Time and lower levels-

[LachlanMac]

"Is it really eternity if we merge with god? Do you think we still exist to a degree? (I'm obviously aware that my goals will change when we head on over, but I'm pretty keen on having a good time and doing good in eternity.)"

How can we ever know until nearer the time? How would you judge whether someone actually DID know the full story and would you understand if they gave a totally exact, or a hopelessly inexact, explanation?

To the best of my undoubtedly limited understanding, what happens 'at the end' is that we merge with the source from which we emerged a long time ago. Will I still exist to a degree? I'm not expecting to..... Do I KNOW this? I don't know if I know this....

Eternity? A human concept which has no practical meaning in cosmic terms. Doing good? much the same..... Between then and now I fancy you'll be able to choose to spend as long as you wish doing whatever appeals to you right now.

Do I know that's true? I don't know if I know and I wouldn't trust anyone who claims they do know....

I definitely appreciate your input, but I'm not as daft to believe that someone here knows the answer. When I ask questions here, I'm after opinions because there is an obvious difference of opinion here and it is worth tapping into. Those said opinions are shaped by different experiences, knowledge of evidence and personal belief so I do not expect to get the same answer from everyone.

[mac]

I definitely appreciate your input, but I'm not as daft to believe that someone here knows the answer. When I ask questions here, I'm after opinions because there is an obvious difference of opinion here and it is worth tapping into. Those said opinions are shaped by different experiences, knowledge of evidence and personal belief so I do not expect to get the same answer from everyone.

Well I'm heartened that my input is appreciated as I did try to make it relevant and thought-provoking.

I was speaking - as I usually do - in general terms and not suggesting the answers were to be found on this website or indeed on the many others where I'm also a regular contributor. And I certainly wasn't suggesting for one moment that you're daft....

I accept you asked questions to solicit opinions. For myself, when I ask questions I'm much less interested in opinions than I am in getting information - not the same thing I'm sure you'll agree. I rarely express my personal opinion on matters spiritual as I rarely have any. I far prefer to be guided and there is already guidance from generally respected spiritually-evolved teachers and guides on the subject you raised.

I tried to be an ad hoc messenger for that but I apologize that I wasn't a good one.

[Skye]

Thanks Skye, so basically you do agree with me. We can't predetermine our afterlife desire to progress from this side of the fence. Our perception of the afterlife at this point is based purely on the limited knowledge and human emotions we are all hindered by in this physical plain to various degrees, obviously.

I suppose my main argument from this side is that forever is a long time, and nothing ever remains at rest, everything is constantly in motion, and our afterlive wishes are currently motivated by human emotions which will be less important the higher we go.

Yes, Fasaga, for the most part I did agree with your previous comment.

Life is constantly evolving and whether we're experiencing life as a human being or a discarnate spirit, we are spiritually moving forward and progressing. It's maybe just as well time is not perceived in the afterlife as it is in our physical world for I agree forever is a long period of time.

[Roberta Grimes]

I do not know why I have such a fear of understanding when it comes to this stuff. I suppose it comes down to faith; You can accept it but never truly understand it.
Thanks Roberta.

This next question may sound selfish, but here we go -

Is it really eternity if we merge with god? Do you think we still exist to a degree? (I'm obviously aware that my goals will change when we head on over, but I'm pretty keen on having a good time and doing good in eternity.) I honestly just want to have one of you more experienced researchers for a day at a coffee shop or something.

This doesn't sound selfish at all, dear friend! Everyone wrestles with this question, and when I was first doing A Course in Miracles - the objective of which is hastening the loss of our ego and our eventual return to Source - my ego's fear of its own destruction tormented me with these very worries! But when we persist in our efforts to destroy the ego (which is the baser part of our sense of self), eventually we do vanquish it. And what I came eventually to understand was that what I was dreading was the loss of personal awareness. And I have become increasingly confident that we never will lose awareness. The way that my guides apparently have given it to me is this: "You will never lose awareness. Instead, you will have God's awareness." And that is something to look forward to!

The nature of time is the hardest thing of all to grasp - I don't know anyone who gets it completely. A few more thoughts:

1) While we are here, we are living in the past. Think about it! Try to actually grasp "now," and you realize ever more clearly that what you actually are grasping is the memory of an immediate past - you cannot catch time as it is happening. (There is an ACIM lesson about this that I am at least two weeks late in posting in that thread, but I will get to it - sorry! We are in the middle of a complicated, two-house family move, and I will be spending today packing.)

2) There is only Now - nothing else is real. And that immediate past in which we think that we are living is not Now. So the way that we perceive time here is not any precedent whatsoever for the way that we will perceive time even immediately after we die; and it is certainly nothing at all the way that we will perceive time as we grow spiritually.

3) Becoming very advanced spiritually seems to mean beginning to live only in the Now. I think this points to why the concept of eternity is so hard for us to grasp! We cannot experience the Now, but yet eternity is only the Now.

Does this help? I'm sorry, but one problem with trying to better understand time is that what makes sense to one person is going to be nonsense to the next. It will really be only when we ourselves are advanced beings - maybe at least level five - that we will be able even to talk about time intelligently.

(And spending a day at a coffee shop with you would be lovely, dear LachlanMac! Let's do it!)

[Carol and Mikey]

Can I come to the coffee shop too? I will have a carmel latte!
LachlanMac,
Mikey says you are always you in Heaven and you are surrounded by incredible love. It is this love that is the "Unity of God that is Infinite" if this makes sense. You will always exist in this "Unity" = God. (You are part of it.) In Heaven you always are and always will be, you are you! Mikey says if you want to think of time in Heaven , even though there is no time in Heaven, think of time as "now or is. " It "is what it is" = now!" In Heaven, you are in the "present" all the time! (Mikey's opinion.)
Carol and Mikey "in Spirit"

[LachlanMac]

Sorry for my response times; I've tried to read, but working so much lately has been a real deterent for my participation.

Roberta, Carol and Mikey; Thanks a lot. As always your input means a great deal to me. If either of you find yourselves in the DC area, definitely let me know. I'm pretty sure I'm stateside for good so I shouldn't be slipping off any time soon.

The answers definitely give a sense of peace, and I know of course that the whole "Losing your identity thing" has been posted on before. Its just an effort by me to understand what cannot be put in words. I do like the 'everything is now' method, although it does give me way too much of an excuse to be very outgoing.