eternal journey meaning

What is the Soul’s Journey?

January 22, 2024

Lauren Williams

Starting my exploration of the soul’s journey, I’ve realized it’s much more than a spiritual concept.

It’s a personal adventure, unique to each of us.

Every experience, every choice, shapes this journey. It’s about understanding our past and how it influences who we are now.

I find it empowering to think of myself as the creator of my soul’s path. It’s not just about destiny; it’s about making choices that define me.

This journey is a deep dive into who I am, uncovering layers of my purpose and true self.

So, let’s begin this exploration.

It’s a journey of discovery, growth, and potential transformation.

Table of Contents

What is your soul’s journey.

Your soul’s journey is an expansive and interesting concept, stretching far beyond the confines of a single lifetime. It encompasses the many lifetimes and experiences your soul undergoes, spanning across your life within the spirit world. This journey is not just about the physical experiences we encounter in our lives; it’s about the continuous evolution and growth of our soul through various incarnations and spiritual realms.

At its core, the soul’s journey is about the accumulation and understanding of experiences. Every action you take, every word you speak, and every emotion you feel contributes to this journey. It’s a path of learning, experiencing, and evolving. The real essence of the soul’s journey isn’t just about what defines it; it’s about how you choose to define and shape it with your actions and decisions.

This journey is also an overarching narrative that intertwines our physical incarnations with our existence within the spirit world. It’s a continuous flow, a path that your soul takes from its inception to its evolution into a fully empowered creator being. Unlike a predetermined route, each soul’s journey is unique, marked by individual choices, lessons, and experiences. This journey is your personal story of spiritual evolution and self-discovery.

Understanding the Purpose of the Soul’s Journey

When I think about what the soul’s journey means, it feels like it’s about finding our true purpose and learning from life’s experiences. It’s like each of us is on a personal mission to understand who we are and why we’re here. This journey isn’t just about the big milestones in life; it’s also in the small, everyday moments where we learn, grow, and change.

Every decision I make, every challenge I face, feels like a part of this journey. It’s as if with each step, I’m getting closer to understanding my true self. Sometimes, it’s hard to see the bigger picture, but I believe each experience, good or bad, teaches me something valuable.

This idea makes me look at life differently. I start to see each obstacle as a learning opportunity and each success as a step towards a greater understanding of myself. It’s a journey that’s unique for everyone. Our paths might be different, but we’re all trying to find our way, learn from our experiences, and grow as individuals.

Thinking about the soul’s journey this way makes it more than a spiritual concept; it becomes a practical approach to life. It’s about making choices that lead to personal growth and understanding, constantly evolving and adapting as we walk our unique paths.

Spiritual Journey vs. Soul’s Journey

As we explore and understand our existence, it becomes clear that the spiritual journey and the soul’s journey, though distinct, are deeply interrelated. Each journey offers unique insights and experiences, yet they converge at a point of deep self-awareness.

This interconnection is where we find the I AM Presence, the unchanging core of our being that links our spiritual exploration with the evolution of our soul. Recognizing this interplay enhances our understanding of both journeys, allowing us to navigate our path more clearly and purposefully.

The Spiritual Journey

The spiritual journey is a personal and conscious quest for deeper understanding and connection with the spiritual aspects of life. It’s a path marked by exploration and discovery, where one seeks to understand the nature of the divine, the universe, and their place within it. This journey is unique for each individual, shaped by their beliefs, experiences, and the spiritual practices they adopt.

• Exploration and Awakening : On this journey, individuals may explore various religious beliefs, engage in spiritual practices like meditation or yoga, and seek experiences that offer enlightenment and deeper understanding. It’s a process of continual learning and awakening, where each step brings greater insight into one’s spiritual nature.
• Connection and Growth : The spiritual journey is also about developing a deeper connection with the self, others, and the universe. It involves recognizing and nurturing the spiritual essence within, which some might relate to the I AM Presence . This journey encourages personal growth, compassion, and a sense of interconnectedness with all things.

The Soul’s Journey

The soul’s journey, while intersecting with the spiritual journey, encompasses a broader scope of our existence. It is the path our soul takes through various lifetimes, gathering experiences, learning lessons, and evolving.

• Continuity Across Lifetimes : This journey considers the soul’s continuity beyond our current life. It is about the evolution and learning that the soul undergoes across different incarnations, with each lifetime contributing to the soul’s growth and understanding.
• Learning and Purpose : The soul’s journey is deeply connected to the lessons we learn and the experiences we accumulate. It’s about understanding the deeper purpose of our soul and the journey it takes to achieve its ultimate goals. This path is less about conscious seeking and more about the soul’s innate drive to evolve, learn, and fulfill its purpose.

While both journeys are integral to our growth and self-realization, the spiritual journey is about our conscious search for spiritual meaning in this lifetime, and the soul’s journey encompasses the soul’s continuous evolution across various lifetimes.

Understanding their distinct yet interconnected nature helps us appreciate the depth and breadth of our journey towards self-awareness and fulfillment.

The Soul as a Lifelong Student

The concept of the soul’s journey portrays our soul as a lifelong student, enrolled in the ever-evolving curriculum of life. This perspective views every experience, whether joyous or challenging, as a learning opportunity for the soul.

• Learning Through Life’s Experiences : Our lives are filled with a variety of experiences, each holding multiple possibilities for growth and understanding. The soul, as a student, absorbs lessons from every interaction, relationship, and situation. These lessons contribute to the soul’s evolution, helping it to grow wiser and more mature with each lifetime.
• The Soul’s Curriculum : The curriculum for the soul encompasses all aspects of human experience. From the trials we endure to the moments of happiness we cherish, every aspect of life teaches the soul something valuable. This process of learning is continuous and does not end with physical death, as the soul carries its wisdom into future incarnations.

The Process of Inner Exploration

The soul’s journey is deeply introspective, involving a process of inner exploration to understand the depths of our being. This exploration is essential for the soul to become ‘all knowing’ about its nature and purpose.

• Connecting with the Soul : This journey requires us to connect deeply with our inner selves, listening to the subtle whispers of our soul. It’s about going beyond the surface of our conscious mind to explore the deeper aspects of who we are. This exploration often leads to surprising discoveries about our strengths, desires, and life’s purpose.
• Inner Answers and Guidance : The process of inner exploration allows us to find answers to our deepest questions and guidance for our life’s path. The insights we gain from this journey are unique to us, as they are based on our soul’s individual experiences and lessons. This inner guidance is invaluable, helping us to navigate life with greater clarity and understanding.

In exploring our soul as a lifelong student and delving into the process of inner exploration, we come to realize the depth and richness of the soul’s journey. It’s a path that not only encompasses learning from life’s experiences but also involves a deep dive into the essence of our being, uncovering the wisdom and knowledge that lie within.

Stages Of Your Soul’s Journey

1. Awakening

The first stage of the soul’s journey is often marked by an awakening. This is a moment or period where there is a significant shift in awareness, leading to a deeper questioning of life’s purpose and one’s true self. It’s a stage of realization where the soul starts to see beyond the mundane aspects of daily life and seeks a deeper meaning.

2. Exploration

Following the awakening, the soul enters a phase of exploration. This stage is characterized by seeking knowledge, understanding different spiritual paths, and experimenting with various practices. It’s a time of curiosity and openness, where the soul is eager to learn and experience new things.

3. Challenge

The challenge stage involves facing and overcoming obstacles that are essential for the soul’s growth. These challenges can be internal, like confronting personal fears or limiting beliefs, or external, such as navigating difficult life circumstances. This stage strengthens and refines the soul, preparing it for further evolution.

4. Enlightenment

Enlightenment is a pivotal stage where the soul gains significant insight or understanding. This doesn’t necessarily mean reaching a final state of total enlightenment, but rather experiencing moments of clarity and profound realization that fundamentally change the soul’s perspective and approach to life.

5. Integration

After enlightenment, the soul enters the integration stage. Here, the insights and lessons learned are assimilated into everyday life. This stage is about living the wisdom gained, applying new understanding to daily actions, relationships, and decisions. It’s a process of aligning one’s life with the soul’s true purpose.

6. Contribution

In the contribution stage, the focus shifts from personal growth to serving others. The soul, having gained wisdom and understanding, now looks to share this with the world. This can manifest in various forms, such as teaching, healing, or engaging in acts of compassion and service.

7. Completion

The final stage is completion, where the soul reaches a sense of fulfillment in its journey. This doesn’t imply the end of growth but signifies a phase where the soul has achieved its major objectives for a particular lifetime. It’s a time of reflection, gratitude, and understanding the interconnectedness of all life.

Each stage of the soul’s journey offers unique lessons and opportunities for growth. Understanding these stages helps us to navigate our own journey with greater awareness and purpose.

Reflecting On Your Journey

It’s important to remember one fundamental truth: we are in control of our journey. This realization empowers us to embrace each stage with intention and purpose.

Our journey is ours to shape. Every decision we make, every challenge we face, is an opportunity for growth and learning. It’s a reminder that we are the architects of our soul’s evolution.

Reflecting on this journey, I’m struck by our profound responsibility. It’s not just about moving through life passively; it’s about actively engaging with our soul’s growth.

We own our journey. This ownership isn’t about control in a rigid sense, but about embracing our power to influence our path. It’s about making choices that resonate with our deepest selves.

In this journey, every moment is significant. From the major crossroads to the seemingly small decisions, each step shapes our soul’s narrative.

Looking ahead, the journey continues. It’s an ongoing process of discovery, growth, and transformation. With this understanding, we can approach each new day as an opportunity to further our soul’s evolution.

Remember, your soul’s journey is a reflection of your innermost self. How you navigate it is your greatest expression of personal power and purpose.

Lauren believes spirituality shouldn't be intimidating. She blends ancient practices with modern tools to help you unlock insight, improve your focus, and find deeper meaning within your everyday life.

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One reader, while working with children was presented with the question, "What happens when you die?" He didn't quite know how to answer the child, so he submitted the question to me, with further inquiry: "If we are professed believers, do we ascend to heaven upon our physical death, or do we 'sleep' until our Savior’s return?"

What Does the Bible Say About Death, Eternal Life and Heaven?

Most Christians have spent some time wondering what happens to us after we die. Recently, we looked at the account of Lazarus , who was raised from the dead by Jesus . He spent four days in the afterlife, yet the Bible tells us nothing about what he saw. Of course, Lazarus' family and friends must have learned something about his journey to heaven and back. And many of us today are familiar with the testimonies of people who have had near-death experiences . But each of these accounts are unique, and can only give us a glimpse into heaven.

In fact, the Bible reveals very few concrete details about heaven, the afterlife and what happens when we die. God must have a good reason for keeping us wondering about the mysteries of heaven. Perhaps our finite minds could never comprehend the realities of eternity. For now, we can only imagine.

Yet the Bible does reveal several truths about the afterlife. This study will take a comprehensive look at what the Bible says about death, eternal life and heaven.

Believers Can Face Death Without Fear

Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (NIV)

1 Corinthians 15:54-57 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. (NLT)

Believers Enter the Lord's Presence at Death

In essence, the moment we die, our spirit and soul go to be with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:8 Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. (NLT)

Philippians 1:22-23 But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. (NLT)

Believers Will Dwell with God Forever

Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (NIV)

Jesus Prepares a Special Place for Believers in Heaven

John 14:1-3 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (NIV)

Heaven Will Be Far Better Than Earth for Believers

Philippians 1:21 "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." (NIV)

Revelation 14:13 "And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them!” (NLT)

The Death of a Believer Is Precious to God

Psalm 116:15 "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." (NIV)

Believers Belong to the Lord In Heaven

Romans 14:8 " If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord." (NIV)

Believers Are Citizens of Heaven

Philippians 3:20-21 " But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ , who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." (NIV)

After Their Physical Death, Believers Gain Eternal Life

John 11:25-26 " Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (NIV)

Believers Receive An Eternal Inheritance in Heaven

1 Peter 1:3-5 " Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." (NIV)

Believers Receive a Crown In Heaven

2 Timothy 4:7-8 " I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." (NIV)

Eventually, God Will Put An End to Death

Revelation 21:1-4 " Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away ... I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God ... And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (NIV)

Why Are Believers Said to Be 'Asleep' or 'Fallen Asleep' After Death?

Examples: John 11:11-14 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 1 Corinthians 15:20

The Bible uses the term "asleep" or "sleeping" when referring to the physical body of the believer at death. It is important to note that the term is used solely for believers. The dead body appears to be asleep when it is separated at death from the spirit and soul of the believer. The spirit and soul, which are eternal, are united with Christ at the moment of the believer's death (2 Corinthians 5:8). The body of the believer, which is mortal flesh, perishes, or "sleeps" until the day it is transformed and reunited to the believer at the final resurrection. (1 Corinthians 15:43; Philippians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 15:51)

1 Corinthians 15:50-53 " I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality." (NIV)

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How to Start Your Spiritual Journey (7 Illuminating Steps)

by Mateo · Apr 20, 2024 · 215 Comments

There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don’t you? – Rumi

Welcome, dear spiritual wanderer.

