Time and Space

Einstein posited that time is relative. The possibility -- not probability -- for time travel exists. the experience of time differs with regard to the size of matter, gravity, and so forth. Time is essentially experiential more than it is substantial. With this in mind, I claim that participation in an event, even after the fact, matters more than the initial or direct experience of a thing in time, because time is a construct of experience and not bound solely to our perception. This is why I believe ritual participation transcends time and space... Anytime we pray to God on a mountain, that place becomes Zion. Anytime we have communion, we participate in the Last Supper and his death and resurrection. Baptism becomes our participation in Christ's baptism and his death and resurrection. Churches become the tabernacle, which becomes heaven on earth. And so forth. Participation in memorial brings memory to life. Participation in a typology of any event speaks to the event's archetype and makes a bridge of reality. Welcome to the Matrix, right? 

This also holds true for negative events. When we tour a holocaust museum, we bring to life its horrors and we participate in sorrow, which we do to redeem the time. When we remember our loved ones and their passing away each year, we relive that moment in a way to infuse the moment with our love, gratitude, and to provide an outlet for pain. Participation in negative memorials can have positive and healing purposes. We are allowed to infuse the moment with things we didn't or couldn't when they happened in time. Time is redeemed by memorial. Forgiveness transcends time, as does regret. 

I have written prior on this matter with regard to ritualized trauma. When a trauma is revisited on the anniversary of the event each year, the horrors are relived. This is opportunity to exorcise the demons in the pain that haunt us... To redeem the time by overcoming the obstacles the moments become for our spiritual, mental, and emotional health. Life is fully about reliving the past, good and bad, so that our futures will continually be shaped. We control the time all around us, so why live only in the past or anticipate the future with anxiety. Redeem the past to have a healthier future. 

Now, I know that with regard to the negative, this is hard. Some pains cut so very deep and reliving the events seem torturous. How to move beyond the pain itself is something I have yet to master. I just know that reason and meaning can be applied backward and forward in the timelessness of God. As we all struggle with time, I pray for God's guiding hand. Blessings.