Acts and Motion Without Time
“Just as Act is timeless, so there is no reason why Motion also should not primarily be timeless, time attaching to it only in so far as it happens to have such and such an extension.
“Timeless change is sanctioned in the expression, ‘as if change could not take place all at once’; if then change is timeless, why not motion also? Change, be it noted, is here distinguished from the result of change, the result being necessary to establish the change itself.
“We may be told that neither Act nor Motion requires a genus for itself, but that both revert to Relation. Act belongs to the potentially active, Motion to the potentially motive. Our reply is that Relation produces relatives as such, and not the mere reference to an external standard; given the existence of a thing, whether attributive or relative, it holds its essential character prior to any relationship so then must Act and Motion, and even such an attribute as habit; they are not prevented from being prior to any relationship they may occupy, or from being conceived in themselves. Otherwise, everything will be relative, for everything you think of—even soul—bears some relationship to something else.” ~Plotinus
Acts Without Time
It seems to be a contradiction to says that acts can happen without time, yet that is the case. When we are trapped in the realm of time, the world of matter, it is difficult to see how that is possible. We see that in order to act, there has to be a change, and time is nothing more than a convenient way to measure the constant change that is taking place around us. But what is true in the realm of matter is not true in spiritual realms. In those worlds, there is no time, no growing old, no death. Yet one must be able to perform acts in those realms or they would have no function, no purpose.
Motion Without Time
If it is difficult to consider that acts can happen without time, it is even harder to see motion happening without time. Once again, however, it does happen. The realms of spirit do not change in the same way that the physical world is constantly changing, yet motion does exist there. It may be a different kind of motion, yet it is motion. In some cases, this motion is constant, never changing, so not really a change at all. The flow of God’s Light is such a motion. It is constantly moving, yet is not subject to time. What is called The Breath of God, the life force that flows from God, is another motion. This motion is also constant and not subject to time. Continue reading “Motion Without Time in Spiritual Worlds”