You’ve come to this page seeking guidance, and that’s what we intend to give you wholeheartedly.

Before you begin, we want to honor your self-sovereignty and inner instincts, so:

please remember to not accept anything as being “true” that I write or anything that anyone on the spiritual journey says/writes/teaches without first checking in with your own inner knowing.

No one is infallible, no matter what degree of awakening they have embodied, so I strongly encourage you to think for yourself, find out for yourself, and always, always trust your intuition. (This advice can save you a lot of pain on your journey!)

With that said:

If you’re short on time, scroll down to see the Table of Contents . Otherwise, I guarantee that this article is worth reading from start to finish (that’s why it’s the ‘Start Here’ page!).

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Let’s begin with the uncomfortable truth:

Most of us in the modern world have resigned ourselves to a cliched existence, indulging in endless distractions.

We go through life with minimal or pseudo-faith and avoid comprehending the emptiness of our lives. We are endlessly haunted by the shallowness of our relationships, neurotic issues, and  inescapable loneliness.

And yet there’s so much more to us as a species than what we really know.

You and I carry the most mysterious and magnificent qualities within us imaginable. Yet, we unknowingly guard and protect the greatest gift that is our  Souls from the world.

It’s so easy for us to feel meaningless when we perceive ourselves as mere cogs in society’s machine.

The truth is that we are much more than slaves of 9 to 5 jobs. We are capable of creating deeply meaningful, mystical, and fulfilling lives. We are capable of finding our true calling and personal destiny.

For centuries indigenous people throughout the world have known that to fully explore the depths of the Soul and reunite with Spirit we must go on a spiritual journey into the unknown lands within ourselves.

In many ancient cultures, they had Elders and Shamans to encourage and oversee these journeys toward a deeper spiritual existence. Sadly, these days in our own culture, we have lost such sacred rites and rituals. Instead, orthodox religion has replaced living  spirituality with a theoretical god , dismissing, and outlawing personal experimentation and union with the Divine.

On this page, my aim is to help you start navigating your spiritual journey, be a lone wolf, and listen to your soul’s calling to reunite with Spirit.

(If you need extra in-depth support after reading this article, I highly recommend checking out our All-in-One Bundle and Shadow & Light Membership – these offerings give you a wide selection of deep, illuminating, and powerful tools and resources to empower you on your journey.)

Table of contents

What is the spiritual journey, 12 signs you’re called to the spiritual journey (the ancient hero/ine’s path), the 3 worlds of the spiritual journey (which are you inhabiting), inner work vs. soul work, 5 phases of the spiritual seeker’s journey, how to start your spiritual journey (7 steps).

The spiritual journey is a personal quest we undertake to reconnect with our Souls, release attachment to the ego, and rediscover our True Nature .

In a nutshell, the spiritual journey is about returning to the Centre of our being : it’s a path traditionally undertaken by mystics , shamans, and sages.

But in this day and age where times have changed, and we’re suffering from collective soul loss , the spiritual journey is open and accessible to all people (and no longer just ascetics, monks, and other holy people). Indeed, listening to the Soul’s calling of reuniting with Spirit is our deepest longing and highest calling as a species.

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People have felt a pull toward something greater than themselves since the beginning of time.

Ancient cultures had many stories that served to illustrate the journey to fulfilling one’s destiny and experiencing Wholeness or Enlightenment . These journeys mythologist Joseph Campbell described as the “Calls to Adventure.”

A call to adventure is something we all experience at least once in life. When we embark on this adventure, we begin the process of gaining self-understanding, reclaiming our precious Soul gifts, and dissolving the blockages that obscure our Inner Light.

The archetype of the hero/heroine discovering their true spiritual nature goes back thousands of years. The Greeks told the story of Orpheus , who descended into the underworld to rescue his bride, Eurydice, from Hades. The Nordic people had their hero-warrior Beowulf , and the Sumerians wrote of Inanna , who battled her sister in the dark world. Throughout history, there have been so many stories of individuals who have struggled through hardship to find themselves. But of what importance are they to our path?

Essentially, these hero/ines symbolize our spiritual journeys , that is, leaving everything familiar behind, entering the unknown, encountering numerous unconscious monsters, and finally returning back home with a sense of renewed fulfillment and wisdom.

Here are 12 signs you’re being called to walk the spiritual journey of awakening:

• You feel lost in life
• You long for a place that feels like your ‘true home’
• You keep wondering what your meaning or purpose is
• You feel like you have a big destiny to fulfill (which is yet to be revealed)
• You sense that there’s much more to life than meets the eye
• You’re experiencing strange synchronicities, signs, and omens
• You’re shedding your old self and you’re transforming, but you don’t know who you truly are yet
• There’s a sense of nostalgia and nagging longing for something you can’t pinpoint
• You experience bouts of melancholy, depression, and existential crisis
• You feel extra sensitive and fragile
• A lot of what you once valued seems meaningless and empty
• It feels like the rug has been pulled out from underneath you, and you’re falling into a void

Can you relate to any of the above signs? If you can, you’re most certainly being called to embark on the spiritual journey.

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep. You must ask for what you really want. Don’t go back to sleep. People are going back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch. The door is round and open. Don’t go back to sleep. – Rumi 

At some point in life, we all experience the “call to adventure.” Often, our journeys start when we experience a sudden  spiritual awakening , kundalini awakening , or dark night of the soul . Often, without wanting to, we are cast onto the path of inner exploration.

Like you, I have wandered these paths and have at times wound up lost and confused. For this reason, I find it useful to map out the spiritual journey in a way that helps the human mind know where it is and where it will go next.

My Andean ancestry speaks of three worlds that we can experience in life: the Upper World (Hanaq Pacha), the Middle World (Kay Pacha), and the Lower World (Ukhu Pacha).

In many traditions and mythologies, these three worlds correspond to the different realms of Self.

The Upper World is the home of Spirit, the Underworld the home of Souls, and the Middle World is the home of the physical body and human ego .

Different practices and techniques are used in each of the three realms to help us spiritually mature and rediscover joy, peace, and nondual wholeness .

Below, I’ll explore each of these three realms with you:

Middle World

Purpose: Personality development

In our everyday lives, we function within the middle world. The middle world is responsible for our ego development, and yet many people on the spiritual path ignore this vital element of inner growth.

Without developing a healthy personality, our spiritual growth reaches a dead end because we are more prone to falling into many spiritual traps and pitfalls down the line (such as spiritual narcissism , spiritual materialism, and more).

In life, we all begin within the middle world or physical realm. As children and teenagers, we go through various years of personality change and growth. Finally, as adults, we have all developed unique personalities. Yet many of us fail to continue our self-development, getting lost in corporate jobs and the pursuit of money, status, and fame.

The goal of the middle world path is to develop a healthy personality or ego. Tasks involved in this process include the exploration of core emotional wounds, self-love , and the cultivation of authenticity. A healthy adult ego will be able to love freely, be vulnerable, express creativity, and display empathy towards others – which are vital in every area of life.

We cannot develop a healthy personality by using techniques from the Upper or Under World, such as meditation or shadow work. Instead, we must use inner work techniques that pertain to ego development and healing, such as assertiveness training, non-violent communication techniques, cognitive behavioral therapy, NLP, and other psychological avenues of self-development.

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Under World

Purpose: Soul discovery

Our Soul is the vital, mysterious, and wild core of our individual selves. It is the unique essence within each of us that goes deeper than our personalities.

Think of your Soul as a stream that is connected to the ocean of Spirit. Our Souls contain our destiny, purpose, gifts, and the ultimate significance of our individual lives. To access these deep layers and qualities, we must descend into the Under World of our unconscious minds.

Unfortunately, for thousands of years, our culture has “protected” us from the hardships and dangers of the descent into the Soul. This has been done through the establishment of comfortable, predictable, and clockwork lives that revolve around material pleasures and shallow values.

In fact, thanks to religious thought, the descent into our Under Worlds has been condemned as “evil” and wayward.  Only Shamanic cultures and a few Western mystical schools like Hermeticism and Alchemy have dedicated themselves to exploring the Under World.

The descent into the Under World has been so feared and avoided because it is a perilous journey. There is a reason why Christianity referred to this place as “hell.” Within our Under Worlds lie our repressed thoughts, feelings, desires, traumas, and denied gifts. Often when we descend, or inscend, into ourselves, we come across many demons, ghastly creatures, and other parts of our Shadow Selves that we’ve been unconsciously hiding from.

Yet despite the fact that the Under World journey can be such a harrowing and haunting experience, it is ultimately a powerful odyssey. Only by descending into our personal Under Worlds can we truly embrace our true life calling, talents, gifts, and deepest values.

Under World, or deeper inner work techniques, include practices that allow us to access altered states of consciousness . These may include practices such as  lucid dreaming , drumming, shadow work , shamanic trances, breathwork, vision quests, etc.

Upper World

Purpose: Uniting with Spirit

The Upper World journey, or that of the ascent, is what we often refer to as Self-Realization .

Inner Child Journal:

There comes a moment in our journey between the middle world and the underworld in which an equilibrium or inner spaciousness forms , allowing us to move up into the Upper World.

For example, it’s much harder to spiritually awaken to the Upper World when our unconscious minds are plagued with deep childhood traumas (that stem from the underworld), trust issues (underworld problem), and poor self-esteem (middle world problem).

The practice of inner work is what allows this inner space to emerge because it dissolves the contractions of the ego that hide our True Nature as Divine Consciousness.

We enter the path of ascent up into the Upper World when we learn to surrender our ego identification (known as ego death ) and Soul identification. It’s at this point of the path that soul work is needed – soul work, in this case, refers to doing the soul’s work of letting go, opening, and merging back into its original home of Spirit.

The experience and realization that the personal identity (or ego) is an illusory thought construct, and who we truly are is Infinite Consciousness, is what has been referred to as Self-Realization , Christ Consciousness , Buddha Nature, Nirvana, or Enlightenment.

This shift of consciousness involves our Infinite, Divine, Eternal, and Absolute Nature awakening from the dream of the separate egoic self. Techniques used to induce this inner shift of being are often found in the mystical schools of Zen, Kundalini, Taoism , Sufism, and disciplines such as meditation, self-inquiry , and yoga.

Note:  Unfortunately, many people in the spiritual community believe that spiritual ascension is all that is needed to experience peace and wholeness. As a result, the middle world and under world paths have been cast aside as if they don’t matter. However, only focusing on your “higher chakras,” cultivating positivity and Oneness with Spirit , creates lopsided individuals. When the darker and more down-to-earth elements of self-growth are ignored, the result is imbalanced and unhealthy individuals . As such, here on lonerwolf, we try to focus on exploring all three realms (the middle, under, and upper world) to create balance.

In the previous section, I mentioned inner work and soul work a few times. But what’s the difference? And how do both relate to the spiritual journey?

Within this website and the work of myself and Aletheia, inner work refers to the active exploration, illumination, and dissolution of blockages within the psyche. Inner work is a psychological process that helps us to heal and find inner harmony and wholeness on a human level.

Examples of inner work practices include the practice of self-love, inner child work, shadow work, body work, and anything that involves actively finding and releasing the contractions within the mind.

On the other hand, soul work is the more passive and receptive process of opening, surrendering, and resting within our True Nature (also known as Consciousness, Presence, Nondual Awareness, and Spirit). Soul work is, quite literally, doing the soul’s work of remembering and returning back to Source as our Ultimate Home and True Nature.

Examples of soul work practices include self-inquiry, prayer, contemplation, meditation, mirror work, and anything that involves cultivating a sense of being .

Both inner work and soul work are needed on our spiritual journeys to help us both wake up on a spiritual level and grow up on a human level. To avoid lopsided development and getting possessed by unresolved inner shadows (which can and do arise no matter what level of realization we’ve had), we need to explore both our human psychology and relax into our birthless, deathless True Nature.

Inner work makes the inner space for soul work to take place. Soul work helps to illuminate and sharpen our inner work. Both go hand-in-hand and are vital allies on our spiritual awakening journeys. As you get familiar with this website and our work, you’ll hear about both inner work and soul work.

Roughly speaking, there are about five phases of the spiritual journey (although, of course, there could be many more – but I’m just sharing the phases I’m aware of).

