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It’s the End of the Times As We Know It

And I feel fine! Better than fine, in fact!

Ok, so I think that all the cards must be on the table by this point… My life story, my fantasy tales, and my belief in God, angels and even extraterrestrials. As well there is my propensity for silly puns and jokes based on 90s culture. And my appreciation of an old R.E.M. song…

Ahem.

But seriously, this is a fascinating time and a fascinating concept. Let me get you as excited about it as I have always been, now ever more than before.

Why would I be so jazzed about the end times, you may ask? Well, if you can understand the concept from the perspective I will offer, you should be, too.

I don’t know what drew me to the idea in the past, that of the end of the world. I believe it stemmed more from my lack of connection to the divine plan, or any divinity at all, and therefore the end meant a major change in a world I perceived as painful, full of suffering. Any change, even Armageddon, would offer release from that hell.

But I have come out of that hell and seek only the Kingdom of Heaven. Yes, the same Kingdom that God has promised all along, the one that Jesus said is here now. Many teachers have said the same, in various ways.

Eckhart Tolle struck me with his version in a great twist on the words in his book, “The Power of Now.” He offered the viewpoint that it not be seen as the “end times,” but rather as the “end of time.”

What good does that do us? How does that serve us in a positive way? Isn’t that just saying the same thing in another way?

What Is There Once Time Has Been Forgotten?

The teachings I have inundated myself with, from Paul Selig to Bashar, Eckhart Tolle to Neale Donald Walsch, and most importantly “A Course In Miracles,” state the same thing: time is an illusion.

I know, I know. This is one of those “Matrix” moments. Which pill will you swallow? The one that tells you all is well and that time exists because it always has and always must? Or the pill that lets you step out of that concept to see a perspective beyond time?

What happens without time? If you were to ask most scientists today they would probably tell you nothing. I mean that they would literally say that nothing happens without time. Without time, you cannot have motion through space, right? Without time, we would all be a snapshot frozen in place.

One of the best alternative views I have to offer is from Bashar, who describes reality more like a filmstrip. The filmstrip exists in its entirety before it is fed into the projector. You could literally see the entire film as one long strip, one whole, from that viewpoint.

Yet when you put the film strip into the machine and play it on the screen, you only see one frame at a time, sped up to the appropriate speed to portray the filmstrip as seamless motion and what we call a movie.

Bashar says that reality, the reality of our lives, is no different. The whole thing is already there, but we see only one frame at a time. The only difference is that we have a choice in which frame we view and partake of at any point in time. It is not a set course, there are infinite ways to create our movie. Yet the possibilities are all there already.

If you are a believer in God than surely you can believe that within God everything already exists? Everything that ever was (Alpha) and everything that ever will be (Omega). Yet it is all one. We simply have the benefit of free will and free choice to experience any point along that “allness” that we wish, and we live out the lives that we choose each and every moment.

Whoa, there! Mind-altering concept if you’ve never heard it before. I’ll let it sink in…

Opposites Attract: Time vs. Eternity

…but not for too long. We have more ground to cover.

I never quite answered the question of the last section. Without time, what happens? What is there?

The answer is given in “A Course In Miracles,” more or less: when time is no longer experienced, the opposite of time must be there, and the opposite of time is eternity.

The course does explain that eternity is God’s reality, the Kingdom of Heaven, and that in eternity there is no past or future. It is simply an eternal “now,” wherein everything exists. This is the power of God. It is only mankind’s vision which limits the perspective to time.

Humans believe that eternity is time that never ends. I purport that eternity is the absence of time altogether.

This is the same concept that Eckhart Tolle explained. He literally wrote the book on it. The “now” that he discussed is that eternal moment of presence. In this moment lies everything we seek: peace, clarity, knowledge, wisdom, strength, unity, and love.

Why? Because when we align to this eternal moment of now, what we are doing is syncing ourselves up with the reality of God’s eternity, the Kingdom of Heaven. And that Kingdom being whole, as “A Course In Miracles” explains, can be felt wholly as we align to it in wholeness. Everything that is of the Kingdom will be revealed to us in that magic “instant” that we claim it.

The challenge in claiming this prize—and it is a prize—is our inability to relinquish time. As long as we see the past trailing behind us or look with longing towards a future we wish to build for ourselves, we are cutting ourselves off from the present. And the present is all there is.

Think about it. Have you ever, ever been any time else but the present? Sure, your mind may wander. But you, your body, your experience in form is always in the present moment.

There’s a famous quote that seems fitting here. It has many supposed sources, none clear, though I know it was appreciated in the movie, “Kung Fu Panda.” I will quote this version I found online:

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.” ― Bill Keane

The gift is the Kingdom of Heaven.

The challenge is leaving time behind.

But if you knew the gift, could accept it, receive it… would you not be glad to come to the “end of time” as well?

The “end times” are not to be feared. But the “end of time” should be sought with all your heart. For your release lies in eternity, not in time.

 
Thank you for reading.

 
Please leave any comments and questions you may have, and share with your friends.

Many blessings to all,

Matthew