The Ethereal Goddess

Time is an ethereal and sometimes cruel goddess. In her relentless passing, she steals away our youth and vitality, often in ways that seem insignificant until we finally realize how much she has taken. Still, she is also a generous deity, who offers to replace what she has seized with a deeper wisdom and a clearer vision of life's enigmas. In this sense, time can be our most powerful ally-if we are patient enough.

-- Michael Kelleher 

I have said it over and over: Time does not exist.  It is a human invention that gives an organized structure to this plane of existence.  It has been a yoke around the neck of humanity for eons.  Reality is infinite; therefore, time must also be defined as infinite, except that there is never enough of it.  People say they have all the time in the world, yet nothing is certain in this life except death and taxes.  For all time gives us, time does little except foment stress.  In reality, time gives us nothing we don't already have, the now, and it replaces nothing we haven't earned for ourselves simply by opening our minds.

Author Dan Brown wrote, "Faith is a continuum, and we each fall on that line where we may. By attempting to rigidly classify ethereal concepts like faith, we end up debating semantics to the point where we entirely miss the obvious - that is, that we are all trying to decipher life's big mysteries, and we're each following our own paths of enlightenment."  He should have started this statement with "existence" and not "faith."  Our existence is a continuum, and we are, indeed, following our own paths of enlightenment.  We may find enlightenment in this life or in the next, or the next, for as many lives as we need to understand.  This search we are on is not intended to be a great struggle.  It simply is what it is until it isn't, and then it is what it is, again.  We need to stop trying so hard to discover the obvious.  We need to stop trying to see the forest and start enjoying the trees right in front of us.

"To achieve your ethereal state, you have to expand your thoughtless awareness."

-- Nirmala Srivastava

I looked up the definition for "ethereal" and found I can use it to define time:  Time is "an ethereal world created through the poetic imagination."  I spend hours meditating at the "Cusp of Infinity" when, in reality, only minutes have passed.  Because time is just a concept it is fluid.  Time can be whatever our minds determine.  Time is how we define it from one moment to the next. It is a tool that lets us determine the distance between the tick-tock of a clock; this space in the "now" for us to make full use of.

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion, in an arena of mutual respect, concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world renowned, Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research. Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, and wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteers as lead Chaplain and Chaplain Program Liaison, at the regional medical center.