I refer to these as ‘ phases ‘ and not stages because the spiritual seeker’s journey is not a linear process that has a start and end; it is cyclical. It’s like the moon. It’s a spiraling dance of energy that is ever-deepening and changing – there is no “end,” even after you’ve had an enlightened shift in awareness.

Here’s a visual diagram of the Seeker’s Journey , which is the spiritual wheel of transformation that we base our work around on this website:

Below, you’ll find the five phases ruled by the Seeker, Apprentice, Warrior, Mystic, and Sage archetypes.

I’ve also linked each phase to the ten different parts of the journey that myself and Aletheia have discovered, crystallized, and defined after many years on the path:

1. Soul-searching

(Ruled by the Seeker archetype.)

This phase is divided into the following two parts (also linked to on the Seeker’s Journey page). Feel free to click on any for further guidance:

• The Spiritual Calling
• Resisting the Path

Summary: Phase one of the spiritual journey begins with a deep craving and longing for something more than mundane daily life. There may be a sense that life has become a dry, desolate, meaningless, and barren wasteland without some kind of spiritual dimension. This type of existential crisis can arise spontaneously due to a traumatic situation, mental or physical health issues, or simply due to one’s sensitive temperament. The result is a search for meaning, purpose, and greater spiritual connection – or what is commonly known as soul searching .

2. Awakening & learning

(Ruled by the Apprentice archetype.)

• Finding Guidance
• Starting the Journey

Summary: Awakening and learning is the next phase of the spiritual journey. Once one has listened to the ‘call to adventure’ and has begun searching for answers, the sense of inner deadness and stagnation lifts. The veil is pulled from our eyes. We awaken to fresh possibilities, new horizons, and deep insights. There is renewed hope, ecstatic zest for life, joyful anticipation, and a passion for learning, exploring, and growing. It’s as if the sun has finally emerged from its slumber, and we’re bathed in the dawning light of spiritual awakening .

3. Death & demons

(Ruled by the Warrior archetype.)

• Turning Inwards
• Facing the Darkness

Summary: As our spiritual journey matures, we eventually face a crossroads. To continue growing, we must enter through the gates of our personal Underworld and face our demons. We learn that the spiritual journey is beautiful, yes. But it’s also demanding. If we’re sincere about authentic spiritual growth, we need to illuminate our inner darkness, explore our shadow selves, and heal our buried traumas. This death of the spiritual ‘high’ of the previous phase can lead to much fear and confusion. The result is often an experience of the Dark Night of the Soul , a glimpse of ego death , or even a spiritual emergency where we step out of the ‘sunshine and rainbows’ world into the moonlit world of ghosts and ghouls.

4. Rebirth & reward

(Ruled by the Mystic archetype.)

• Illumination
• Traps & Pitfalls

Summary: Eventually, we emerge out of the other side of the Dark Night of the Soul, existential crisis, or ego death glimpse. We have been to hell and back – we’ve had our hearts ripped open and our minds excavated. But we arise victorious with heart and Soul blazing bright with clarity. This rebirth and reward often result in mystical experiences , moments of Satori (Enlightened awareness), and blissful heart openings. We may go through a new level of awakening, this time at an energetic level, via an experience known as the Kundalini awakening . However, this experience is not all love and light. There are many lurking shadows and spiritual traps to be wary of .

5. Illumination & sharing

(Ruled by the Sage archetype.)

• Integration

Summary: After the body, heart, and mind undergo this cleansing and purging journey, a deeper level of Illumination may begin to arise within. We’ll begin to integrate all the lessons we’ve learned, bringing them into our daily lives. This is the moment where we truly start walking the talk, integrating both the human and Divine aspects of our lived experience. As such, there is a strong desire within us to share what we’ve realized through the grace of Divinity (our True Nature) with those who need support. We may adopt the role of teacher, guide, creator, or mentor – or otherwise, embrace new ways of helping others through the power of creativity. Perhaps the key defining quality of this phase is a strong connection to one’s True Nature and a non-dual shift in awareness. There’s an intimate, inner-lived experience of the Divine as one’s true face, authentic essence , and ultimate home.

Again, the above five phases are by no means linear or static – they are cyclical and ever-deepening. Gradually, we discover that we are Life itself and that what we have longed and searched for has always been right here, right now !

Everyone’s spiritual journey is unique, ever-changing, and ongoing.

There is no single point at which we stop this inner transformation. In fact, the whole mistaken idea of reaching a state of “perfection” really only equals death and stagnation. And what happens when things stop growing and flowing? They become lethargic, break down, rot, and disintegrate.

While the demands for constant growth and evolution may be difficult to handle at times, they are necessary grit for the inner pearl to develop.

If you wish to find truth, peace, profound love, deep freedom, and your ultimate home, beginning your spiritual journey is not only important but crucial.

Shadow Work Journal:

Understandably, you might feel a bit intimidated and lost, not knowing where to start. As someone who has been on the spiritual journey for a long time and who has devoted their entire life’s work to the inner call, here are my tips:

1. Be gentle and go at your own pace

It’s normal to feel overwhelmed and a little inundated by the influx of information when first beginning your spiritual journey. My advice is to go slowly, be gentle, and go at your own pace. You don’t need to know every tiny detail of every field of wisdom ever created. (I know it’s tempting!)

Besides, everything that you’re learning about is already within you. Yes, you have all the answers you need at a Soul level because you are an expression of the Divine at your core. Everyone else is just a mirror of that.

So cut yourself some slack. The key is to go gently but deeply – that is how you will learn and grow the most.

2. Tune into the deepest yearning of your heart, your holy longing

What is it that you truly, deeply yearn for, above all else? What is the most ancient longing of your heart and Soul?

There are a myriad of reasons why people enter the spiritual journey, many of them stories created by the mind to build a better-looking ego. But beneath the desires of the mind, what does your heart want? Your heart is the doorway to your Soul, and your Soul is a unique expression of Spirit. So listen to your heart’s yearnings.

How do you listen to your heart? One of the best ways is to place a soft hand over your heart, let all thoughts go, and drop into a sense of stillness. Then ask yourself, “What is it that I truly, deeply yearn for, above all else?”

Do you long for peace, truth, freedom, love, happiness, healing, or something else? There are no right or wrong answers. The heart wants what it wants. But be aware that the mind may jump in and try to concoct a bunch of ideas, artificial longings, and idealistic stories. What you need to do is listen for the still, small, quiet voice within that responds with gentle clarity (not the loud, anxious, and abrasive voice of the mind).

Finding your holy longing will provide you with the fuel and compass to direct your spiritual search. Instead of being outwardly led by the egoic self, you’ll be inwardly led by the heart and Soul. You may even find that as you progress through your spiritual journey, your holy longing will evolve and mature. Let it!

3. Pay attention to philosophies, tools, or practices that intrigue you

Once you’ve figured out your holy longing, simply pay attention. Notice what spiritual fields, ideas, philosophies, and practices call to you that relate to your deepest calling. The spiritual journey doesn’t have to be something dry, monotone, and repetitive (unless you want it to be). This is a quest that can be playful, joyful, and passionate. In fact, you’ll likely get the most out of your spiritual path if you approach it from this heart-centered place. Neuroscience has proven that we learn the most when we’re having fun – so find your bliss. Walk a path with heart. This is the path you’re meant to be on.

4. Go deep-diving

One of the main issues that often arises on the spiritual path is a certain kind of spiritual materialism or spiritual window-shopping .

Jumping from practice to practice can be useful at the beginning (to become familiar with the territory). But if we get into the addictive habit of finding the “next and best” spiritual practice , tool, workshop, etc., we are doing ourselves a great disservice. We are not only approaching spirituality with a materialistic mindset, but we’re also avoiding the fundamental purpose of the spiritual path: to discover our True Nature.

Once you’ve done some dabbling here and there (this might involve watching YouTube videos, reading books, attending workshops, etc.), it’s time to slow down and commit to something. Don’t worry if you discover later down the road that the path you’re on is not for you, you can always change route. What’s important is that you slow down and commit to something to begin with – this is the only way to extract the nutrients, deep essential truths, and embodied wisdom that contribute to your awakening.

So go deep-diving and commit to something all the way through to the end. What paths, practices, and teachings speak to you on a profound level? What has benefited you the most? Begin to circle around that topic, practice, or path and dedicate your full attention to it. (And if there are a handful of paths, that’s okay too; stick with them, although it’s generally best to keep your focus simple.)

5. Be aware of sharks

You’ll meet many people on your spiritual path (whether online or in the flesh), and while some of these people will genuinely have your best interests in mind, others won’t. Yes, there are many ‘spiritual sharks’ out there, aka., there are sleazy, snake-oil salesmen and women who are consciously incentivized to use you for personal gain.

There are also some people (typically leaders of spiritual communities or certain gurus) who are totally unaware of their unconscious shadow motivations (but are equally as dangerous). So be discerning. Learn to trust your intuition and gut instincts . Tap into your inner lone wolf : that primal wisdom you carry inside that drove you to begin this quest to begin with.

Even if you do fall into the jaws of a shark, know that you can get out. Not only that, but you can actually use the experience as a lesson and fuel to grow even stronger. No one can take away your power from you unless you willingly give it to them. And even if you do, you can get it back.

6. Record what you’ve learned and experienced

We hear a lot of pretty-sounding words and mystical ideas on the spiritual path. But all of them mean little if we don’t actively find ways of absorbing them into our being.

One of the simplest ways of recording what you’ve learned and experienced is simply through the act of journaling . Have a special journal or diary that you dedicate to writing down your thoughts, experiences, ideas, and discoveries. You don’t need to be a good writer (or even good at spelling/grammar) to do this – forget about that! What matters is that you have a solid record that you can refer back to throughout your journey. (Learn more about how to journal .)

There are also other ways of recording what you’ve learned and experienced, such as creating pieces of art or composing music. Find whatever creative outlet suits you the most – that might even include creating a vlog where you go into your daily experience (and you can keep this private or share it with others).

Here are a variety of inner work Journals that we’ve created that might help you get started. »

7. Integrate and embody your spirituality

It’s easy to go spiritual window shopping and jump onto whatever new and exciting bandwagon emerges. But it takes much more strength of character, sincerity, and courage to integrate and embody what you’ve learned actively.

To integrate means to absorb something into your being and to make it a living and breathing part of you. To embody means to be an expression of what you have learned: to be the change you’re looking for, to infuse your life with the essence of what you’ve discovered.

There are numerous ways to integrate and embody your spirituality, but remember that this is an organic process that takes time. You cannot rush or force spiritual integration or embodiment – it is the natural product of spiritual ripening and maturation.

There are, however, numerous ways to begin the integration and embodiment part of your journey. Some of these inner work and soul work practices include:

• Mindfulness
• Contemplation
• Shadow Work
• Inner child work
• Self-Inquiry

Anything that helps you to slow down, be introspective, and go inward while encouraging present-moment awareness will help you to integrate and embody what you experience.

Instead of being a magical-sounding idea, you will actively live and express qualities such as lovingkindness, presence, and wisdom. But first, you need to be sincere and dedicated to this path.

In my honest opinion, no spiritual journey is balanced (or healthy) without some level of psychological healing. We need to focus not just on ascending to the Upper World but also on working with the Middle and Under World . See the following articles for more guidance:

• What is Inner Work? (& Why Most People Are Terrified By it)
• Spiritual Psychology: Why Meditation Isn’t Enough

The Spiritual Journey is a Valley, Not a Mountain

Wisdom tells me I am nothing, love tells me I am everything. Between the two, my life flows. ― Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Contrary to popular depiction, the spiritual journey isn’t like climbing a mountain.

We rarely start at the bottom and climb to the top. Instead, for most of us, the spiritual journey is like hiking through a series of beautiful but perilous range of valleys.

Our spiritual journeys alternate between periods of descending and ascending. In one period of our lives, we may cultivate our connection with Spirit, while in other parts, we may descend to the Soul to heal core wounds or the middle world to develop self-care .

Finally, it is very possible and also quite common to get hung up in these valleys. Many of us become lost, distracted, and even forget why we were trying to get to the top of the mountain in the first place. (See our article on traps of spiritual growth for more guidance.) However, with the appropriate guidance, sincerity, and persistence, we can make our way through.

In the end, you’ll find that the spiritual journey is like a mystical marriage between the ego, the Soul, and the Spirit. One cannot exist without the other. The whole experience is a nondual expression of Life living itself.

I truly hope this guide has given you a place to start. This whole website is based on giving free guidance for the spiritual awakening journey, so please feel free to poke around and learn some more. It’s our calling in life to help you with this. And it’s an honor for the two of us to be your supporters on this journey.

To stay connected and get weekly Soul-centered guidance for free, you’re welcome to subscribe to our LonerWolf Howl newsletter – it’s a joy to continue this journey with you as guides and companions!

