Time and Eternity

Time and Eternity

I have been thinking for sometime about this question of time and eternity as it relates to our notions of Heaven, Hell and "Purgatory". Here is my best attempt to describe it.
The concept of time is an artifact of our present existence in which our spiritual essence depends upon our physical being and vice versa. Our brain is not equipped to think of our existence in any other way except past, present and future. So, we conceive of eternity in terms of endless time. I once talked with a young man who ever since childhood had been terrified when he imagined this "living forever". What would we possibly due to occupy ourselves for all this time? He imagined it as "infinite boredom" Our words for the afterlife all imply time. Even "going" takes time (and also implies that it is a place). Heaven (or Hell) "goes on forever". "Purgatory" is a place where we "go" to "spend time", "before" we "go to heaven" where we will "spend eternity". (I have to confess that I have always had a problem with this concept of "waiting" after we die. It looks too much like the ancient idea of a "netherworld" where we hang around for a while before going on to our final destiny.)
Something pretty radical happens when we die. (Brilliant, no?) We no longer are creatures defined by our bodies, including our brain of course. So, the limitations of time and space presumably go away. We are no longer limited by past and future, remembering and anticipating. We live in God's world where all experience is an "eternal now", completely filled with divine perfection which was our birthright. We are "like God", although we will probably never be able to see things as God does.
So, when I die I am transformed instantly. I do not have to "wait" for anything. Not for the "last judgment". Not for my loved ones to join me. Not for any final suffering for my sins and offenses. All these things are happening at the moment of my entrance into eternity: the last judgment, the "end of the world" (whatever that turns out to be), any "purification" which might be necessary. Everyone who has ever existed and ever will exist is there with me at that very moment. So, we all reach this heavenly point "at the same time", at least from the point of view of eternity. We are all "there" together right now, at this moment. The Kingdom of Heaven is among us, "right next" to us. Contrary to our present experience, time is the illusion, eternity is the reality. I have thought of this, not simply as an intellectual exercise, but as an experience of profound comfort.
First, it is comforting to imagine that, in the experience of my loved ones who have "gone before me", I am already "there" face-to-face with the Most High just as they are now. I can speak with them intimately as if they are physically right next to me, because they are. I can see how the ancients would have had such reverence for their ancestors. I have "spoken" with dad, grandparents and great-grandparents, Father Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jesus etc. I speak with those I love and who love me in this present life as it they were actually present at that moment with me, because they are. Further, I recently had a glimpse of the presence in my own little room of the God who cannot even be contained by the entire immensity of our universe. Pretty exciting for the few moments that it lasts, after which I have to come back to reality (illusion).
Second, this way of imagining heaven has given more substance to the often observed idea that one of the marks of spirituality is living in the present. I have, especially over the past five years, come to appreciate how important this is. In reality all we have is the present, although for now on the plane of this existence I also have to pay some realistic attention to future needs and past mistakes. Ironically, not to do so would just about make it impossible to stay focused on the present. Nevertheless these ultimately are nothing more than the illusions of the present life.