THE ETERNAL NOW1

David L. Blumenthal2, Gonzalo Ordonez3 , Ronald Barnard4

Summary

The fundamental reality is Life. Each living moment is an entirely new and novel creation. There are no ultimate physical connections between one living moment and the next5. This suggests a Transcendent Field, a dimension that must exist entirely beyond the empirical world as we assume it to be. It is from this transcendent field that the physical perceptual arena is created, ex nihilo, and anew each instant.

PREAMBLE The overarching consideration in the work presented here is that Life is the fundamental reality. The only DOING of Life appears to be CREATING, followed by the process of APPRECIATING this creating. Now, Life is absolutely beyond conceptualization. Consciousness seems to be the fundamental nature of Life. Although Life cannot be conceptualized through consciousness, Life can be explored for structure and dynamics for aspects and attributes. The two aspects of Life are Allness and Singleness (Consciousness is an attribute). To Allness alone belongs creative power. To Singleness belongs the capacity of appreciation. Creation by Allness is ex nihilo, literally creating from nothing. Since this process of creation can never be grasped by Singleness, therefore to Allness alone belongs all CAUSE. Cause, fundamental cause, truly fundamental understanding of anything is simply never possible for Singleness to know. By the very nature of their difference, Allness can never share cause with Singleness. All judgment, therefore, belongs to Allness alone. Each discrete Eternal Now is both a moment of utterly unique creativity by Allness and an opportunity for Singleness to appreciate the process of creativity. Creativity at its deepest level is inherently a gift to Singleness. A gift, especially the more unpleasant ones, individualized to every Singleness on its long journey to self-discovery. Each Eternal Moment is both an inspiration and a challenge to the utter uniqueness of each of us.

THE ETERNAL NOW The flow of the perceptual scenario provides the opportunity for an embodied knowing - the human experience is show and tell time. Each here/now moment is an entirely new and unique creation. The absolute immediacy and newness of every moment is almost the essence of life itself. The human experience offers us the opportunity of an absolutely fresh creation each moment. The marvel of a singularity brings ex-nihilo a new creation into each perceptual here/now; it frees us from chains of the past, whether years ago or just seconds 1 This article is the result of many discussions between the authors. Discussions are still ongoing. 2 Practicing Psychoanalyst, MSW, ScD, STM, Indianapolis, IN 3 Associate Professor, Ph D, Physics and Astronomy Department, Butler University, Indianapolis, IN 4 Practicing Psychotherapist, MA, Indianapolis IN 5 See Appendix 1

ago. Yet, we seldom experience ourselves to be free. We tend to believe that we are responding to the preceding moments. What direction will the next moment take? As Singleness, we possess no creative power. This power can only belong to Allness alone. Yet, we must be full participants in the process of the flow of the scenario of this shared contingent reality, the arena of common perception. We stand on the Razors edge. Here is where our focus of faith seems to be important.6 Our individual life histories are a manifestation of the absolute uniqueness of our Singleness. Each Singleness is unique yet absolutely equal to every other Singleness. Each Singleness is individualness. When we enter into the human experience, the Individualness infuses Individuality. The individuality does not contain the Individualness; rather, the Individuality is infused WITHIN the Individualness; in other words, with the human experience. We are much more than we see ourselves to be. Human individuality, persona, is much more than the physical structure of the individual. Personality and character structure are, as it were, contours. Themes of anger, kindness, charity, paranoia, etc., represent a contour of various depth and size. For the most part, we are ignorant or blind to the contours; yet, adversarial forces vividly know these contours7. The human experience is lived entirely immersed within an ocean of negative judgments brought to us by these forces. The next created worldly moment may be influenced by our focus of faith. As we stand on the Razors Edge, will we focus our faith, our worship, in the direction of the world of materiality as if this is the direction of Truth; or will we be focusing our faith toward absolute? Whichever way, the brush stroke does fall; Allness will harmonize the next living moment to be a gift to all within the fabric of wholeness and harmony. The sages say that when the finger points to the heavens, we tend to focus on the finger rather than toward where the finger is pointing. Yet, in the human condition, we only have the finger! So the lessons of wisdom appear to be being awakened such that we will be able to receive glimpses of the heavens while at the same time we are looking at the finger. The experience of the contingent reality -that is, our human world- provides an opportunity for an embodied knowing. So when our eyes are on the finger -the experience of the contingent reality that is our human world, that is, the ongoing moments of everyday life- we often experience travail, anguish of the spirit. The reflexive impulse is to contend with the angst, to wrestle with the psychological distress as if the phantom had solid reality. We mistake a true experience, the feeling of angst, for Truth. At this instant, we are on the Razors edge. Wisdom would have us resist contention as our focus of faith. Travail at bottom is an experience of a clash of contrasts. On one side is contingent reality, the empirical world; on the other side is Truth the Absolute, which is always behind appearance.

