 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Warrior Work
Week 43
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Tao of Time Part 2
By Peter Hill
"The day will come when, after harnessing space,
the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness
for God the energies of love. And, on that day,
for the second time in the history of the world,
man will have discovered fire."
Teilhard de Chardin
“Time is an illusion”, I spouted and then laughed as I responded to someone at the round gaming table of six, asking if we had
enough time to finish the game.
PAUSE The dream froze as if someone had hit the freeze frame button. A voice from behind me spoke clearly in an instructional
voice, “Time is Not an illusion. Time is the field in which we explore the boundaries of God.”
I woke up, a bit dazed from the phrase – it played over and over again in my mind. It was a little uncomfortable because wasn’t God
boundless? I then remembered the Philosopher’s Paradox:
“Is God all powerful?”
“Yes, of course, God is all powerful!”
“If God is all powerful, can God create a rock so large that God cannot lift it?”
Ahhhhhh, the God Paradox……….
If God can’t create the rock then God is not all powerful.
If God can create the rock but cannot lift it, then God is not all powerful……….
Teilhard de Charden, a famous French Jesuit Philosopher said that God created man in his image and man turned around and did
God the same favor. I had a strong sense for what he meant as my thoughts swirled around these concepts while the “Time is NOT an
illusion. Time is the field in which we explore the boundaries of God” would play periodically.
Thomas Aquinas in the 12th century came up with a number of proofs for the existence of God and one of his most compelling was
that we lived and existed in a dimension of space and time. This came from that and that came from this back to what scientist’s today
would call the big bang. But where did that come from? Whatever created ‘that’ had to exist beyond space and time. We could only know
aspects of God or aspects of the boundaries God had set up for us to play and swim in while we explored those boundaries of inner and
outer space with the pressure of time always whispering to us that one day this dream in this dimension will end. WHEW!
What does this all have to do with taichi? We covered in part one that chi/ji/ is a person standing between heaven and earth creating
their world with their actions and their words (energy) but we didn’t cover chi/ki as in chi gung, a different ideogram or kanji. It is a grain of
rice being cooked with steam rising up/ It is often translated as energy or even spirit. The grain of rice is much like human beings who are
self absorbed, hard, short with others and stiff mentally, emotionally and physically.
Energy Work, whether it be yoga, taichi, chigung, jogging, pilates etc., opens up the spirit, awakens the breath that softens the body
and mind and helps us harmonize or play better with others. It opens up space within us that is less or even non-judgmental AND time
slows down and expands. We feel and experience MORE within each moment as we touch, taste, smell, feel, hear and sense on different
levels of being. Interestingly, the character for ‘trouble’ is a tree in a box. It has no space to grow. It’s boundaries have been set. People
can become like that tree in the box, not able to grow, feeling the need for space and thus crashing out into others to break through or
imploding inward from resentment and repressed anger or just walking around with a spirit that has been broken and jaded with little life
or luster.
What boundaries are pressing in on you? What boundaries are out there before you? My friend Dannion Brinkley, author of the
bestseller “Saved by the Light” says, “If God couldn’t come today and God sent you, what did you do today for God?” Perhaps God’s
boundaries are partly the boundaries you set on yourself. Perhaps today you can make a few willful conscious intentional choices that
push and expand those boundaries a little or a lot; you can open the boundaries around your heart that keep people out; open the space
in your body so your blood circulates a little easier, so you can think a little clearer and move a little easier.
Boundaries of addiction can be given the space to show us the truth we hide from. The boundaries of life and death can spur us to
look deeper into our cores. Perhaps there are lots of boundaries we need to explore within our own Godhood since we were created in
God’s image in this space and in this time for however long that may be.
"Among so many great events, there is one phenomenon which, in the eyes of posterity, may well overshadow everything that has
been discovered in radiation and electricity: the permanent entry into operation, in our day, of inter-human affinities - the
movement, irresistible and ever increasing in speed, which we can see for ourselves, welding peoples and individuals to another..."