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About Mateo

Mateo is a spiritual educator, guide, entrepreneur, and co-founder of one of the most influential and widely read spiritual websites on the internet. Born into a family with a history of drug addiction and mental illness, he was taught about the plight of the human condition from a young age. His mission is to help others experience freedom, wholeness, and peace in all stages of life. [Read More]

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Eternity in Christian Thought

The term “eternity” plays a key role in discussions about how the God of Western theism relates to time. These discussions have a long and venerable history. They are also of lively contemporary interest.

The reason for this long-standing and continued interest is straightforward. How one sees God’s relationship to time has repercussions throughout philosophy of religion and philosophical theology. How much and in what ways does God’s relationship to time, and thus his nature, differ from ours? How much can meaningfully be said about what God is like, as opposed to how God is not? How, if at all, can an unchanging God interact with the world, affect history, or respond to petitionary prayer? And even, how should one think of the relation between science and theistic religion; can empirical findings (dis-) confirm theism? Thus, a conception of how God relates to time is a defining element of any conception of God.

This entry provides an overview of some key positions on God and time and discusses arguments for and against divine timelessness. The final section outlines some other philosophical contexts in which the concept of eternity can play a role.

1. Terminology

2. methodology, 3.1 the loci classici, 3.2 sources in antiquity, 3.3 medieval thinkers, 4.1.1 pure atemporalism, 4.1.2 atemporal duration, 4.1.3 the time of timeless eternity, 4.2.1 pure temporalism, 4.2.2 relative timelessness, 4.2.3 timeless without and temporal with creation, 4.2.4 metrically amorphous time, 5.1 arguments from divine omniscience and tensed facts, 5.2 arguments from divine action, 5.3 arguments from divine personhood, 6.1 arguments from divine perfection, 6.2 arguments from divine foreknowledge, 6.3 arguments from relativity theory, 7. other debates about eternity, other internet resources, related entries.

“Theism” will here refer to the view that there is a God who is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent, who created the world, and who is still actively involved in the world.

In philosophical discussions about God and time, the term “eternity” has been used in different ways. On one usage, which will be followed here, “eternity” stands for the relationship to time that God has, whatever it is. When used in that way, the term is neutral between different ways of spelling out what God’s relationship to time is. Western theists agree that God is eternal; the task is to formulate and assess conceptions of what this eternality might amount to.

Broadly speaking, there have been two rival views of what God’s eternality consists in. On the first, God is timeless (divine timelessness); on the second, God is in time (divine temporality). Sometimes the term “eternity” is used to denote timelessness, but as mentioned, we will here use it as neutral between the timeless and temporal views. The term “everlasting” (or “sempiternal”) on the other hand, is mostly associated with the temporal view. On the temporal view, God is in time and thus exists at every time; there is no time at which God doesn’t exist.

This discussion inherits the complexities of two very intricate philosophical debates (about God, and about time). Given the nature of the topic, it is perhaps not unreasonable to wonder what methodology can be fruitfully employed here.

As the topic is the God of Western theism, there are constraints arising from relevant passages in Western Scripture. Much of the discussion focuses on the Judeo-Christian, especially the Christian, tradition. (But note that specific Christian doctrines such as the doctrine of the Trinity or the Incarnation, while closely related, are not the focus here; for more on these, see, e.g., (Le Poidevin 2023).) The Bible contains many passages calling God eternal, as well as ones that elaborate on God’s eternality. For example, there are passages telling us that God’s “years have no end” (Ps. 102:27, all quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version) and that God exists “from everlasting to everlasting” (Pss. 90:2, 103:17). God says, “let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years” (Gen. 1:14), and “I am the first and I am the last” (Isa. 44:6). Moreover, we are told that God promised us eternal life “before the ages began” (Titus 1:2), and that “He himself is before all things” (Col. 1:17). These passages require interpretation, and that’s where the philosophical work begins (see, e.g., Leftow 2005 for a formulation of constraints based on these passages).

One broad methodological choice concerns whether or not to let one’s theological commitments determine one’s views about the metaphysics, or even the physics of time. A salient alternative would be to do the opposite, for example by taking as one’s starting point the metaphysical view of time suggested by our best physical theories and then drawing out any theological implications. A third approach might involve giving equal weight to both poles and seeking to come to a coherent and adequate conception of both time and God as part of the same endeavor. There probably exist a variety of stances across the philosophical and theological landscapes (for explicit reflection on related methodological questions see, e.g., Murray & Rea 2008: 47; Mullins 2016: Ch. 1).

3. Brief Historical Remarks

Until recently, the timelessness view dominated in both philosophy and theology. For that reason, much of the historical discussion revolves around that view.

The loci classici are to be found in Book XI of the Confessions of Augustine (354–430) and Book V of Boethius’s (480–c.525) The Consolation of Philosophy . (The extent to which the Platonism of Philo of Alexandria [c. 25 BCE–CE 40], particularly as applied to the idea of creation [for example, in his De opificio mundi ] was influential, is not clear.) However, the styles of these two thinkers are very different. Boethius presents the idea of timeless eternity as straightforward and relatively problem-free. Augustine wrestles with the idea and expresses continual puzzlement at the idea of time itself and with it the contrasting idea of timeless eternity.

In Boethius, the contrast is between timeless eternity, which only God enjoys, and everlastingness, which (following Plato) the world itself possesses.

It is the common judgement, then, of all creatures that live by reason that God is eternal. So let us consider the nature of eternity, for this will make clear to us both the nature of God and his manner of knowing. Eternity, then, is the complete, simultaneous and perfect possession of everlasting life; this will be clear from a comparison with creatures that exist in time. …for it is one thing to progress like the world in Plato’s theory through everlasting life, and another thing to have embraced the whole of everlasting life in one simultaneous present. (Boethius Consolation , V.VI., transl. V. E. Watts 1969)

Boethius uses his view of eternity to address the problem of divine foreknowledge (see section 6.2 ). If God knows beforehand what we will do then how can we act freely? His answer is that this problem dissolves in the face of the fact that God does not know anything beforehand but has an immediate, atemporal knowledge of all things.

In Boethius, we find several analogies for timeless eternity. One is that between timeless eternity and the centre of a circle. The thought is that the centre bears the same relation to any point on the circumference of the circle, and in the same way timeless eternity bears the same relation to anything in time. (Aquinas develops this analogy later.) Another analogy is that between God’s timelessly eternal vision and someone at the summit of a hill taking in at a glance what is taking place beneath her.

Augustine connects God’s timeless eternity to God’s being the cause of all times and God’s immutability.

What times existed which were not brought into being by you? Or how could they pass if they never had existence? Since, therefore, you are the cause of all times, if any time existed before you made heaven and earth, how can anyone say that you abstained from working? (Augustine, Confessions , XI. xiii (15)). It is not in time that you precede times. Otherwise you would not precede all times. In the sublimity of an eternity which is always in the present, you are before all things past and transcend all things future, because they are still to come. (Augustine, Confessions , XI. xiii (16)). In you it is not one thing to be and another to live: the supreme degree of being and the supreme degree of life are one and the same thing. You are being in a supreme degree and are immutable. In you the present day has no ending, and yet in you it has its end: “all these things have their being in you” (Rom.11.36). They would have no way of passing away unless you set a limit to them. Because “your years do not fail” (Ps.101.28), your years are one Today. (Augustine, Confessions , I. vi (10))

As mentioned, Boethius finds the source of his conception of eternity in Plato. In the Timaeus (37E6–38A6) Plato contrasts the eternal forms with the time-bound created world, the world of change and becoming. Time was created along with the heaven (38B5)—meaning at least that time is the measure of change, and perhaps that it is identical with the movements of the heavenly bodies (a view later critiqued by Augustine ( Confessions , Book XI. xxiii)). Plato’s idea of eternity in the Timaeus seems to be that of a timeless duration. The Forms endure in the temporal order in which “time is the moving image of eternity”. One can trace a similar idea of timeless eternity back to Parmenides (though exactly what he means is the subject of scholarly dispute).

While (in some places at least) Plato connects the necessary character of the Forms to timelessness, in Aristotle the connection is between necessity and everlastingness. What is necessary is what exists at all times. What is contingent is what at some time is not. God, being necessary, is everlasting. It may be said that the everlasting is not bounded by time (though it is unbounded in a weaker sense than Plato ascribes to the Forms) in that what exists everlastingly cannot age ( Physics 221b30). Philo of Alexandria is thought to be the first to ascribe timelessness to God, to the God of the Jewish Scriptures. In Plotinus (ca. 185–254) timelessness and life are for the first time identified. Nous is eternal and beyond time, enjoying duration without succession.

Anselm (c. 1033–1109) presents a view similar to that of Boethius and Augustine.

Suppose, on the other hand, that it exists as a whole in individual times severally and distinctly. (A human being, for instance, exists as a whole yesterday, today and tomorrow.) In this case we should, properly, say that it was, is and will be. In which case its time-span is not simultaneously a whole. Rather it is stretched out in parts through the parts of time. But its time-span is its eternity and its eternity is precisely itself. The supreme essence, therefore, would be cut up into parts along the divisions of time. (Anselm, Monologion , Ch. 21)

For Anselm, the timeless eternity of God follows from God’s being that than which nothing greater can be conceived (cf. section 6.1 ). In the Proslogion , Anselm articulates a “grammar” of the divine powers, which determines what it makes sense to say of the most perfect being, including that being’s timelessness.

In the medieval period, the discussion embraces not only Christian but also Jewish and Islamic thinkers. In keeping with the sharp line drawn between the Creator and creation, Aquinas and the Jewish thinker Moses Maimonides (1131–1204) (who greatly influenced Aquinas) argue that God’s timeless eternity ought to be understood primarily in negative terms. For Aquinas, God’s timeless eternity is unending, lacking both beginning and end, and an instantaneous whole lacking succession. It is a correlate of divine simplicity (see the SEP entry on divine simplicity ), and it is incapable of being defined or fully grasped by a creature. For Aquinas too, timeless eternity constitutes part of the “grammar” of talking about God. Since God is timelessly eternal it does not make any sense to ask how many years God has existed, or whether he is growing old, or what will he be doing later on in the year.

Despite differences with Thomas Aquinas regarding the nature of God’s relation to time, Duns Scotus (c.1266–1308) seems to have upheld divine timelessness (though see Leftow 1991: 228). In general, it would seem that commitment to divine simplicity, widespread if not universal in the medieval period, entails a commitment to divine timelessness (Mullins 2016: Ch. 3).

4. Some Views on God and Time

It has recently been suggested that there are actually two orthogonal issues regarding God’s relationship to time: (1) whether God is located in our spacetime—the spacetime investigated by modern physics; and (2) whether God is eternal or everlasting. (Note that this is the terminology not employed here.) God could be eternal, with a life that’s not marked by temporal succession, while being located at every spacetime point. Conversely, God could be everlasting while not located in physical spacetime at all (Murray & Rea 2008: Ch. 2).

At first sight, this distinction can seem to leave the second issue somewhat mysterious: if it is not being located in our, physical spacetime, then what is it? What can it mean to say that an entity is everlasting, or exists at all times, if that doesn’t commit one to a view on whether that entity is located in spacetime? What then are times—are they not somehow to be understood in terms of spacetime, ultimately?

But there are two distinct issues in the vicinity. One is about God’s life, or, for want of a better phrase, the nature of God’s experience. Whether or not a being experiences succession, and more generally, what the (a)temporal features of its experience are, is distinct from whether or not that being is located in spacetime.

However, there are also connections between these issues. The beings we are most familiar with, such as ourselves, are spatiotemporal and experience temporal succession; and for us, these facts are related. It is partly because we are located in spacetime that we experience succession, and there are interesting questions about the details of this connection.

This section outlines some views on God and time, with a focus on the contemporary literature; further reading suggestions appear at the end of this section. Each view may involve claims both about whether God is located in time/spacetime, and about (a)temporal features of God’s experience. Specifically, timelessness views may involve both the claim that God is not located in time/spacetime, and the claim that God’s life is atemporal, for example in the sense that God doesn’t experience succession. Similarly, temporal views may involve both the claim that God is in time/spacetime and that God’s life is temporal, for example in the sense that God experiences succession.

4.1 Divine Timelessness

On this view, God is not located in time and God’s life does not have any temporal features. This is a natural first gloss of the timelessness position. However, few defenders of divine timelessness sign up to this view. It has been suggested that Maimonides and Schleiermacher may hold it (Leftow 2005; actually, the view Leftow attributes to these authors is that God has no “typically temporal properties” (TTPs); see the end of section 4.1.3 ).

Boethius has strongly influenced the contemporary landscape. Much of this influence flows through work by Eleonore Stump and Norman Kretzmann (hereafter S&K 1981, 1987, 1992).