6 An important note: History is not causative. The very physics of reality suggest this is impossibility; yet, history is an essence in process. 7 These represent The Accusser discussed later.

(The fundamental clash: God says everything that I make is good! Adam declares that he is naked, flawed. It is a true experience to Adam that he is naked, flawed. This is a true worldly perception. Yet, Absolute must, in faith, be grounded in wholeness and harmony--a wholeness and harmony that relegates any perception of flaw to appearance only and not to substantial reality.) The way to Wisdom is through travail, not around it! Yet, even as these words are being written the wish is that it were different. We cannot, as they say, box with the Devil; for the sake of deep healing, for wisdom, we must see the phantom and appreciate his guidance. We are told through psychological perception that the next moment will bring disaster, judgment replaces personal taste, that chaos rather than balance is at the core of the living moment. The significant issue for us is that personal taste and wisdom are often not congruent. In other words, every gift doesnt often seem very gift-like -is not received giftfully!

ARROW OF ETERNAL NOW DESCRIBED The experience of perceptual consciousness is that we seem to be riding a continuous arrow of time. The pace seems to have its own inherent rhythm, which never appears to change. The personal experience of this smooth and continuous flow is an illusion. No perception is possible without both spatial and temporal dimension. In other words, every now must have duration. Just as a movie show is actually about 24 still pictures shown in rapid succession each second, the moments of our lives, our human experience, is presented to us as a series of still packets of time, each one entirely separated from the others. Each living moment, each eternal now is totally self-standing, a new and unique creation. For us within the human sojourn, the consciousness that perceives this apparently continuous yet actually discontinuous flow is itself continuous. The Observer is continuous, that which is being observed is discontinuous. The duration of each packet of time, actually time/space, is likely similar in duration and is a problem subject to mathematical interpretation. The interval between these packets, however, resides in the Transcend Field, outside of all perimeters, outside of time/space. Since the Transcendent Field is the source of dimensionality, it must be spatially, temporarily and perceptually void. Therefore, no time can be affiliated with the intervening space of the packets of time the packets of eternal Now.

TRANSCENDENT FIELD The Transcendent Field and the field of the consciousness are identical. (The field of consciousness refers to the ground of consciousness itself and is not to be confused with any of the perceptual content within that ground.) Transcendent refers to a field which is beyond, void of time, space and perception. The Transcendent Field spoken of here is absolutely beyond conceptualization. Conceptualization originates in the Transcendent, as do all the arenas of perception, including the empirical human perceptual arena we all share to our individual degree.

Consider the very ground of your being, that which looks out of your eyes; that which has witnessed through the years the unfolding scenario of your life. There is no more reality that any of us can know but this. Yet, this profound experience of the reception of this myriad of perceptions has no parameters. No one can precisely describe in words how one KNOWS that one experiences perceptions; how one KNOWS that he is a living being not a robot and no one can describe the individualness that looks out of their eyes. The Transcendent Field is reality without parameter. This source of all materiality though without perceptual structure can be explored and at least some of its attributes and aspects delineated. Structures and dynamics process can be assumed and speculated upon. This type of careful observation, even of ones own field of consciousness, would heighten our level of appreciation of the process of material creation and deepen our grasp of the nuances of the human experience itself.

A LITTLE BANG SINGULARITY PRODUCES THE LIVING MOMENT Singularity here is a place of no place, no time, and no perceptual arena. Singularity is the source of all our human perception. This singularity, reminiscent of The Big Bang, is a moment of creation. It has a perimeter, like an event horizon, beyond which human experience does not exist.

