Weekly Topic: Eternity

Weekly Topic: Eternity

An excerpt from Walt Whitman’s poem

The Eternal Present

Where I am or you are this present resplendent day, the present scene, there is the centre of all days, all races,

And there is the meaning to us of all that has ever come of races and days, or ever will come.

There was never any more inception than there is now,

Nor any more youth or age than now,

And will never be any more perfection than there is now,

Nor any more heaven or hell than now.

The clock indicates the moment—but what does eternity indicate?

We stand amid time, beginning less and endless,

That which is endless as it was beginning less, and can never cease,

Something that shall endure longer than sun or any revolving satellite,

Something more immortal even than the stars.

Eternity lies in bottomless reservoirs,

Its buckets are rising for ever and ever,

They pour and pour.

Eternity rises up from its inconceivable vagueness and infiniteness in the swimming shape of today,

It is the bond of time—singing all time, minding no time,

And makes the present spot the passage from what was to what shall be.

Eternity gives similitude to all periods and locations and processes and animate and inanimate forms,

One age is but a part—ages are but a part,

O all, all inseparable—ages, ages, ages!

I will not sing with reference to a day, but with reference to all days.

“For in this present moment, remembering oneself, one can put oneself in contact with a place outside time, and with the help of eternity, where all possibilities in their fullness are already waiting. We must squeeze all its contents out of each moment.” ~Rodney Collin

From The Teacher, “When one is present, one partakes of the entire universe and eternity.”

Weekly Exercise:

Focusing on time is counterproductive to Presence. This week, BE present to the moment rather than contemplating the past or worrying about the future.

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