The power of now

[PuerAzaelis]

The now that stands still, is said to make eternity according to our apprehension. As the apprehension of time is caused in us by the fact that we apprehend the flow of the now, so the apprehension of eternity is caused in us by our apprehending the now standing still.

ST.I.Q10.A2.Rep1

 

[com7fy8]

The now that stands still, is said to make eternity according to our apprehension.

Well, if my now stands still, it is not moving along in time or eternity, I would think.

So, how could it make eternity in any way, if it is not moving with eternity??

How do you understand this?

 

[com7fy8]

As the apprehension of time is caused in us by the fact that we apprehend the flow of the now, so the apprehension of eternity is caused in us by our apprehending the now standing still.

Ok, in case I understand this right . . . as your now flows along, the person is saying, you get experience of time.

But the person is claiming that in order to get experience, a sense, of eternity, my now needs to stand still.

However . . . my opinion is the time I am experiencing is part of eternity. Therefore, in order to experience eternity which is time . . . a lot more time than I am experiencing now, of course > they both are time; so both need my now to be moving along in order to experience them

And how, anyway, can now stand still . . . by the way? Maybe in a photograph or writing down something of your experience. That would be freezing a part of some now, perhaps, but it might not have you experiencing eternity!

 

[PuerAzaelis]

It's a strange passage even for St Thomas.

What he seems to be saying is just as in eternity time is "still" for God in the same way that an observer views a painting, so by analogy, the closet thing we can get to eternity here on earth is in the "stillness" of the present moment, without past or future.

 

[Jonaitis]

The now that stands still, is said to make eternity according to our apprehension. As the apprehension of time is caused in us by the fact that we apprehend the flow of the now, so the apprehension of eternity is caused in us by our apprehending the now standing still.

ST.I.Q10.A2.Rep1

Sounds Vedantic! It is worded a bit different than the way I would explain it.