DESCRIPTION OF A PACKET OF TIME

Referring to the diagram of Packet of Time let the right face of that packet be crisp and sharply defined with perceptions. Let the length and width of that face represent space and let the depth of the packet represent time, that is, duration. So, metaphorically, we now have a cube-like structure; the right face of which is crisp and with worldly perceptions of the moment. The face is a still three-dimensional picture, a diorama of an instant of time, a packet of Eternal Now. Just as the right face of the packet is absolutely crisp with perceptual clarity, the opposite face, in extreme contrast, is obscured in mystery. The outlines of the metaphoric packet fade into total obscurity as they move toward the opposite face. The crisp face is in the field of the world within the field of physics. The opposite face is in the Transcendent Field. The schematic packet has been drawn as if the outline of that opposite face actually existed in the plane of the world, albeit dimly. Each packet of time exists both within the field of the world and the transcendent field. This fundamental feature seems to define singularity. Singularity is an aspect of reality which stands between BE and BEING; between that which is absolutely beyond conceptualization and that which is utterly within sharp perception. The same contrast appears to occur both within the Big Bang and the packet of time of each Eternal Now. The more precise observable boundary would be at the event horizon. At the event horizon materiality emerges into physical existence. The same event horizon might be the razors edge. Interestingly, the frontier of physics and the frontier of human psychology both have a boundary. At this tween state, we stand between conceptualization and ultimate mystery.

DEFINITIONS, ETC. Learning yourself is the work of your life. Allness is Transcendent Absolute. That which, because beyond conceptualization, cannot even be worded. Allness, Absolute, is temporally, spatially and perceptually void. Since Allness is Absolute, Allness cannot be proven in the conventional sense of proveness. Neither aspect nor attribute of Absolute is provable. The large circle diagram symbolically conveys the idea that all is within; stained and filled with Allness. The larger sphere represents the Trascendent Field. The smaller sphere represents the Perceptual Field, embedded within the

Trascendent field. The Perceptual Field has poles, which are regions of contrast.

Singleness is one to Allness as all. Singleness is like a drop within an ocean. The Allness of the ocean shares everything with the drop; the All can share with the One. Now take the analogy a step further: Divide the drop into an infinite number of parts. Now put each infinite part of the drop everywhere that the ocean is from shore to shore. The oneness of the drop always retains singleness yet is always with Allness. Singleness is always fully united with Allness; yet, at the same time is fully Singleness. We are both one with the Father, fully united; yet, at the same time, are clearly not the Father and maintain our Singleness. When we are turned in the direction of unity, we BE. Then, when we are given into a perceptual arena, we are BEING. Our essence could be spoken of as pure consciousness, pure life. Everything is within consciousness; yet, everything is not within the light of awareness. Consciousness has the two qualities of experience, perceptual and direct. That which looks out of our eyes is our unique Singleness. That which looks out of our eyes witnesses that unfolding of our human sojourn. This unique singleness is our individualness, the Intimate Stranger that fully shares our life with us. Individually, the human persona is contained within Singleness, individualness; yet, is NOT to be mistaken for that soulfulness of Singleness. After all, none of Picassos painting would ever be mistaken for Picasso himself.

THE ACCUSER Now here we are dealing with aspects some of which are in the Transcendent Field; that is, these aspects of reality are absolutely beyond conceptualization though their effects become manifest in the human world.

