LAW
OF THREE (70)
TIME
AND THE UNCHANGING
Time
present and time past
Are
both perhaps present in time future
And
time future contained in time past
T.S.
Elliot, Four Quartets
1
The changing and the unchanging co-exist in our inner experience of
life.
2
The unchanging tends to be associated with God in all names and the
changing with the outer movements of Creation.
3
Similarly, the unchanging is an attribute of Eternity and the
changing, of Time.
4
Our Individual role in the spiritual or transformational way could be
considered as playing the part of the reconciling force between God
and Cosmos, neither being identified with the unchanging, nor with
the changing. In christian terms: entering the way of
transformation into the fullness of Man in Christ.
5 "Just
by the very nature of our birth, we are on the spiritual
journey." Thomas Keating. From a secular perspective: By the very fact that we enter
the world of time, we enter the way of transformation.
6
Time-events provide the friction necessary in the transformation of
our being, We suffer every stage of the transformative process in the
guise of attachment or detachment to the 'changing' scene, which culminates in the death of the body or the release from all attachments.
7
Drawing on Thomas Keating´ spiritual journey, the unfolding stages
of our experience of time are presented in the model of the four
consents: i. Consent to the basic goodness of nature with all its
parts. ii. Consent to the full development of our being. iii. Consent
to accept the fact of our non-being and diminution of Self. iv.
Consent to be transformed.
8
In addition to this model, I would suggest that an even earlier
consent takes place: The Consent to be conceived.
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