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Eternity, infinity and other
brain shiver exercises
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I call it a brain shiver; my roommate, Royce Gonzales, calls
it a brain loop. We are addicts. Read no further, lest you become
a user, or worse, a pusher.
Wait. I am not talking about illicit drugs or a multi-level marketing
ploy, so please don't get offended yet.
My first experience was at a children's camp. When I was well,
a child.
I know my parents wept on the inside at my leaving them alone
for a whole week. How they made it through is a testament to their
fortitude. I would say more, but I might start crying.
The event which I shall never forget, as long as I can read this
article and remind myself of it, occurred during one of the evening
services.
I had been quietly sucking my thumb and contemplating whether
or not to pull the pony tails dangling in front of me when a man
walked up on stage and dispersed this mind drug to all of us unsuspecting
kiddies.
artwork by
Sam Pfanstiel
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His illustration was simple. He said that if you were to
fill a rocket with ten years worth of fuel, get inside, blast
off and travel for ten years, you would not get to the end
of the universe (I now know that rockets once in space will
continue forever unless another force acts upon them, but
at the time, the thought of running out of gas out in the
middle of space petrified me).
When I awoke from my nausea, the service was over and I
was an addict. I kid you not; I literally got sick - and I
don't think it was from the head lice. That was later in the
week.
This event was very sobering for me, for in the light of
eternity, things begin to take on a whole new perspective.
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If you would like to experience the brain buzz, try this exercise.
The important thing is to take it slowly and let your mind contemplate
the reality of it. Think about heaven.
We will never die, right? Okay, so how long do we live? A thousand
years? Any longer than that? Add on at least another thousand. Make
that a thousand thousands. But will we still be alive and doing
whatever we do up in heaven? Yup.
So when do we call it quits and just go to sleep?
Finally, where does the universe end? What surrounds the universe
at its end?
If I have described it correctly, and you have thought about
it seriously, you will have experienced some brain discomfort. Our
minds are limited, and when we test those limits we realize our
own finiteness - and it hurts.
Such thoughts have led me to think of spending eternity in a
more hellish place, namely hell.
Though I did not fear for my own welfare, the fate of others
did distress me.
John Wesley expressed the gravity of hell, when he said to give
him 10 men and send them to hell for a week. When they returned
they would set the world on fire.
Although I think he was speaking figuratively, a literal translation
might also apply.
When Royce and I were discussing these "brain flatulations,"
we likened the sudden jerk at the end of the line of thought to
that of a dog reaching the end of his chain while in the midst of
a strong leap. YELP!!
This reminded me of a dog that owned me, named Duke.
Duke was a beautiful Siberian Husky, who had no training. Whenever
I let him out of his kennel he would take off and would not be seen
again for hours.
I wanted to spend time with Duke. Instead, I spent time chasing
him from my house to a block from kingdom come. I wanted to give
Duke more freedom, but the fact that whenever I did, he left, forced
me to restrict his freedom.
I think that this is how God sees us at times.
He, wants to give us so much, but is unable to because whenever
He does, we abandon Him.
If Duke had only realized that it was in his best interest to
stick around with me, he could have done so much more.
Obviously, Duke was a dog and had a limited brain capacity.
I wonder what our excuse will be. We will have a long time to
think about that.
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