Contrast is necessary for perception. In order for the perceptual arena to exist, contrast must exist. Contingent Reality to hold our attention, our interest, must be profoundly gripped, deeply involved into the contrasts. The sensory perceptions of sight and sound and touch and taste would not be sufficient unto themselves. We need the psychological perceptual arena to draw us into and hold us into our empirical world. The sojourn through the human experience seems to have a dual focus: the discovery of the myriad contours of individuality and awakening to the transcendent reality of our Individualness. Discovery is by way of perceptual experience of consciousness and awakening is by direct experience of consciousness. Careful observation of the ongoing scenario of life is needed to discern the distinction between a true experience and an experience of truth; to discern taste from the perception of judgment. We are continuously either actively being tricked or being set-up -for the next round of tricks. Imagine that our human experience has education with regard to ourselves as an aspect of purpose. God is the chancellor of the university and He commissions a faculty member to be, for the sake of the students, the nastiest professor teaching the most important course. This professor has the title: The Accuser. Appreciate that the professor MUST be true and faithful to the assignment. The Accuser is a job and not a statement with regard to the spiritual entity that faithfully fulfills the task. The Accuser is the Prince of Psychology. All psychological perceptions, all thoughts and emotions, feelings, are brought to us by the Accuser. His main stock in trade is judgment. All experiences of anguish, angst, unease, are grounded upon a psychological perception of negation judgment. All hopelessness, depression, defensiveness and anger are based on a seamlessly logical negative thought perception. It is as if when we were born into a human world, we are literally born into an ocean of judgment. We cannot leave the water and remain in the world, so we must for our deepest healing, come to terms and maybe even learn from the constant flow of false propaganda. The monster movie will not go away so we must learn, at least, to eat our popcorn.

THE RAZOR EDGE This is both the challenge and hope for moments of salvation. Focus on faith is focus on worship. If my faith is focused toward the side of the world then I am worshipping a relative, a contingent, rather than an Absolute truth. Any type of inner distress is a signal of false worship. We are led astray by what seems to be logic. It should be appreciated also that we are having a human experience and the Accuser has extraordinary potency in his arena of psychological perception. The ETERNAL NOW is essentially a unique parcel, packet of space/time. Each packet is separated by an interval of the TRANSCENDENT FIELD. The side of each packet that receives the focus of our faith seems to be the side that becomes enlivened.

THE TRANSCENDENT FIELD VS. THE PERCEPTUAL FIELD The Transcendent Field (TF) transcends the field of perception. In other words, the TF is outside the world of materiality as we generally experience it to be. The world of perception is a world of parameters. Words can describe that which we not only see, hear, touch, taste and spell, but also that which we think and experience emotionally. Words are parameters. Parameters that are as solid as are physical parameters. For many all of us, unless we are specifically reminded and particularly focused, there simply is no other field but the field of worldly perception.

As the TF transcends the field of perception it must also transcend time and space. This field is known by other names. The TF might also be thought of as the Ground of Consciousness or for some, the Field of Spirituality. In physics, the Arena of De-coherence seems to have the equivalency of the TF (see Appendix 2). Now that field which is without parameter is not without reality! In fact, the portion of our lives that lay outside the boundaries of perception may be or may contain the most vital and creative centers of our lives. Being without parameter does not mean being without structure or dynamics; though the forces that operate within the TF can only be considered metaphorically or by analogy. It is absolutely outside of our capacity to conceptualize the inner working of the TF. So we seek to appreciate processes. As these deeper processes are conceptualized their vitality seems to enlighten our journey and ease some of the harshness of the human experience. Careful inward observation can shed light on some almost universally held assumptions that tend not to be examined because they seem so reasonable. (Just as wisdom can be shared, also ignorance can be shared.) For example, an appreciation of the TF suggests all thoughts and emotions are perceptual, that is, they are GIVEN and not DONE by the individual. Just as in no way we identify ourselves with outer perceptions, we are not, in truth, identified with inner perceptions. Our perceptual psychological arena is no more ours to order than the weather that we experience.

THE MYSTERY OF THE ETERNAL NOW Image we go through the unfolding scenario of our lives riding on an apparently unbroken arrow of time. This perceptual experience is for us all a profoundly true experience. Yet, is this profoundly true experience an experience of truth? In other words, is there more here than meets the eye as it were; and, if so, are there deeper meanings for us as we live out the human experience entirely? The perceptual arena emerges from the ground of consciousness, without disturbing the ground consciousness. To use a motion picture analogy, the movie being shown on the ground of the screen does not displace the screen. The screen is fully present no matter what the content of the movie. The fullness of Allness is always totally present within any perceptual scenario. Allness is always in wholeness and harmony. All aspect of creation must, by the very nature of this underlying and ever present background of unity, be also in wholeness and harmony. Every moment of creative expression must be reconciled to this fundamental unity regardless of how the moment appears to our human perspective. It may be that these tiny moments of creation this flow of eternal now represent singularities that are much like what we call the Big Bang. That one appears to create the human universe and the other only an infinitesimal moment of time may seem essentially to make no real difference. It might be simpler, more practical, a more healing, to focus some of our efforts toward inner as well as outward direction. When close attention is directed toward the living moment, dynamics and structures suggest themselves in some intriguing forms.

