Psalm 121:1-8

I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: From whence shall my help come? My help cometh from The Lord, Who made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep. Jehovah is thy keeper: Jehovah is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, Nor the moon by night. Jehovah will keep thee from all evil; He will keep thy soul. Jehovah will keep thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and for evermore.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-14

For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth? I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. 

He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live. And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God. 

First a few words about time. Time is one of the most precious commodities in the world. No one knows how much of it they will have. Job said, "There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven." We do know that the amount of time we have is limited, so that by tomorrow at this time we will have one less day of it available to us, and we will be one step closer to that day when we will be taken out of time. There is no power on earth that can recover one second of time when it is spent. So we hope that the time we are enjoying now is time well spent. This is important because it will be according to the manner in which we use our time that our state or condition will be to eternity. Therefore it is important to see eternity as something that we are experiencing now and not just as an unconnected future state.

Eternity includes past, present and future. In the past I presented a sermon on "The Lord From Eternity" in which I tried to demonstrate how the Lord was in existence prior to the birth of Jesus and how that aspect of the Divine life which relates to humans has existed forever. It is also interesting to speculate on how our human life is also eternal. Now I am not suggesting that each one of us has been living in some material form from the beginning of time. Such speculation would suggest we exist through a system of reincarnation and I do not believe that human life in all of its complexities is moved around into other forms such as plants or animals or other human bodies. And also eternity did not begin with the creation of the world. To say eternity had a beginning or has an end is an oxymoron.

Human life has within it the ability for rational thought and reciprocal love. It goes beyond reflex reaction to external stimuli from its environment. (although we might wonder about that when we read about the knee jerk reactions of some politicians). We can observe what is happening around us and can consider what the consequences of the activities will be on us, and how our behavior might affect those consequences. We can also be very aware of our feelings and affection and can see how our feelings affect our behavior as well as how they impact on others. In Swedenborgian terms we understand humanness has the ability to receive and respond to the love and wisdom of God. This is what distinguishes us from all other forms of life. We read in the Writings about the concept of humans as being vessels. In The Aracana Coelestia # 3318 it states, "Man is a mere organ, or vessel, which receives life from the Divine (Lord); for man does not live from himself. The life which inflows with man from the Lord is from His Divine Love. This love, or the life thence derived, inflows and applies itself to the vessels which are in man's rational, and to those which are in his natural."

Also built into our human framework is the freedom to think and to believe and to love whatever we choose. Time and our physical environment place some restrictions on these freedoms while we are in this physical world, because we develop these beliefs and loves through experience which is limited to time and circumstances. Even our imagination is limited to the things to which we have been exposed. Our concept of God and the spiritual world is mainly formed by ideas passed on to us from others such as writers of the Bible and prophets and seers, such as Swedenborg, who have had extra ordinary spiritual experiences. Our human freedom gives us the ability to believe or not to believe in the claims and descriptions of such experience.

A great deal of our experience in early life is through association with our parents and family, so early on we tend to pick up the beliefs and interests and loves of those people and the home environment. As we grow older and experience a broader spectrum of life and activity we may drop certain beliefs and replace them with others. We may develop interests our parents never had and we may choose to love in ways they never dreamed of. We find that we have different physical capabilities and limitations, which help to determine what our primary loves and interests and beliefs will be. These too will change over time with new and varied experience and exposure.

As we begin to grow into old age our physical state begins to diminish but our mental abilities are well practiced and usually quite efficient, so for a time we can do just as many things but using less physical effort, we may play hockey slower but smarter and so still be effective in scoring goals. Also as our physical state diminishes we find our interests change toward more esoteric things. We begin to live more within our minds and thoughts than we do within our bodies. The body becomes, as it were, just a convenient way to move our minds to explore new ideas. It is sometimes sad to see people who do not want to accept the fact that they are getting older and who at sixty are trying to do the activities of twenty-year olds. Slowing down and living more within the mind is not a bad thing to do. In fact it is quite natural and realistic. It does not mean that we have to stop enjoying physical activity, it just means that the activity needs to be modified to something we can handle without hurting ourselves. When we were young we loved Rock and Roll music and could dance to it for hours on end. Now we can still love music but can enjoy it in a different way. We may find an aria sung by Pavaroti to be more pleasing than the sounds of a modern hard rock band.

How does this connect with our being in the eternal present? How does it relate to our having eternal life? I suppose that in order to examine these questions we must look to the first human beings that existed. The first beings that had the unique characteristics of having the abilities for rational thought and reciprocating love. Once the capacity to be a recipient of love and truth from God was established in a created being then the ability to be a vessel for those characteristics could be passed on genetically. It was imprinted in our DNA. What is eternal in us are the elements of love and truth which are from the Divine. Consequently when the right physical elements from natural parents come together to create another human being, which includes the genes necessary to form receptors for love and truth, The Lord can then implant those elements into that new vessel and give it life. At that moment of conception we are given, not just physical life but also the life of mind and spirit that is unique to the human race. As quoted above, "This love, or the life thence derived, inflows and applies itself to the vessels which are in mans rational and natural life." We are eternal in the sense that all the elements for eternal life are present in us. In our eternal past these elements were existing in the Divine Lord and awaiting the right moment in time and space to come together and begin to live in a human form. They existed in God's eternal love and wisdom and in the genetic structure (the vessel) He created in man.

We know about our eternal present because we are conscious of our life. We are "self-aware". We perceive ourselves as being distinct and unique and yet at the same time as being a part of something much larger; a part of the family of man, a part of all creation, of all that exists, a part of the Divine itself. It is strange and wonderful that as we mature and become more aware of our SELF that we also become more aware of our unity with all things; aware that "We are akin to all that is."

We can see how physical and spititual maturity proceed in tandem but in different directions. Physically we mature to the point of our demise. Spiritually we mature to fuller and richer life in the Lord. Once the element of time is removed from our concepts of spiritual self we become free from all limitations of spiritual growth. Old age offers us the opportunity to begin the transition from busyness to usefulness. The Reverend Brian Kingslake wrote that; "Spiritual maturity produces a re-orientation of our whole outlook. We no longer feel the itch of worldly ambition. We lose all our desire to impress. If our worth is not recognized what of it? We lose all sense of jealousy and rivalry. If other people get rewards that are rightly due to us, good luck to them! We are no longer touchy or so easily hurt, nor do we harbor resentments. We are no longer possessive or inclusive, wanting to grab things for ourselves; we are satisfied with the way things work out. So we lose all undue stresses, and can adapt to situations as they are. We are not afraid of anything that can happen to us and develop an absolute trust in the Lord's providence. That is what is meant by spiritual maturity."

I don't know how far along I am on the eternal spiritual path I am traveling, but I think I can see some progress as I use Kingslake's description of spiritual maturity as a standard. I have lost some of the itch for worldly ambition and recognition, and I don't feel the need to make a good impression or to impress others. I am still somewhat possessive of the things and people I love the most, but more and more I feel quite satisfied with life and the hand I have been dealt. Some things still frighten me but mostly it is fear that some harm might come to others I care for and not with regard to myself. But most importantly I feel more and more secure in the Lord's Divine Providence. I am happy and confident in this stage of my "Eternal Present."

How about you?