Recall Boethius ( Consolation , V.VI., here in a different translation, by Stewart et al. 1973): “Eternity […] is the whole, simultaneous, and perfect possession of boundless life”. Or again, eternity is the complete possession all at once of illimitable life.

Stump and Kretzmann distill four ingredients from this claim.

• A timeless being has life (of a non-biological kind), i.e. is alive. That is, abstracta (if there are any), like numbers or sets, don’t count. Neither would the world, even if it was sempiternal.
• The life of a timeless being is without limit and cannot be limited. It cannot begin or end. It is impossible for it not to have infinite duration.
• The life of a timeless being therefore involves a special sort of, atemporal, duration.
• A timeless being possesses its life all at once, completely. That is, it doesn’t experience succession. This, according to Stump and Kretzmann, is what makes it the case that a timeless being is outside of time. By contrast, a living being in time experiences succession, only ever possessing one moment of its life at a time.

Not only does a timeless being not experience succession, but its life’s events don’t involve succession. Since change requires succession, a timeless being doesn’t change. But a timeless being is still presently alive in some sense of “presently”. Moreover, the events in that being’s life are simultaneous in some sense, both with each other and with temporal items.

To show how, Stump and Kretzmann coin the notion of Eternal-Temporal Simultaneity (“ET-simultaneity”). First, define an “eternal present” to be an infinitely extended, pastless, futureless duration (strictly speaking, on the terminology used here, it should be “timeless present”). Then let Temporal Simultaneity (“T-simultaneity”) be existence/occurrence at the same time, and let Eternal Simultaneity (“E-simultaneity”) be existence/occurrence at the same eternal present. Each involves only one mode of existence, namely either the temporal or the eternal. ET-simultaneity, by contrast, relates items in different modes of existence, one temporal, and one eternal.

Stump & Kretzmann base their definition of ET-simultaneity on notions borrowed from some presentations of special relativity:

Let “\(x\)” and “\(y\)” range over entities and events. […] (ET) For every \(x\) and every \(y\), \(x\) and \(y\) are ET-simultaneous if and only if: i. either \(x\) is eternal and \(y\) is temporal, or vice versa; and ii. for some observer, \(A\), in the unique eternal reference frame, \(x\) and \(y\) are both present—that is, either \(x\) is eternally present and \(y\) is observed as temporally present, or vice versa; and iii. for some observer, \(B\), in one of the infinitely many temporal reference frames, \(x\) and \(y\) are both present—that is, either \(x\) is observed as eternally present and \(y\) is temporally present, or vice versa. (S&K 1981: 439)

They also offer the following image. Imagine two parallel horizontal lines. The lower line represents time, and the upper one represents timeless eternity. Presentness is represented by light. The temporal present is represented by a light that moves steadily along the lower line, while the eternal present is represented by the upper line being lit all at once. Each dot in the lower line, when it is temporally present, is ET-simultaneous with the whole of the upper line. Or at least this is so from the viewpoint of that time. From the viewpoint of eternity, the entire lower line is lit up; each time “insofar as [it] is temporally present” is ET-simultaneous with the whole upper line (S&K 1992: 475).

Since, by definition, two items can only be ET-simultaneous if one is temporal and the other eternal, and since any given item is only one of these, ET-simultaneity is not reflexive; in fact, it never holds between an entity and itself. Nor is it transitive; in fact, when \(x\) and \(y\) are ET-simultaneous and \(y\) and \(z\) are too, \(x\) and \(z\) never are. The non-transitivity of ET-simultaneity is needed to solve a pressing problem. If \(t\) is simultaneous with eternity, and eternity is simultaneous with \(t'\), then \(t\) is simultaneous with \(t'\). So, all times collapse into one:

But, on St. Thomas’ view, my typing of this paper is simultaneous with the whole of eternity. Again, on his view, the great fire of Rome is simultaneous with the whole of eternity. Therefore, while I type these very words, Nero fiddles heartlessly on. (Kenny 1979: 38–9)

The Stump & Kretzmann proposal has generated much discussion. Here are three questions that have been raised.

First, is the notion of an atemporal duration coherent? (See Fitzgerald 1985; also Craig 1999; Nelson 1987; Helm 1988: 35.) What licenses speaking of a duration here? The eternal present is supposed not to be pointlike, but to involve an infinite stretch or extension of some kind. This suggests that it should possess some of the formal features of extension. For example, it should be possible for two particulars to have the same or different amounts of the extension. If this is not the case with atemporal duration, then how is it a duration? And if it is the case, then how is it not a temporal duration?

A proponent of this view may insist that such features are not possessed by atemporal duration, because such features are had only if the extension in question is divisible (S&K 1987, 1992). And the eternal present is not. In support of this, they may suggest that not even all temporal extension is divisible. Consider our temporal experience on short time scales and the doctrine of the “specious present”. On that doctrine, temporal experience involves a temporally extended content. Perhaps this is not even conceptually divisible, even though it’s a temporal extension (S&K 1992: 468). The comparison is particularly apt if one wants to think of the eternal present as God’s specious present encompassing all of time (Alston 1984, also Leftow 1991: 143; though see Oppy 1998, in Other Internet Resources, for a critique of this idea).

Moreover (they may add), even if all temporal extension is divisible, this doesn’t show that all extension is. Pressed to justify their use of the term “extension” and explain its connection to ordinary usage, they point to other cases in theology of irreducibly analogical predication (see Rogers 1994 for objections to this move).

Second, what can it mean for something eternally present to observe something as in the temporal present, and vice versa? (See Lewis 1984; also Nelson 1987; Padgett 1992: 69; Swinburne 1993.) Suppose something eternal observes something as temporally present. If that means it observes something that comes to be, then doesn’t the observation itself come to be, making the being temporal? Conversely, how can a temporal entity observe something as being eternal? How can it observe anything without bringing that thing into the temporal series? After all, the event of \(x\)’s observing \(y\) at \(t\) is identical with the event of \(y\)’s being observed by \(x\) at \(t\).

Consider this revised definition of ET-simultaneity:

Does this provide an answer to the objection, or does it rely on one? As pointed out by Brian Leftow in a similar context (Leftow 1991: 173; also Fales 1997), on the view proposed, the temporal and the eternal can enter into causal relations only if they are in some sense simultaneous. That is the reason ET-simultaneity is invoked. If one then relies on a notion of ET-causality in the definition of ET-simultaneity one faces a problem of circularity.

Third, what role, if any, is special relativity playing in the proposal? The intended role is a considerable one. Considerations of the relativity of simultaneity are supposed to show that the difficulties with the notion of ET-simultaneity are “by no means unique” and “cannot be assumed to be difficulties in the concepts of ET-simultaneity or of eternity themselves” (S&K 1981: 439). But it is hard to see how they could show this. Stump and Kretzmann emphasize the finding that simultaneity is a three-place relation and present it as a response to a threat of incoherence (two distant events being both “simultaneous […] and not simultaneous” (S&K 1981: 437)). But the difficulties with ET-simultaneity arise whether it is two-place or three-place. They pertain to spelling out what an eternal present and the unique eternal frame of reference might be, and how there can be causal relations, including observational ones, between a being in it and us. No comparable difficulties are involved in special relativity (Fales 1997; also Padgett 1992: 71; Craig 2009).

For Brian Leftow, the central idea is that all things in time are also, with God, in timeless eternity. He finds this idea in Anselm. Like in the Stump and Kretzmann proposal, the idea is given a contemporary twist through appeals to the notion of a reference frame and special relativity.

Consider the claim that God has no spatial location. Since there can be a spatial distance only between things or locations in space, this implies that there is no spatial distance between God and things in space. From this, Leftow infers that the distance between God and any thing in space is zero (the “Zero Thesis”) (Leftow 1991: 222).

The Zero Thesis says not only that the distance between God and any spatial thing is zero, but also that it always is zero. Therefore nothing ever moves with respect to God. Moreover, all change supervenes on motion, e.g., change in color supervenes on motion in microparticles. So there is no change with respect to God (Leftow 1991: 227). Therefore, God and all spatial things share a frame of reference, the reference frame of eternity, in which nothing changes. In this reference frame, all events are simultaneous, including God’s actions and their effects. That is, they all occur at eternity, and eternity is something like another time, so they are all simultaneous. But in other, temporal reference frames, this is not the case. In these, God’s actions occur at eternity but their effects occur at particular points in time. So in these frames, they are nonsimultaneous. And this is where special relativity comes in. After all, the relativity of simultaneity shows that events simultaneous in one frame of reference may be nonsimultaneous in others.

Unfortunately, the Zero Thesis and Leftow’s case for it are problematic. From the fact that there is no spatial distance between spatial things and God, it does not follow that the spatial distance between spatial things and God is zero. A similar inference leads one to claim that all spatial things are spatially contiguous with yellow and the number 3. Leftow is of course aware of this consequence, and accepts it as a surprising finding about yellow and the number 3; he argues that the Zero Thesis only seems problematic because one fails to notice that a distance of zero is just an absence of distance (Leftow 1991: 225). However, a distance of zero would seem to be a distance, not an absence of distance (Oppy 1998, in Other Internet Resources).

As before, it’s hard to see how talk of reference frames and appeals to the relativity of simultaneity can be helpful or even relevant. A reference frame is a system of physical devices such as measuring rods and clocks that allow an observer to fix the positions of events. It’s not clear how timeless eternity can be such a system. Nor is it clear how timeless eternity can, in addition, be (like) a time, simultaneity with which can be the outcome of measurements.

Before turning to further elements of Leftow’s view, it is useful to pause to describe some background on the metaphysics of time (see also the SEP entries on time , John M.E. McTaggart , and being and becoming in modern physics ). McTaggart distinguished between the A-series and the B-series of events. The A-series runs from the future through the present and into the past, while the B-series runs from earlier to later (McTaggart 1908). This distinction survives in the form of the contemporary opposition between the B-theory and (various versions of) the A-theory of time.

According to the B-theory (tenseless theory, block universe view), (a) all times and/or events exist and are equally real (this is known as eternalism—not to be confused with divine timelessness which has also sometimes gone by the same name); and (b) there is a complete tenseless description of temporal reality. A tenseless description is one that stays accurate, because it mentions only such things as which events happen when, and how they are temporally related to one another. So it mentions only facts about B-relations like simultaneity and succession. Call these tenseless facts. The B-theory combines eternalism with the claim that there is a complete description of temporal reality, a description of temporal reality at its most fundamental, that doesn’t mention any tensed facts, like that it’s 12:00 now.

Opposed to this are various versions of the A-theory, which deny one or both of (a) and (b). What these A-theoretic views (including eternalist and non-eternalist ones, like presentism or the growing block view) have in common is that they metaphysically privilege one time. Fundamental tensed facts capture this privilege. One prominent motivation for the A-theory is the conviction that time passes (robustly—i.e. in a sense that goes beyond mere B-theoretic temporal succession (see Skow 2015: 2); in what follows that’s what I mean by “temporal passage”). As time passes, the tensed facts change: first it’s a fundamental fact that it’s 12:00, then that it’s 12:01.

Now return to Leftow’s view. Let A-occurring be occurring now, and let B-occurring be occurring at a certain temporal location t that is now. (This is intended to be continuous with McTaggart’s distinction.) B-occurring entails A-occurring: if something occurs at a temporal B-location t that is now, it occurs now. But not vice versa. Something can occur now without occurring at a temporal B-location t that is now. Something can, that is, A-occur without B-occurring. Now define A-simultaneity as occurring “at the same now”. B-simultaneity, by contrast, is having the same temporal B-location in some B-series. If two events are B-simultaneous and they B-occur (i.e. they are located at the same B-temporal location that is now), they are A-simultaneous. And if two events occur at the same atemporal now and A-occur (i.e. occur now), they are also A-simultaneous.

The upshot is that

the A-simultaneity that obtains between a timeless God and temporal entities is univocal with the A-simultaneity that obtains between temporal entities. (Leftow 1991: 239)

This would make the relation between temporal entities and the timeless God less mysterious than it is on the Stump & Kretzmann proposal, on which ET-simultaneity is sui generis, obtaining only between one temporal and one eternal relatum.

But this seems to be an advance that was gained by stipulation, because the discussion started thus: “[L]et us so understand ‘now’ that occurring now does not entail having a position in a B-series of earlier and later events. That is, let us in effect take ‘now’ and ‘occurring now’ as primitive terms univocally applicable to temporal and eternal or timeless things” (Leftow 1991: 239). It’s not surprising that given this initial stipulation, the ensuing definitions allow one to say that the A-simultaneity that obtains between temporal entities is the same relation that obtains between a timeless God and temporal entities.

