Eternal Life, the infinite moment

String Theory and the End of Space and Time with Robbert Dijkgraaf

"Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation. For they are us; our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life." --Albert Einstein letter to Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh-Onne's widow, February 25, 1926;

I once heard a preacher say, " I sell eternal life , there is no better product. " I say be careful when you don't comprehend what you are asking for.

First :  Humans are not designed for eternity, we are biology designed with sexual desire as our motivator, we simply get tired of too much, and comprehend much too little to deal with eternity.  

What is life?  What is eternity? 

Life and eternity are two of the most difficult, if not impossible words to define.

Attempting a systematic answer one could reply...  Each life is a creation of the universe, a permanent yet brief function within a vast universe. Currently science believes the Universe is not infinite, yet for all human intent an purpose it is eternal, therefore both life and the Universe would be temporal and eternal.  Yet, to some this is not enough, so they would ask for an eternal life.  

Although the universe may not be infinite, it is so vast we can not comprehend it.  Those who are looking for eternal life miss living their lives, they fail to see that a single moment will last as long as the universe. A single act taken is both temporal, and eternal metaphysicaly, yet we ignore it. If we don't comprehend what a single moment is, or what our place in the moment is, why would we still want eternity? 

"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18

By the fact that each life is part and parcel of  this universe, each life's particular effect on this universe, is a creation that will extend to the end of time. The math behind the "butterfly effect" would tend to say that each action we take has God like effects on the future. Also (unless we destroy ourselves) we as a people may also have an infinite effect on infinity. Since infinity is equal to infinity, the acts of an individual are as those of a community of individuals, within a universe that  is not eternal.   

95% of all matter and energy is dark, we have no clue what it is. Our reality is humbling, and because we are slow witted, we think we are insignificant, and look for significancy in an idealized metaphysical  construct of life eternal. On the other hand we are God like in how we affect the future. Reality is subjective, it is only what we think it is, and too complex to truly comprehend.

Would it be reasonable to say that the butterfly effect is the hand of God? That a small change in initial conditions can be the direct effect of much larger events. If we think what we do is intentional, we could then say that our intent is the butterfly, an intentional cause of the hurricane.

We feel we have free will, that we choose to be better persons, or remain unchanged. If we have free will, then a dramatic change of heart, a born again experience would make for a path in life that is totally different than what may have been otherwise. Would not this new belief, a new understanding , a revelation be in fact the creation of a vastly differnt future.  

In course a changed life would have a ripple effect over eternity, and therefore on the ultimate character of the universe itself. This connectivity, where actions cause reactions over time, would imply that every soul that existed in the past was you, and you in turn are eternal in both dimensions past and future. You could not be who you are without the actions of those people in the past, and future people are changed by your behavior.   

From this perspective, you become very important. You become the sum of all the past, and a fulcrum to what will become eternity. The present moment is like the equal sign of an incomprehensible equation with past and future on either side of it. If you change the past, the future must change, and likewise if you change the future, the past must change.  

Mathematicians can study infinity and never go beyond the number one, for there are exactly as many numbers between 0 and 1 as there are between 0 and 2, 0 and a million, or even in the entire set of real numbers!.  A moment is similar to this aspect, it is "0" before it is a moment, and is done by the next moment, "one",  after that it is the past. This makes each moment infinite.

So, what fool wants eternity when he overlooked what he just did.     

Here is where the beauty of people like Jesus Christ truly shines. The only value of each life is expressed in it's moments, and that is seen in personal growth. A born again life, a life that shuns the material world and embraces selfless altruism, love of neighbor, and a true communion with others. Our lives are infinite, and eternal, but only have significance in what we do for the other. And, we can not do for the other without wisdom, which requires, an education, personal growth, and the contemplation of the creator.    

Do we not feel heaven when we have an epiphany? Is it not heroic to sacrifice our lives for others?

Then obviously hell would be the opposite, to live the opposite, to embrace ignorance, to oppose altruism, to live a material life without care for others. To be ignorant and selfish, if unchanged.. life would be eternal hell.

Eternity can be envisioned as going outward from us through time, but it can also go in the other direction, inwardly. 

We all have eternal lives, and we determine the quality of our eternity.

Click here for Schopenhauers dialog on immortality

Article on Determinism

Video on Free Will

A great documentary BBC-Dangerous Knowledge