A difference in understanding of "the rapture" and of "the afterlife" I seem to have with some of my good Christian friends is based on the experiencing of space and time. Rather than experiencing time as stretched out in a long line, as if it were the substance of an old-fashioned taffy pull, with a Rapture coming in the future and Heaven and Hell also out there somewhere for each of us, I experience Now.
Now is the time and is always the time. Now is the space and is always the space. Now is eternity. Now is infinity in all "directions."
God is a sphere with no surface whose center is everywhere. Everywhere includes us. Each of us is a microcosm of the macrocosm, a minicosm of the maxicosm. Each of us is a centering of the cosmos, an energetic sphere with no bounds (except the ones we set).
The imagery of Indra's Net is also relevant here. As minicosms, the quality of our being affects the entire cosmos.
"The Net of Indra is a profound and subtle metaphor for the structure of reality. Imagine a vast net; at each crossing point there is a jewel; each jewel is perfectly clear and reflects all the other jewels in the net, the way two mirrors placed opposite each other will reflect an image ad infinitum. The jewel in this metaphor stands for an individual being, or an individual consciousness. Every jewel is intimately connected with all other jewels in the universe, and a change in one jewel means a change, however slight, in every other jewel." (Stephen Mitchell)
Hell and Heaven are Now. The Rapture is Now. Jesus has always already returned. Jesus is here Now.
Now is the time and is always the time. Now is the space and is always the space. Now is eternity. Now is infinity in all "directions."
God is a sphere with no surface whose center is everywhere. Everywhere includes us. Each of us is a microcosm of the macrocosm, a minicosm of the maxicosm. Each of us is a centering of the cosmos, an energetic sphere with no bounds (except the ones we set).
The imagery of Indra's Net is also relevant here. As minicosms, the quality of our being affects the entire cosmos.
"The Net of Indra is a profound and subtle metaphor for the structure of reality. Imagine a vast net; at each crossing point there is a jewel; each jewel is perfectly clear and reflects all the other jewels in the net, the way two mirrors placed opposite each other will reflect an image ad infinitum. The jewel in this metaphor stands for an individual being, or an individual consciousness. Every jewel is intimately connected with all other jewels in the universe, and a change in one jewel means a change, however slight, in every other jewel." (Stephen Mitchell)
Hell and Heaven are Now. The Rapture is Now. Jesus has always already returned. Jesus is here Now.
You did an excellent job of explaining the two perceptions, without negating one or the other. To me (because that's all I can speak for), it's a quantum reality where both realities exist ~ the linear timeline and the all-encompassing Now ~ just as waves and particles co-exist at the quantum level. So how can that be? How can you have it both ways? It just is, and who are we to think we can comprehend every miracle in God's existence?
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