According to Leftow, there can be no change in (timeless) eternity, and in eternity, all events happen (A-) simultaneously. However, in some places eternity is instead described as involving succession, namely as consisting of a number of different B-series corresponding to different temporal reference frames (Leftow 1991: 239). Prima facie , these are different, incompatible ideas. B-theorists, who hold that time, fundamentally, consists of events standing in B-relations of precedence and simultaneity, do not also hold that all of time collapses to a single time.

This is relevant to the notion of Quasi-Temporal Eternality (QTE, Leftow 1991: 120–2). Unlike Stump & Kretzmann, Leftow holds that atemporal duration, understood as QTE, involves distinct points but not parts. These points are (at least in some sense) earlier and later than one another, but they do not stand in the relation of succession. This seemingly paradoxical claim is partly defended via appeals to the B-theory. The idea is that Boethian eternity is like an extension in B-time, and that a QTE being’s life contains earlier and later points with no succession between them. In this respect, we are told, it is like life in B-time, only without an illusion of temporal passage.

There is a danger here of misinterpreting the B-theory. While the B-theory doesn’t posit temporal passage, it does posit succession. Relatedly, the traditional project of squaring our temporal experience with the B-theory is about explaining away an illusion of temporal passage, not about explaining away an illusion of temporal succession (see the SEP entry on the experience and perception of time ). Since the B-theory posits succession (a B-relation), an experience of succession is non-illusory, on the B-theory. This makes trouble for Leftow’s appeals to the B-theory. After all, Leftow holds that a QTE being’s life, in which all times are experienced at once, is what a non-illusory experience of B-time would be like (Leftow 1991: 122). In other words, the thought is that an experience of temporal succession is illusory, on the B-theory.

Leftow also suggests that the sense in which QTE involves earlier and later points is not a temporal one, but a logical one. However, logical priority is not temporal priority, nor is it relevantly like temporal priority (Rogers 1994: 11).

A more recent idea is that of a typically temporal property (TTP). A property is a TTP if a term predicating it is “part of a definition of being temporal or figures appropriately in the right sort of nondefining sufficient condition for being temporal” (Leftow 2002). The right sort is for example “necessarily, whatever is past was temporal” rather than “necessarily, whatever is a pig is temporal”. The thought is that just like being bipedal helps make us human without being sufficient for making us human, so, e.g., being present helps make things temporal without being sufficient for making things temporal (and so there can be an timeless eternal present a la Boethius).

4.2 Divine Temporality

In recent times, there has been a notable shift away from divine timelessness. There are many different kinds of views that fall under the heading of divine temporality; many of these could also be classified as “intermediate” views. As in 4.1, the list is of course far from exhaustive.

Note that while Open Theism has been part of the shift away from divine timelessness, the position arises specifically in relation to the topic of divine foreknowledge. Open Theism says that God does not know which choices we will freely make in the future, because there is nothing yet to be known; here, free choice is understood along libertarian lines and the future is taken to be genuinely open in some metaphysically significant sense. For more on Open Theism, see Pinnock et al. 1994, Zimmerman 2010, Rice 2020, Rissler (Other Internet Resources), and the SEP entry on divine foreknowledge .

On this view, God is located at all times, God experiences succession, and God has lived through and will live through a non-finite past and future. The idea here is that God is in (our, physical) time/spacetime, and God is a temporal being in just the way we are, except that the temporal extent of God’s life is infinite. Compared to other temporal views, this one is conceptually straightforward. Arguably, however, it is in tension with current cosmology, which suggests that the universe has a finite past. Insofar as the view implies that God is bound by, or has no power over time, it may also be at odds with some of the constraints arising from Western Scripture (see section 2 ). The view is found at least in process theologians like Charles Hartshorne (Hartshorne 1947).

On Alan Padgett’s view, God changes, so God is temporal. However, timelessness is not abandoned; instead, it is redefined.

[…] I have not abandoned timelessness. Instead, I have redefined “God is timeless” to mean that God is relatively timeless, i.e. he is not measured by time nor is he affected by the negative aspects of temporal passage. (Padgett 1992: 146; also 2001)

The idea is that God’s time is non-identical with our, “Measured Time”.

“Measured Time” is “the specifically human time of our history and our universe: the time of seconds, days, and centuries; the time of our space-time” (Padgett 1992: 130). In that sense of “time”, God is timeless. However, God is not timeless in the strict sense in which “time” refers to any kind of temporality, because God is in his own time. Does that mean God is only in his time and not in ours? No, he is in our time too (p. 131—at least saying this is “philosophically acceptable” (p. 126)), as we are in his. It’s just that he transcends our time. What does it mean to transcend our time? It means that God is the ground of time, that he is not negatively affected by the passage of time, and (things get a little circular here), that he is relatively timeless.

One question one might have about this is what “Measured Time” and “God’s time” are, and how plausible it is to think there are both. Padgett maintains that in everyday speech, “time” refers “not to an ontological category” but to “the human time of our history and our universe” (1992: 130). The distinction is supported by appeals to the differences between this sense of “time” and “the strict ontological sense of ‘time’ used in philosophy” (p. 140). But this may still leave one wondering about the distinction. For one thing, few contemporary ontologists take themselves to be investigating a time distinct from “the human time of our history and our universe”. Nor do they tend to think of the time of the universe as specifically human. For another, there are a number of different philosophical views about time.

William Lane Craig’s view is that God is timeless without creation, and temporal with creation (Craig 2000). God exists timelessly “without” creation rather than before creation, because there isn’t literally a before. And so it can’t literally be the case that God becomes temporal, since becoming anything involves being first one thing and then the other. Nonetheless, God is “timeless without creation and temporal subsequent to creation ”, God “enters time at the moment of creation” (Craig 2000: 33). God exists changelessly and timelessly, but by creating, God undergoes an extrinsic change “which draws Him into time” (Craig 2000: 29).

The problem is that even extrinsic change still presupposes a before and after (Leftow 2005: 66). Craig is aware of the difficulty:

[O]n such a view, there seem to be two phases of God’s life, a timeless phase and a temporal phase, and the timeless phase seems to have existed earlier than the temporal phase. But this is logically incoherent, since to stand in a relation of earlier than is by all accounts to be temporal. (Craig 2000: 32)

His solution is

that “prior” to creation there literally are no intervals of time […] no earlier and later, no enduring through successive intervals and, hence, no waiting, no temporal becoming. This state would pass away, not successively, but as a whole, at the moment of creation, when time begins.

And this state, he says, “looks suspiciously like a state of timelessness” (Craig 2000: 33).

But this solution looks suspiciously like a re-statement of the view. The problem was that we could only talk of a “before” in quotation marks. Yet we needed there to literally be such a before on the view in question. (This is unless we decline to make literal sense of all this, but that is not Craig’s approach.) What can it mean to say God underwent a change at the end of which God was temporal? Craig’s answer seems to be that there is timelessness before time’s beginning, or rather, “before” time’s beginning.

Craig endorses Padgett’s distinction between “Measured Time” and “Ontological Time” (God’s time). Unlike Padgett, he identifies the latter with Newton’s absolute time. He defends a “neo-Lorentzian” interpretation of special relativity, according to which there is a privileged reference frame that is in principle undetectable due to the effective Lorentz invariance of the dynamical laws. In addition, he points to the cosmic time of some general relativistic spacetime models as a candidate for absolute time. Each of these claims is made in support of a strong prior commitment to the A-theory, shared with Padgett. However, each claim faces problems, and their connection is unclear, since the “neo-Lorentzian” approach to special relativity doesn’t allow for as natural a development in the direction of general relativity as does the standard approach (see, e.g., Balashov & Janssen 2003, Wüthrich 2013).

Craig and Padgett differ over whether cosmic time gives a “proper measure” of God’s time, and thus effectively over whether, on this kind of view, we have any epistemic access to God’s time (which we are also in). Craig answers in the affirmative, but still hesitates to identify cosmic time with God’s time, preferring instead to say that the two “coincide” (Craig 1990: 344).

Richard Swinburne originally defends timelessness (Swinburne 1965), but then switches allegiance to a temporal view. According to his later view, before creation God lives alone in a metrically amorphous time (Swinburne 1977, 1993, 1994). (Padgett also describes God’s time as metrically amorphous.) Once God creates the world and institutes the laws of nature, time acquires a metric. There then begin to be facts of the matter about how long temporal intervals are.

Further Reading:

• Defenses of Divine Timelessness: Helm 1988, 2001; Yates 1990; Rogers 2000, 2007; Dolezal 2017; Duby 2022.
• Defenses of Divine Temporality: Lucas 1973, 1989; Wolterstorff 1975, 2000a,b, 2001; Hasker 1989, 2002; Zimmerman 2002; DeWeese 2002, 2004; Mullins 2016.

5. Arguments against Divine Timelessness

Recall that the theistic God is omniscient. Presumably then, God knows what temporal reality is like at its most fundamental. If there are fundamental tensed facts (like that it’s 12:00), God knows them. But since these facts change, what God knows changes constantly. So God changes constantly; so God is in time.

Therefore, if the A-theory is true, then God is temporal. (From (4), (5), (6), (7))

Various versions of this argument have been defended (Craig 2000, 2001; DeWeese 2004; Hasker 2002; Kretzmann 1966; Padgett 1992, 2001; Wolterstorff 1975; Mullins 2016: Ch. 4). Since many participants of the debate think the A-theory is true, it is treated as an argument for divine temporality. In response, advocates of timelessness challenge one or more of the argument’s premises (Wierenga 1989, 2002; Alston 1989a; Ganssle 1993, 1995, 2002). Others respond by giving up on the A-theory and accepting the B-theory (Helm 1988, 2001; Rogers 2000). The thought is that this argument can’t be run for the B-theory, since on the B-theory, the fundamental (tenseless) temporal facts don’t change. The parallel argument would get stuck at the analogue of step (5): it’s not the case that if God knows fundamental tenseless facts, then what God knows changes. So while the argument itself is silent on whether the B-theory allows one to combine timelessness with omniscience, part of the point of making it is that the parallel argument can’t be run for the B-theory.

One might, however, wonder whether there are arguments in the vicinity of Argument 1 that can be run on the B-theory too. Consider first the following, somewhat similar argument.

Therefore, God is temporal. (From (5′), (6), (7))

Unlike in the case of Argument 1, the connection to the A-theory here is not straightforward. There is certainly a sense in which (4′) is true on the B-theory, even though there is, on the B-theory, no change in the fundamental temporal facts. At each time, that time is present—not in the absolute, metaphysically privileged sense of the A-theory, but in a relative, perspectival sense. Each time is present at itself, just like each spatial location is here relative to itself. Moreover, on a standard B-theoretic account of tensed language (e.g., Mozersky 2015; but see Torre 2010 for an alternative account), at each of those times, a temporal subject S can know, and have a true belief about, what time it is. At noon, S believes that it is noon; that belief is made true by a tenseless fact, such as that S holds the belief at (a time simultaneous with) noon. At 12:01, S believes truly that it is 12:01, where this belief is made true by another tenseless fact, such as that this later belief is held by S at (a time simultaneous with) 12:01, and so on.

Admittedly, it is not the case, on this B-theoretic account, that knowing what time it is (at different times) involves knowing different things at different times. The reason is that the tenseless contents that are believed can be believed by S at all times equally (and typically will be). So while, at each time, S has a tensed belief with a tenseless content that differs from the tenseless content of S ’s tensed beliefs at previous times, S may not come to believe, or know, anything new. This suggests that the same applies to God, and that (5′) doesn’t follow from (3′) and (4′).

However, what matters is not just what S knows and believes, but how S knows and believes it. Tensed beliefs have rather different cognitive significance from the corresponding tenseless ones. What matters for timely action is believing the tenseless content via a tensed representation, by having a true tensed belief (“it is noon (now)”). The point is a more general one that applies equally to indexicals other than “now”, such as “I” or “here”: the cognitive significance of indexical beliefs differs from that of the corresponding non-indexical ones.

Therefore, if a B-theoretic subject S knows (at more than one time) what time it is, then they undergo changes. The reason is that how they believe what they believe changes. They need to keep track of their temporal perspective by having appropriately varied tensed beliefs (“it’s noon”, “it’s 12:01”). At least this is so for anyone whose temporal nature relevantly resembles our own. Does this group include God? If so, then on the B-theory too, there is reason to worry about the combination of omniscience with timelessness.

Therefore, God is temporal. (From (5″), (6″), (7))

One might reason as follows. When God creates the universe, God begins to stand in the relation of coexisting with to the universe, and also in the relation of sustaining it in existence . Acquiring these and other relations to the universe makes God temporal, because it constitutes a change that God undergoes at the moment of creation. Even if God was timeless before, God is temporal after creation (Craig 2009).

