could likewise be called 'within.'
Hovering between all time passing and no time passing, our minds act as
adjustable lenses of time broken into fractal pieces, each piece being in
possession of its peculiar holographic effect, distinctively expressing the whole
transformed by its particular parameters. These parameters define local invariance properties. The boundaries of the whole generating the interior of spacetime permeate the multitude of layers, liquid-like, crossing by osmosis the
discontinuous membranes of discrete time zones only apparently self-contained.
On the subatomic level, the level of packets of energy called particles, the
Universe will indeed last forever. The effects (gravitational and other) of
instantaneous passage of gross material universe from the point of view of no-
time (black hole) and all-time (space of light) are equivalent. Equivalent
experiences of changes but for opposite reasons. There is no change within the
confines of no-time space; within that of light, all changes take place instantaneously.
The free space of light, in product with its finite spaces, transmuted into
usability, coupled with the un-free space within the event horizon of 'black hole,'
are the context and content of the known Universe, and very probably the Unknown as well.
How about if it were true that Life, in Its essence, had Its being in the same no-time zone environment that light enjoys? What then of It being primordially 'encased' in the four dimensions of spacetime that we, and all other living things, experience, taking on separate identities of expression and 'co-existing' in both no-time and time simultaneously?