NOVEL OR INNOVATIVE CONSIDERATIONS

1. Entering into the human experience is like being immersed into an ocean of critical judgment. 2. The critical judgment is given to us by the complex of dynamics, which we would do well to call The Accuser. 3. All psychology is an arena of perception. We dont DO thoughts and emotions rather we EXPERIENCE them. 4 The dynamics of The Accuser exist in Transcendent Field, that is, these dynamics are not within the dimension of the perceptual worldly field. 5. There is a critical distinction between a true perceptual experience and an experience of truth. 6. The essence of the person, the Soul, is not contained within the body but rather the body is within the soul. We are more than we think that we are. 7. That which looks out of eyes, so to speak, is in another dimension. The true US are in the transcendent dimension. 8. The transcendent dimension is without parameters. 9 That which looks out of our eyes is Individualness. That which is in the world, persona, is individuality. 10.The contours of individuality can be explored by perceptual observation. Individualness is a matter of Awakening. 11. Perception is a state of mind; awakening is a state of being. 12.Consciousness, the ground of consciousness itself, has these two distinctly different types of experiences, perceptual experience and direct experience. 13.lndividualness, the essential you, is The intimate Stranger. We are all not awakened to this larger aspect of ourselves.

THE PATH TOWARD THE NEXT MOMENT Each packet of time/space is in the Ocean of Life, the non-specific creative flow. This non-specific creative flow is absolutely equally given to every time/space packet which emerges from this flow. The transcendent boundary of the time/space packet is a singularity. This singularity is like the Big Bang the on-set of a creative event. The non-specific creative flow is transformed into a specific creative flow, which follows the contours of individualness. This transformation is still within the transcendent field. At the event horizon or the razors edge or the arena of de-coherence, the specific creative flow becomes further modified from individualness into individuality. Beyond the event horizon, the time packet is in the arena of worldly perception. An aspect of the creative flow, which has now the contours of individuality, creates the scenery of the worldly story line following the themes of the moment. Another aspect of the creative flow moves through persona to the expressive arenas of body functioning, behavior and the psychological perceptions of emotions and thoughts. Now to gain some ordinary perspective, this dynamic process should be seen as occurring many times each second. Yet, from our view within the human experience, we seem to be moving through the on-going scenario of our lives with uninterrupted smoothness. The physical setting appears to be fixed as we move through the unfolding moments. Yet, in truth, we stand still as the perceptual flow travels toward us. As in a night dream, we appear in the dream to move; yet, upon awakening, can realize that we have been stationary observers to a scenario in which our dream persona has also been an actor. The consciousness that perceives both the waking and the dream scenario is continuous. The perceptual scenarios are discontinuous and created anew multiple times every living moment. The empirical worldly, the commonly shared perceptual arena, is both brought into existence and taken out of existence in its entirety.

APPENDIX 1: ON THE NON-PHYSICAL CONNECTION BETWEEN DIFFERENT MOMENTS When we say that there are no physical connections between different moments, we are saying that there is no truly causal, ultimate connection that can be found in the empirical world. Yet there are successful scientific theories of the empirical world based on models that postulate just such cause-effect relationships. Why do we say that there are no physical connections then? When we go to the most fundamental level, when we keep asking why, regarding any particular phenomenon, we eventually leave the domain of all scientific models and we meet the same perplexity that we find when we wonder What am I? Where did I come from? We have suggested that there is a Transcendent Field, a field with no parameters, yet of utmost reality. We get a hint of the Transcendental Field when we say: I am not a robot. If each one of us is no robot, then we must have an aspect that is not subject to observation, analysis or dissection, and which seems to be in the Transcendent Field. It seems, then, that the ultimate causal connection between different moments belongs to the Transcendent Field, not to the empirical world. Now, there are patterns or regularities in some of these connections, which make rationality and scientific analysis successful in many cases. Deterministic models successfully predict a range of phenomena, in multiple disciplines, from Physics to Psychology. There must be a rational aspect to Allness. Einstein famously said: God does not play dice. The laws of nature possibly point to this rational aspect of Allness.

