Experiments in time

Today, I led the Unitarian service, with the theme “Experiments in Time”. I began my talk by pointing out why time was an appropriate topic for a church service, namely that I understood spirituality to encompass everything that teaches us how to live with fulfilment, enhances our understanding of the world we experience and engenders us with a sense of wonder and mystery. In my opinion, “time” meets all these criteria.

My message was that time is an intimate stranger - it rules our lives, but remains an unfathomable enigma. Time is a measure - we track it by the seasons, day and night, clocks. Time is limited - it dictates ageing and death. Time is relative - according to Einstein’s theories (time slows down as one approaches the speed of light). Time is non-linear - for example, Jung’s synchronicity, the well-documented phenomenon of precognitive dreams, prophecy and precognitive remote viewing (as per Russell Targ’s Miracles of Mind).

Time is subjective - we all have experiences of the variable length of time: the moment which lasts eternity, the hour that drags on, the year that flashes by. Time is escapable - in dreams, meditation and with hallucinogenic drugs, time appears to stop, cease to exist, or be unrelated to conscious / waking time passage. Finally, time is a gift - despite our circumstances (e.g. Frankl and Mandela’s imprisonment), we can use our time productively, wisely. How are we using the gifts of time?