Time: How to think spiritually, part 2

“… the thoughts of angels are not limited and confined by ideas from space and time, as human thoughts are, for spaces and times belong to nature, and the things that belong to nature withdraw the mind from spiritual things, and deprive intellectual sight of its range.” (Heaven and Hell, 266, section 3)

“… angels have no notion or idea of time and space, not even knowing at all what time and space are.” (Heaven and Hell, 162)

“A man thinks from time but an angel thinks from state.” (Heaven and Hell, 166)

We are all familiar with the “stretchiness” of time – Time drags, or races, when we either look forward to, or dread [something]. But it’s interesting to consider what happens to our state of mind in that circumstance:

• Anticipating that future event, we imagine our state of being at that future time and bring that state into our present.
• That can prolong the experience – for better or for worse!

But then often the event itself doesn’t match the anticipation of it:

• We can be pleasantly surprised (“Oh, that wasn’t so bad”), and realise that we’ve suffered needlessly.
• We can also be deeply disappointed, which can ruin our enjoyment of what would have otherwise been a pleasant experience. Is this why more divorces happen after Christmas than at any other time of the year?

Similarly, memory is not only a recollection of past events but also of the state experienced at the time, brought into the present, and that can be good or bad. E.g. Remembering something I have done wrong, I revisit the emotions of that event.

Recorded on Sunday 3 July 2022.