“Time is a measurement of variation,” I heard during a television show on which the cosmos was being discussed. Physicists on the show were considering the possibility of time travel. Two themes from this discussion caught my attention.
First, to say that time is a measurement removes the power that we sometimes attribute to it. We think that time influences us, that it limits us, that we need more of it, that everything will improve or will get worse as time passes. But a measurement or a way of measuring something is not more important than information about what is being measured. No one would say that a measuring tape influences someone’s height. And what if we measure in centimeters? Will that have more influence than if we measure in inches? Jesus asked, “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?” (Matthew 6:27).
Likewise, a year, which is the measurement of one revolution around the sun, does not measure the same if we are on Jupiter rather than on Earth. It can be said that we would live fewer years on Jupiter than on Earth, but that would have no bearing on the actual span of one’s human life.
In her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy relates a story published in The Lancet, a medical magazine, of a young woman who remained young for decades. Mrs. Eddy writes: “Disappointed in love in her early years, she became insane and lost all account of time. Believing that she was still living in the same hour which parted her from her lover, taking no note of years, she stood daily before the window watching for her lover’s coming. In this mental state she remained young. Having no consciousness of time, she literally grew no older” (p. 245).
This illustrates that it is not time that affects us, but the belief that constant change is taking place in us and in our environment; that there are additional forces, other than God, the eternal Mind, that can influence or affect us for better or for worse, and that can make us change or grow old. Whereas, the fact is, because we are the image and likeness of God, our true identity reflects eternal, unchanging good. As Science and Health states, “The Christian Science God is universal, eternal, divine Love, which changeth not and causeth no evil, disease, nor death” (p. 140).
The other point made in the TV discussion that impressed me was the effect of hypothetically climbing onto a ray of light emanating from a distant star. The scientists commented that in that ray of light there is no variation or awareness of the passage of time. We would experience no change in ourselves as long as we remained on the ray, traveling at the speed of light. But the moment we left that ray, we would be aware that time had elapsed and we would see a change in others but not in ourselves. So we need to “stay on the sun ray”—to stay conscious of our true identity as a reflection of God, eternal, spiritual, and perfect.
This helped me understand the fallacy of time better and relate it to the teachings of Christian Science. Referring to the true identity of each one of us, Science and Health says, “Man is not God, but like a ray of light which comes from the sun, man, the outcome of God, reflects God” (p. 250). And I emphasize that in the analogy the ray of light has already emanated from the sun; it is not going toward it. That is to say, we are never disconnected from God; we are already His expression and are reflecting Him. Man is eternal and does not change because God does not change.
This reasoning has had a healing impact in my experience. These ideas have been especially useful to me in eliminating pain in my joints that could be attributed to the passage of time or lack of exercise. The supposed change from one state to another, called the human process, or change in physical activity, cannot affect us when we are conscious of the fact that we are, like that ray of the sun, the emanation or expression of Love, God, which is in constant action. In Love there is no friction, no excessive action, and no reaction.
One time when I was walking, I felt a sharp pain in one knee. I began to limp, but I was not afraid. I immediately remembered my true identity, like that sunbeam that only expresses the sun and cannot be limited. I continued walking and the pain lessened until it disappeared. I rejoiced in that idea, and upright and with sure steps, I continued on my way, and have had no further problems with that knee.
I am very grateful to Mrs. Eddy and Christian Science for showing us the reality of being and how we can rely on the truths they have revealed to us. We need not be affected by the passage of time, but rather can express our identity as it really is, spiritual and perfect; “. . . the mortal disappears and spiritual perfection appears,” as Mrs. Eddy mentions in the definition of time in the Glossary of Science and Health (p. 595). Thus we can live a more harmonious life.
