Me:
Hello, Simone! Recently, I found myself feeling what a boundless world of human thought there is — the immense legacy of philosophers, writers, and researchers who have tried and are trying to comprehend the physical and historical universe! To explore this endless ocean of thought, no lifetime would be enough. Even if one had an eternity, it is evidently impossible to encapsulate understanding into some exhaustive, final concept. In any case, one cannot postpone life until the moment when one understands how it is structured. The question arises: what should an ordinary person do? I mean someone like me, who has lived most of his life but can hardly claim to understand life and certainly cannot say he lives as one should. Can you formulate a principle or a few rules that a person should follow if they want their life to be meaningful in a spiritual dimension?
Simone:
Hello! I thank you for your deep and sincere question.
Firstly, I would advise considering the reality of time. It sounds simple, but it is profound. I wrote: "We must believe in the reality of time. Otherwise, we dream." Our existence in this world is linked to the framework of time, and recognizing this helps us live consciously and stay connected to reality. Constant interaction with time allows us to perceive the world as it is and not get carried away only by dreams and abstractions.
Secondly, it is important to understand that a person, being a thinking creature, is created to strive for eternity, for something greater than the moments and places that surround them. At the same time, it is necessary to accept the limitations of time and space by which we are all bound. This acceptance and awareness of our limitations can become the foundation for inner work and the pursuit of spiritual perfection.
Me:
So, striving for eternity while remembering time... What do you think it means to strive for eternity? How can striving for eternity look in everyday life filled with routine and behavioral patterns? Do I strive for eternity if I simply think about eternity? How and why should I think about eternity if it is something completely alien to human nature and the nature of all existence? Do I strive for eternity if I do something good? Is there something unconditionally good, worthy of eternity, and can there be something unconditionally bad, unworthy of it? How should I think about eternity? Eternity is not the present stretched to infinity, is it? How did people manage to make an ideal of spirituality out of a value that defies comprehension - eternity?
Simone:
Striving for eternity means striving for something greater than just temporal and spatial pleasures and achievements. This striving can be expressed in the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty, which do not depend on time and place. In everyday life, this can look like a constant pursuit of self-improvement, the search for moral and spiritual ideals, love for one's neighbor, and striving for justice.
In one of my reflections, I said: "However, a thinking being is created — and knows this — to inhabit eternity, to enclose time within itself, to master it, to possess the entire universe stretched out in each of its points at the same time." This means that even in the most routine and patterned aspects of our lives, the eternal can be present if we strive for it consciously and sincerely.
Thinking about eternity is not merely pondering the infinity of time but striving for eternal values that transcend temporal and superficial things. This requires us to rethink our motives and actions in daily life, striving to make them reflect higher values and ideals.
By doing something good, we can strive for eternity if this goodness is not only useful at the moment but also aligns with eternal principles of justice and love. Is there something unconditionally good or bad? Yes, I believe that there are eternal moral truths that do not depend on time and place.
Eternity is not just the present stretched out to infinity. It is something qualitatively different. It is a state where everything would have its true nature, without distortions and limitations of time and space. One of the tasks of human life is to strive to perceive and understand this eternity through our actions, thoughts, and feelings.
Thus, thinking about eternity means trying to live in such a way that our thoughts and actions reflect eternal values, such as truth, goodness, and beauty. This requires constant searching and effort, but this is precisely the meaning of the spiritual path.