The problem with this line of thought is again that it is not clear how to understand the notions of before and after, of acquiring, and of beginning, as applied to a timeless God.

However, the point can be made in another way. God is thought to be causally active in the world, where those causal relations include God’s responding to petitionary prayer and being actively involved in world history. Similarly, God coexists with the world and sustains it in existence at every moment. God loves, and knows about the lives of, God’s creatures. All these are relations. God stands in causal and other relations to a temporal world. Doesn’t this make God temporal (Mullins 2016, Ch. 5)?

Each version of divine timelessness tries to address this concern in some way. One somewhat radical response, given by Aquinas and others, is that while the world is related to God, God is not related to the world.

Suppose that whatever is a person does at least some of the following: remembering, anticipating, reflecting, deliberating, deciding, intending, and acting intentionally. If timelessness precludes one from doing any of these, then being timeless is incompatible with being a person. Since God is a person, God is not timeless.

But is it the case that being a person requires one to do at least some of the above? Instead one might hold that at most, it requires one to be capable of doing at least some of the above. And perhaps a timeless God is capable of doing some of the above, even if God does not do them.

Alternatively, one might question the grounds for thinking that these activities tend to be precluded by timelessness. It is true that they all seem to involve change, namely a change in one’s mental states. But defenders of timelessness may think we should leave room in our conceptual scheme for a timeless, changeless version of each of these activities (Craig 2009; Murray & Rea 2008: Ch. 2).

6. Arguments for Divine Timelessness

There are a number of considerations speaking in favor of divine timelessness that arise out of perfect being theology. Perfect being theology is the approach to theology that involves figuring out what God is like on the basis of God’s being the most perfect (or greatest possible) being. A general argument goes as follows. The most perfect being, God, has the most perfect mode of existence. But temporal existence is a less perfect mode of existence than timeless existence. Therefore, God has a timeless mode of existence.

Why think that temporal existence is less perfect than timeless existence? Note that we’re here mostly concerned with the second issue distinguished at the beginning of section 4 , namely the nature of God’s experience (rather than the first, namely whether or not God is located in time/spacetime). The thought is that ordinary temporal experience involves gain and loss, and an awareness of the inescapable passage of time. Relatedly, for ordinary temporal beings, neither the distant past nor the future are perceptually accessible. We remember parts of the past, but imperfectly, and we merely anticipate the future. We know much less about the future than the past. We can’t change or re-experience the past, nor can we skip ahead to later moments, except one at a time.

But then again, God is no ordinary temporal being. The defender of temporality can reply that while God’s life has temporal features, in that God experiences succession, God’s temporal experience is otherwise very much unlike ours (Mullins 2014). For example, God is omniscient, so God forgets no part of the past and already knows all about the future. It’s true that experiencing succession means experiencing things one at a time. But, the defender of temporality might add, this very feature is necessary for, e.g., the ability to enjoy music, which is good and therefore something the most perfect being would have.

There are more indirect ways of arguing from perfection to timelessness. For example, suppose that the most perfect mode of existence involves immutability, and that immutability requires timelessness. Or suppose that perfection requires divine simplicity, and that simplicity requires timelessness (for more, see the SEP entries on divine simplicity and immutability ).

One line of thought is that complete knowledge of future contingent events is impossible for beings in time. Since God is omniscient, and therefore knows all that will happen, God is timeless.

Another line of thought is that while God is omniscient, and therefore knows all that will happen, some of our actions are genuinely free. But these two facts are in tension with one another, and the tension can be resolved by thinking of God as timeless.

Here is this line of thought in more detail. First consider an argument for theological fatalism, the view that divine foreknowledge and freedom are incompatible (Pike 1965; Murray & Rea 2008: Ch. 2). God is omniscient. So God knows all that is true and believes nothing false. Now consider the proposition p that you will read this section 1,000 years hence. Suppose p was true 1,000 years ago. Then God believed p then. And you never had a choice about whether God believed p 1,000 years ago. Nor have you ever had a choice about anything that follows from God’s believing p 1,000 years ago, including that you read this section today. So you never had a choice about whether you read this section today, which means you’re not doing it freely.

One proposed solution is to deny that p was true 1,000 years ago. (Aristotle responds in this way to a similar, non-theological argument for logical fatalism.) For more on this solution, see the SEP entries on foreknowledge and free will and fatalism .

A defender of divine timelessness may attempt another solution (inspired by Boethius). God is not located in time, so God does not know or believe things at times. So it is not the case that God believed p 1,000 years ago. Rather, all temporal events are before God’s mind “at once”, or in an atemporal present. However, some argue that a similar problem still arises (Zagzebski 1991: Ch. 2).

God is immaterial. Suppose it follows from this that God is not in space. Then one might argue that relativity theory implies that God is not in time either, because according to relativity theory, anything that is in time is also in space (Leftow 1991: 272).

While the basic thought is clear enough, one might worry about the details of this argument. In relativity theory, there are no such things as times or spatial locations, at the fundamental level. So it would be at least misleading to say that according to relativity theory, anything that is located at times is located at spatial locations. But a defender of the argument probably has in mind precisely this implication of (special) relativity, that spatiotemporal regions are fundamental, because there is no unique decomposition of spacetime into space at times. Presumably the lesson of relativity theory for the present debate can be suitably reformulated.

Further Reading on God and Time: Pike 1970; Braine 1988; Yates 1990; Gale 1991; Mawson 2008; Craig 1998, 2001, 2009; Murray & Rea 2008; Leftow 2010; Tapp & Runggaldier 2011; Oppy 2014; Mullins 2016; Melamed 2016; Deng 2019; Schmücker, Williams and Fischer 2022; Moravec (forthcoming); and Ganssle (Other Internet Resources).

Both timelessness or atemporality, and permanence or everlastingness, are widely applicable concepts. This section outlines a few non-religious philosophical debates in which the concept of eternity, in the sense of atemporality, can play a role (McDaniel 2016).

Consider questions about the nature of propositions, mathematical objects, or other abstracta. Perhaps these are atemporal entities, existing outside of time/spacetime, and not standing in any spatiotemporal relations to other entities. What sorts of considerations might bear on whether they are or not? Take propositions, the true or false things sentences express. Take a sentence that changes its truth-value over time (e.g., “It’s sunny”). Does such a sentence express different propositions at different times (that it’s sunny at \(t_1\), that it’s sunny at \(t_2\), etc.)? Or does it express the same proposition over time (that it’s sunny)? If it’s the former, then the propositions expressed don’t themselves change truth-value. If it’s the latter, the proposition (that it’s sunny) itself changes truth-value. In this latter case, that might give one reason think that the proposition is located within time rather than outside of it. On the other hand, it might not. After all, the truth-value also seems to vary with spatial location; yet we may be reluctant to infer from this that the proposition has spatial locations.

As another example, consider the view that time does not exist, for example as argued for by speculative metaphysicians such as McTaggart or F. H. Bradley. On such views, everything is eternal (in the sense of atemporal).

The view that time is unreal was also argued for by Kurt Gödel on the basis of general relativistic considerations (Gödel 1949). Gödel’s starting point is his discovery of solutions to Einstein’s Field Equations that permit the existence of closed timelike curves. Such spacetimes, he argues, do not contain a temporal dimension, since time only exists if there is genuine passage of time, and there cannot be genuine passage of time in such worlds. This in turn suggests that time does not pass, and thus does not exist, in the actual world either (for more on the argument see Savitt 1994; Dorato 2002; Yourgrau 2005).

More recently, some physicists and philosophers of physics working on approaches to quantum gravity have entertained the view that spacetime may not be fundamental (see the SEP entry on quantum gravity ). Of course, whether the concept of atemporality applies in this context depends on how the claim that spacetime is not fundamental is best understood.

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How to cite this entry . Preview the PDF version of this entry at the Friends of the SEP Society . Look up topics and thinkers related to this entry at the Internet Philosophy Ontology Project (InPhO). Enhanced bibliography for this entry at PhilPapers , with links to its database.

• Ganssle, Gregory, “ God and Time ”, entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy .
• Helm, Paul, “Eternity,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = < https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2018/entries/eternity/ >. [This was the previous entry, under a less specific title, in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — see the version history .]
• Oppy, Graham, 1998, “ Some Emendations to Leftow’s Arguments about Time and Eternity ”, paper available on The Secular Web. (A revised version is incorporated into Oppy 2014.)
• Rissler, James, “ Open Theism ”, entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy .

Aquinas, Thomas | Augustine, Saint | Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus | Duns Scotus, John | fatalism | free will: divine foreknowledge and | immutability | McTaggart, John M. E. | quantum theory: quantum gravity | simplicity: divine | space and time: being and becoming in modern physics | time | time: the experience and perception of

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Paul Helm, for graciously giving permission to reuse verbatim some paragraphs from sections 2, 4, 5 and 6 of the previous entry in this entry’s section 3. Many thanks also to Brian Leftow, Ryan Mullins, Yuri Balashov, Baptiste Le Bihan, Evan Fales, Ulrich Meyer, Ludwig Neidhart, and participants of a workshop in Bonn on “God and Time”, August 2017, for comments on earlier drafts. This work was supported (in part) by the Yonsei University Future-Leading Research Initiative of 2018 (2018-22-0100).

Copyright © 2023 by Natalja Deng < nmdeng @ gmail . com >

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• ad infinitum
• around-the-clock
• here to stay idiom
• imperishable
• on the bounce idiom
• on the spin idiom
• on the trot idiom
• uninterrupted
• uninterruptedly
• unrelentingly
• unrelievedly

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Definition of eternal adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• the promise of eternal life in heaven
• She's an eternal optimist (= she always expects that the best will happen) .
• eternal truths (= ideas that are always true and never change)
• You have my eternal gratitude (= very great gratitude ) .
• To his eternal credit (= very great credit) , he never gave up.
• Newspapers are simply responding to the eternal fascination of their readers with the private lives of the rich and famous.
• The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
• The story is about a woman who is offered the elixir of eternal youth.
• The two heroes swore eternal friendship.
• The universe was about to be plunged again into eternal darkness.

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• I'm tired of your eternal arguments.
• (saying) people never stop hoping

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everlasting

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 (Entry 1 of 2)

Definition of everlasting  (Entry 2 of 2)

• foreverness

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Word History

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

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• pearly everlasting

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evergreen wood fern

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“Everlasting.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/everlasting. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.

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How We Can See That 'Hope Springs Eternal' in Our Own Lives

• Whitney Hopler Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
• Updated Apr 26, 2021

Despite the challenges of living in our fallen world, it is human nature to hold onto hope. The saying “hope springs eternal” refers to that sense of optimism that inspires us all to keep hoping during difficult circumstances. That proverbial phrase, which comes from a famous poem, reflects what the Bible tells us about hope.

Where Does the Saying “Hope Springs Eternal” Come From?

Poet Alexander Pope coined the famous expression in his 1732 work “An Essay on Man: Epistle I”, in which he wrote this stanza:

“Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar; Wait the great teacher Death; and God adore! What future bliss, he gives not thee to know, But gives that hope to be thy blessing now.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest: The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come.”

Pope was a popular English writer who wrote many notable poems and other works during the 1700s. He expressed his Christian (Catholic) faith through his writing in “An Essay on Man” through couplets of iambic pentameter. The poem’s four sections, known as epistles, present a philosophical argument for divinely designed order in the world. In light of God’s good design for the world, the poem argues, humans have a duty to focus on the good that exists – such as eternal hope.

What Does “Hope Springs Eternal” Mean?

The expression “hope springs eternal” means to hold onto the eternal sense of hope that God has placed within all human souls.

Hope is always available to us. It’s present in every situation because God – the source of our hope – is always present with us. However, when we face difficult circumstances that are visible, we can be tempted to lose hope unless we choose to trust in God, who is invisible to us now yet constantly at work in our lives. Romans 8:24 describes the faith God wants us to have in regard to unseen hope: “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?” We need an eternal perspective on hope to remind ourselves that we can always access it. Choosing to respond to our challenges by placing our faith in God helps us connect with hope and be confident as a result. Hebrews 11:1 tell us: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

What Does the Bible Tell Us about Hope?

The Bible has a lot to tell us about hope! Most importantly, it identifies hope as a core characteristic of God, which God gives us when we trust in him. Romans 15:13 describes how our “God of hope” gives us hope: “May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

We don’t have to worry about trying to earn hope. Hope is a gift that our loving God gives us freely through his Holy Spirit, the Bible tells us in Romans 5:5 : “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

The Bible declares that hope is a reality rather than a feeling. When we build our hope on the foundation of faith in God, we can be sure that hope will never fail us. In contrast, if we depend on positive circumstances in the world to give us hope, we will be disappointed because circumstances don’t have the power to deliver real hope to us. We can feel hopeful about all sorts of circumstances – from good weather happening to a new job opportunity working out. But we can know for certain that no matter what happens from day to day, God’s hope is always available for us. “This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls,” Hebrews 6:19 proclaims. “It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.”