Teilhard de Chardin
By Peter Hill, Copyright 2004
www.getittogether.net
www.worldtaichi.com
Warrior Week Home >>
Week 43
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Tao of Time Part 2
By Peter Hill
"The day will come when, after harnessing space,
the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness
for God the energies of love. And, on that day,
for the second time in the history of the world,
man will have discovered fire."
Teilhard de Chardin
“Time is an illusion”, I spouted and then laughed as I responded to someone at the round gaming table of six, asking if we had
enough time to finish the game.
PAUSE The dream froze as if someone had hit the freeze frame button. A voice from behind me spoke clearly in an instructional
voice, “Time is Not an illusion. Time is the field in which we explore the boundaries of God.”
I woke up, a bit dazed from the phrase – it played over and over again in my mind. It was a little uncomfortable because wasn’t God
boundless? I then remembered the Philosopher’s Paradox:
“Is God all powerful?”
“Yes, of course, God is all powerful!”
“If God is all powerful, can God create a rock so large that God cannot lift it?”
Ahhhhhh, the God Paradox……….
If God can’t create the rock then God is not all powerful.
If God can create the rock but cannot lift it, then God is not all powerful……….
Teilhard de Charden, a famous French Jesuit Philosopher said that God created man in his image and man turned around and did
God the same favor. I had a strong sense for what he meant as my thoughts swirled around these concepts while the “Time is NOT an
illusion. Time is the field in which we explore the boundaries of God” would play periodically.
Thomas Aquinas in the 12th century came up with a number of proofs for the existence of God and one of his most compelling was
that we lived and existed in a dimension of space and time. This came from that and that came from this back to what scientist’s today
would call the big bang. But where did that come from? Whatever created ‘that’ had to exist beyond space and time. We could only know
aspects of God or aspects of the boundaries God had set up for us to play and swim in while we explored those boundaries of inner and
outer space with the pressure of time always whispering to us that one day this dream in this dimension will end. WHEW!
What does this all have to do with taichi? We covered in part one that chi/ji/ is a person standing between heaven and earth creating
their world with their actions and their words (energy) but we didn’t cover chi/ki as in chi gung, a different ideogram or kanji. It is a grain of
rice being cooked with steam rising up/ It is often translated as energy or even spirit. The grain of rice is much like human beings who are
self absorbed, hard, short with others and stiff mentally, emotionally and physically.
Energy Work, whether it be yoga, taichi, chigung, jogging, pilates etc., opens up the spirit, awakens the breath that softens the body
and mind and helps us harmonize or play better with others. It opens up space within us that is less or even non-judgmental AND time
slows down and expands. We feel and experience MORE within each moment as we touch, taste, smell, feel, hear and sense on different
levels of being. Interestingly, the character for ‘trouble’ is a tree in a box. It has no space to grow. It’s boundaries have been set. People
can become like that tree in the box, not able to grow, feeling the need for space and thus crashing out into others to break through or
imploding inward from resentment and repressed anger or just walking around with a spirit that has been broken and jaded with little life
or luster.
What boundaries are pressing in on you? What boundaries are out there before you? My friend Dannion Brinkley, author of the
bestseller “Saved by the Light” says, “If God couldn’t come today and God sent you, what did you do today for God?” Perhaps God’s
boundaries are partly the boundaries you set on yourself. Perhaps today you can make a few willful conscious intentional choices that
push and expand those boundaries a little or a lot; you can open the boundaries around your heart that keep people out; open the space
in your body so your blood circulates a little easier, so you can think a little clearer and move a little easier.
Boundaries of addiction can be given the space to show us the truth we hide from. The boundaries of life and death can spur us to
look deeper into our cores. Perhaps there are lots of boundaries we need to explore within our own Godhood since we were created in
God’s image in this space and in this time for however long that may be.
"Among so many great events, there is one phenomenon which, in the eyes of posterity, may well overshadow everything that has
been discovered in radiation and electricity: the permanent entry into operation, in our day, of inter-human affinities - the
movement, irresistible and ever increasing in speed, which we can see for ourselves, welding peoples and individuals to another..."
Teilhard de Chardin
By Peter Hill, Copyright 2004
www.getittogether.net
www.worldtaichi.com
Warrior Week Home >>