Yet if the physical world were completely deterministic, it would be like a giant machine. We would then seriously have to think that we ARE robots after all. Fortunately, both quantum and classical mechanics have opened the door to non-determinism in physics, concluding that at a basic level there is an intrinsically non-deterministic relationship between successive moments. We have in mind Heisenbergs uncertainty principle and also non-linear dynamics. We believe that Einsteins God must have a non-deterministic aspect too. If God (or Allness) were ultimately predictable, Allness would be machine-like, too, and lifeless. So we think that Allness does play dice sometimes. Even Allness does not always know what is going to happen.

APPENDIX 2: ON DECOHERENCE

At a given moment a particle exists in a quantum superposition of two realities. The next moment one of the two realities is randomly chosen in a process called decoherence.

Decoherence is the process by which quantum superposition collapses of realities collapses into a single reality. For example, at a given moment a dust particle may be found, so to speak, in two neighboring places at the same time. The particle is in a tween state where all possible states of existence are present simultaneously. This is similar to Schrodingers cat, which is both dead and alive at the same time. When the particle is observed though, it settles into one specific location, which is chosen randomly. This phenomenon is called collapse of the wave function. The collapse of the wave function occurs in two steps: first decoherence occurs. Decoherence transforms the tween state to a state of where the particle is either in one place or another, yet its location is still unknown to us. We only know the probability that it is in different locations. After decoherence, the state of the particle follows the classical laws of probability. The second step of wave function collapse then occurs: the particle randomly chooses the place it wants to occupy. Quantum mechanics allows us to calculate precisely the probabilities of different outcomes. But determining the exact place that the particle chooses is beyond any current model of the world. For ordinary macroscopic objects the time it takes for decoherence to occur is fantastically small, yet it is nonzero. For example, suppose the dust particle exists in a quantum superposition, where it is in two locations at the same time, and the two locations are separated by a distance d. If the diameter of the dust particle is 0.001 cm and the particle is surrounded by air at room temperature, decoherence will occur within a time given by 10-35/d2 seconds. For d=0.01 cm (about the width of a hair), decoherence occurs within 10-31 seconds.

Decoherence is intrinsically linked to the arrow of time and the increase of entropy. At any given moment the following moment is not yet determined. The availability of different choices at every moment gives time a sense of direction. To illustrate the connection between decoherence and entropy, consider now an electron, existing in a quantum coherent superposition, a tween state, consisting of spin-up and spin-down states. When the electron is exposed to the environment its quantum state decoheres, evolving into an ordinary classical state from which a definite state (spin up or spin down) is chosen. The entropy of the universe increases: the superposed states become entangled with the much more disordered environment. Subsequent events of decoherence can occur if the system is the electron is brought back to a coherent superposition, which can actually be done in laboratories. An analogous situation occurs when we leave an ice cube at room temperature until it melts. The ice cube represents the electron in a coherent quantum state; the ice melting represents the decoherence of the quantum state. The water can be collected and frozen to form an ice cube again. Similarly the electron can be brought back to a coherent state using lab devices. Nevertheless, the overall entropy of the universe increases even when we re-freeze the ice cube or re-cohere the electron because doing either requires energy dissipation that increases entropy. The frozen state of the ice is analogous to the tween state of quantum superposition. The Arrow of Time seems to exist because the Universe started in a highly non-equilibrated state with small entropy. As the universe evolves it wants to reach equilibrium increasing entropy and disorder. This large-scale tendency is the arrow of time. The overall increase of entropy allows for the local decrease of entropy or appearance of order in isolated systems (for example in the freezing of water to form ice). The cost of such local decrease of entropy is however an overall increase of entropy including the environment, where for example heat is dissipated to freeze the ice. The appearance of life itself corresponds to a local decrease of entropy; the cost is a much larger increase of entropy of the Universe associated with the dissipation of energy radiated from the Sun. The Universe was, presumably at its most ordered state (with lowest entropy) right after the Big Bang. It is possible that the Universe was then in quantum superposition containing all the possible subsequent developments. As the Universe evolves more and more tween states are decohered; the future takes shape and evolution becomes history.