The thing about the visualizing chairs and ropes of the previous two posts is that I think there is a loose connection to the way Christians embody time.
The first group was asked to visualize pulling the chair toward them using the rope. When they did, people generally thought that to "move the meeting forward" in time meant to have things move closer to you. To put it another way, when we think of time this way - we are the center. Events or things that "move forward" move closer to us. Human is the center of the universe.
The second group was asked to visualize pulling themselves forward along the rope toward the chair. When they did, people generally thought that to "move the meeting forward" in time meant to have the meeting pushed farther away from the individual. That is to say the event was pushed "forward" into time.
Notice that subtle difference? The first group visualizes the event being pushed forward toward themselves and the other group visualizes the event being pushed forward into time.
Is time happening to you and passing you by (as in when you pull a chair toward you)?
Or are you moving into time (as in when you pull yourself along a rope toward the chair)?
Many of my sister and brothers in the Faith believe that there is a chair out there they call it the end of the world. That date is set and it is getting closer to us. So there are predictions and claims made about this chair that is coming toward us. We are passive observers in this situation in which there is nothing that we can do to keep that chair from getting closer to us. And once that chair has passed us, then there is no way to get it back in front of us. We missed our chance.
I suppose that is one way to consider time.
On the other hand, if we understand that time is something we are pulled into; that we are being pulled along a rope into a future that is not yet set. That events can move toward us (lets take the destruction of the world since we are talking about it), and they can move in response to other things. The world has been on the brink of destruction a few times in the past in which people cried out that the end is near. And yet, here we all are. That chair, that date, has been moved forward into time.
When time is considered in this way, there is always a chance that things can move forward again (even if they have passed us). There is always a chance for a second chance. That chair might have passed us as we were pulled along that rope, but that chair can always be moved "forward" into time and we can see that chair again. Grace is the name Christians call this chair moving forward into time.
Hopefully I am being clear here and not too cerebral, but this has ramifications on the way we see the world.
According to one view of time, time comes toward you and if you miss something, you have missed your chance and there is no way (either in this life or the next) to have a second chance.
According to one view of time, we move into time and if we miss something there is always a chance that what we missed could move forward into time and we could (either in this life or the next) have a second chance.
To bring this series full circle, I ask "Next Wednesday’s meeting has been moved forward two days, What day is the meeting that has been rescheduled?”
(Although, in some instances having a second chance would ruin a hilarious website.)
The first group was asked to visualize pulling the chair toward them using the rope. When they did, people generally thought that to "move the meeting forward" in time meant to have things move closer to you. To put it another way, when we think of time this way - we are the center. Events or things that "move forward" move closer to us. Human is the center of the universe.
The second group was asked to visualize pulling themselves forward along the rope toward the chair. When they did, people generally thought that to "move the meeting forward" in time meant to have the meeting pushed farther away from the individual. That is to say the event was pushed "forward" into time.
Notice that subtle difference? The first group visualizes the event being pushed forward toward themselves and the other group visualizes the event being pushed forward into time.
Is time happening to you and passing you by (as in when you pull a chair toward you)?
Or are you moving into time (as in when you pull yourself along a rope toward the chair)?
Many of my sister and brothers in the Faith believe that there is a chair out there they call it the end of the world. That date is set and it is getting closer to us. So there are predictions and claims made about this chair that is coming toward us. We are passive observers in this situation in which there is nothing that we can do to keep that chair from getting closer to us. And once that chair has passed us, then there is no way to get it back in front of us. We missed our chance.
I suppose that is one way to consider time.
On the other hand, if we understand that time is something we are pulled into; that we are being pulled along a rope into a future that is not yet set. That events can move toward us (lets take the destruction of the world since we are talking about it), and they can move in response to other things. The world has been on the brink of destruction a few times in the past in which people cried out that the end is near. And yet, here we all are. That chair, that date, has been moved forward into time.
When time is considered in this way, there is always a chance that things can move forward again (even if they have passed us). There is always a chance for a second chance. That chair might have passed us as we were pulled along that rope, but that chair can always be moved "forward" into time and we can see that chair again. Grace is the name Christians call this chair moving forward into time.
Hopefully I am being clear here and not too cerebral, but this has ramifications on the way we see the world.
According to one view of time, time comes toward you and if you miss something, you have missed your chance and there is no way (either in this life or the next) to have a second chance.
According to one view of time, we move into time and if we miss something there is always a chance that what we missed could move forward into time and we could (either in this life or the next) have a second chance.
To bring this series full circle, I ask "Next Wednesday’s meeting has been moved forward two days, What day is the meeting that has been rescheduled?”
(Although, in some instances having a second chance would ruin a hilarious website.)