How Can We See This in Our Lives Today?

As we face the challenging situations in this fallen world from day to day, we can see “hope spring eternal” by intentionally choosing to listen to the Holy Spirit’s encouragement. We never need to give in to despair. Even when we’re in pain and feeling hopeless, we can remember that hope isn’t a feeling. We can connect with the reality of hope anytime and anywhere by connecting with the Holy Spirit. A brief time of prayer or meditation is all we need to direct our attention to the Spirit, who will give us a fresh dose of hope. Romans 5:5 says that “… hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

Even beyond helping us endure painful circumstances, God’s hope grows our character in ways that lead to greater faith and deeper hope. Romans 5:3-4 points out: “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

Living hopeful lives on a regular basis helps us notice the wonder of God working in our lives , which inspires more hope in our souls. The more we choose to hope in what our eternal God can do, the more we notice what God is doing in our lives, which gives us a greater perspective on our sufferings. That leads to a wondrous cycle of hope.

As we live with hope from day to day and experience wonder, we’re also inspired to share God’s hope with other people. 1 Peter 3:15 encourages us to share that hope with others in loving ways that motivate them to listen: “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

We can be sure that the hope God gives us is eternal! It will be there for us forever, so we can be confident about our future. As Proverbs 23:18 says: “There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” Not only that, but God promises us in Jeremiah 29:11 : “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

So, let’s pay attention to that sense of hope that springs eternal in our souls. Whenever we need a fresh dose of hope – in any circumstances – let’s turn to God for it. We will never disappointed when we rely on God, the source of true hope!

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Eternal Flame Spiritual Meaning (10 Inner Meaning)

An eternal flame holds a powerful spiritual meaning representing everlasting hope and divine presence. In cultures and religions worldwide, the eternal flame symbolizes the enduring nature of the soul and serves as a source of inspiration and enlightenment.

From ancient rituals to modern memorials, the ethereal flicker of an eternal flame represents the eternal cycle of life, death, and rebirth, reminding us of the eternal connection between the physical and spiritual realms.

Whether lit as a sacred flame in a temple or serving as a memorial tribute, the eternal flame stands as a beacon of spirituality, guiding us towards inner peace and spiritual awakening.

Its vibrant glow serves as a reminder to honor the eternal flame within ourselves and to seek a deeper connection with the divine.

Understanding Symbolism the Eternal Flame

The eternal flame holds deep spiritual meaning, symbolizing the divine presence in various cultures and traditions. This everlasting symbol has a long historical significance, dating back to ancient times.

It has been utilized in religious ceremonies and rituals, signifying the eternal and unyielding nature of the divine power.

Different societies, such as the Greeks, Romans, and Persians, have embraced the concept of eternal flames as a symbol of reverence and devoted spiritual practice.

The flame itself is often nurtured and cared for continuously, serving as a constant reminder of the divine’s everlasting existence.

Moreover, many spiritual practitioners incorporate the eternal flame into their practices, utilizing its radiant energy to connect with the spiritual realm and seek inner guidance.

Whether in temples, shrines, or personal spaces, the eternal flame serves as a powerful reminder of the transcendence of spiritual existence.

Spiritual Meaning of Eternal Flame

The eternal flame holds a deep spiritual meaning, a symbol of eternal life and enlightenment. By unlocking its secrets, we can connect with the eternal flame residing within us.

It is a journey that awakens the soul, enabling us to harness the powerful energy it emits.

This divine flame is not just a physical entity; it represents the eternal essence that resides in every living being. By embracing the eternal flame within, we tap into our true potential and ignite our spiritual growth.

It guides us along our path, illuminating the way with its eternal wisdom and light. Here are some spiritual meaning you should aware of.

Symbol of Unending Love

The eternal flame is often seen as a symbol of unending love. Just like the flame that never goes out, love is believed to endure beyond time and challenges.

It represents the eternal bond between individuals, whether it’s the love shared between partners, family members, or friends. The constant flicker of the flame signifies the enduring nature of deep and genuine connections.

Memorial for the Departed

In many cultures, an eternal flame serves as a memorial for those who have passed away. The unextinguished flame is a way to honor and remember the souls of loved ones.

It signifies the belief in an eternal existence beyond physical life and serves as a comforting reminder that the spirits of the departed continue to shine brightly in our memories.

Symbol of Hope and Resilience

The eternal flame can be a powerful symbol of hope and resilience. Despite external challenges and difficulties, the flame remains unwavering. It represents the human spirit’s ability to persevere through tough times, emerging stronger on the other side.

The eternal flame inspires individuals to overcome adversity and keep their inner light burning brightly.

Symbol of Perpetual Renewal

The eternal flame embodies the concept of perpetual renewal and transformation. As the flame constantly burns, it represents the cyclical nature of life, death, and rebirth.

It encourages individuals to embrace change, personal growth, and the continuous evolution of the soul. Just as the flame is never extinguished, the spirit has the capacity for constant renewal and regeneration.

Guardian of Sacred Spaces

In various religious and spiritual traditions, the eternal flame is often considered a guardian of sacred spaces. Whether in temples, shrines, or spiritual centers, the unceasing flame symbolizes the divine presence watching over and protecting the sanctity of the place.

It serves as a beacon of spiritual energy, inviting seekers to connect with the sacred and experience a sense of peace and tranquility.

Representation of Timelessness

The eternal flame is a representation of timelessness and the transcendent nature of existence. It symbolizes a connection to something beyond the limitations of time and space.

By focusing on the eternal flame, individuals are reminded to contemplate the timeless aspects of their own consciousness and the enduring qualities that extend beyond the temporal confines of daily life.

Inspiration for Creative Expression

The eternal flame can serve as inspiration for creative expression. The mesmerizing dance of the flame sparks the imagination and encourages artistic endeavors.

Artists, writers, and creators may draw inspiration from the symbolism of the eternal flame to produce works that reflect the enduring beauty, passion, and creativity found within the human spirit.

Encouragement for Personal Illumination

Beyond its spiritual connotations, the eternal flame can be a metaphor for personal illumination and self-discovery. Just as the flame lights up the darkness, individuals are encouraged to explore their inner selves, uncover hidden truths, and illuminate the path to self-awareness.

The eternal flame serves as a reminder that each person carries a unique light within, waiting to be discovered and shared with the world.

Symbol of Collective Memory

The eternal flame often serves as a symbol of collective memory and shared history. Whether commemorating significant historical events or honoring cultural heritage, the unending flame acts as a beacon that keeps the stories of the past alive.

It fosters a sense of continuity, connecting present and future generations to the experiences and lessons of those who came before.

Devotion and Worship

In religious contexts, the eternal flame is a powerful expression of devotion and worship. Whether in temples, churches, or other sacred spaces, the perpetually burning flame signifies a continuous connection with the divine.

It becomes a focal point for spiritual practices, rituals, and acts of reverence, reminding believers of the enduring presence of the sacred in their lives.

FAQs and Answers

What does the eternal flame symbolize.

The eternal flame symbolizes a lasting and unending source of light, hope, and remembrance.

Why Is The Eternal Flame Eternal?

The eternal flame is eternal because it is continuously fueled and carefully maintained.

How Does An Eternal Flame Work?

An eternal flame works by utilizing a continuous supply of fuel that is ignited and kept burning indefinitely.

What Is The Eternal Flame From The Ground?

The eternal flame from the ground is a continuous burning flame that never goes out.

To fully grasp the eternal flame’s spiritual meaning, one must delve into its rich symbolism and significance across various cultures and belief systems. The eternal flame acts as a powerful symbol of divine presence, immortality, and enlightenment.

Its unyielding and ever-burning nature serves as a reminder of the eternal nature of the human soul and its connection to the divine.

This enduring flame symbolizes the constant presence of the divine within us and encourages us to kindle our inner light in our pursuit of spiritual growth and self-discovery.

By tapping into the spiritual significance behind the eternal flame, we can ignite a deeper sense of purpose and connection in our lives.

May we embrace the symbolism and wisdom of the eternal flame and allow it to guide us on our spiritual journey towards enlightenment and inner peace.

Daniel is highly experienced in describing spiritual meaning for each and every particular matters. He is here to simplify the symbolism meaning for every aspects you need to know

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• Coping With Grief

What Does ‘Rest in Eternal Peace’ Mean?

Updated 08/18/2023

Published 06/24/2020

Sarah Kessler

Contributing writer, editor

Cake values integrity and transparency. We follow a strict editorial process to provide you with the best content possible. We also may earn commission from purchases made through affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more in our affiliate disclosure .

When someone close to you dies, you’re likely to come across numerous euphemisms for death in the days and weeks that follow. A family friend might say they’re sorry your loved one “slipped away.” Someone else might mention that they hope the departed is “ resting easy .” 

Jump ahead to these sections:

What does rest in eternal peace mean, where does rest in eternal peace come from , popular rest in eternal peace messages, ‘rest in eternal peace’ quotes, more alternatives to ‘rest in eternal peace’.

One of the most popular and common death euphemisms is “ rest in peace ,” or its counterpart, “rest in eternal peace.” If someone close to you has passed away, you might hear family and friends express a wish for the departed to “rest in eternal peace.” 

You might see “rest in eternal peace” engraved on a gravestone, or even be considering it for your own headstone or the headstone of a family member.

And if you want to offer your own condolences to someone who’s recently lost a loved one, you might be thinking about using “rest in eternal peace” to express your sympathies. 

Before you put those words to use, though, it might be helpful to understand what “rest in eternal peace” means, as well as where the phrase comes from. 

The phrase “rest in eternal peace” is euphemistic. It depicts death as a state of rest or sleep, rather than something final. 

At the same time, “rest in eternal peace” refers to a state of eternity. Eternity is forever, which makes “rest in eternal peace” sound more final than the simple “rest in peace.” 

The concept of eternity is also religious in nature. Many religions, including some denominations of Christianity, teach that the soul is eternal. It doesn’t cease to exist just because the body has died. Instead, the soul travels to an afterlife, where it may undergo judgment and eventually reach paradise or Heaven.

In this way, “rest in eternal peace” may refer to the soul reaching Heaven in the afterlife, which is often depicted as a state of perfect rest. 

The phrase, “rest in eternal peace,” stems from Roman Catholic prayer. It’s closely related to the similar phrase, “rest in peace,” which also originates in Roman Catholicism. 

This Catholic prayer uses the phrase “eternal rest,” as well as “rest in peace,” making it one of the primary origins of the phrase, “rest in eternal peace.” The “Prayer for Eternal Rest” is often used at funeral services at Catholic and Christian churches. 

Eternal Rest

“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.”

The “Prayer for Eternal Rest” also has variations in the Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist churches, which change the wording slightly.

Rest in peace

The phrase, “rest in peace,” comes from a Latin blessing with Roman Catholic origins: Requiescat in pace . The phrase, Requiescat in pace first appeared on tombstones around the eighth century. 

By the eighteenth century, the phrase was commonly featured on Christian headstones and tombs. Its translation, “rest in peace,” and its acronym, “R.I.P.,” also started appearing more and more around this time. 

Following its origins, the phrase “rest in peace” has always been especially prominent amongst Roman Catholics. But the phrase, and its acronym, “R.I.P.,” have also gained widespread popularity, both in religious and secular circles. 

“Rest in eternal peace” is a version of the more common “rest in peace” that has even stronger Roman Catholic ties. But it’s also common amongst many Christian denominations. 

If you’re considering using “rest in eternal peace,” you can use some of the messages below as inspiration. 

1. “May her soul rest in eternal peace.”

This version of “rest in eternal peace” may be a good option if you’re looking for a simple-but-sweet headstone inscription . You can also add it to a sympathy message or card. 

2. “Our family is so deeply saddened by this loss. We know dear Joe is at rest in eternal peace.”

You can use “rest in eternal peace” to send a sympathy message from your immediate family to extended family or friends. Just make sure the recipients won’t be put off by a potentially religious message like “rest in eternal peace.”

3. “My heart is with you in this trying time. May she rest in eternal peace.”

Using “rest in eternal peace” in this way is an option for sending your condolences to a friend or family member. 

4. “A good soul has ascended to Heaven, and now he rests in eternal peace.”

If you want to convey a religious sentiment of condolence and support in line with “rest in eternal peace,” you can use a message like this one. 

5. “He will always live on in my memory, and may his soul rest in eternal peace.”

You can pair a message like “rest in eternal peace” with a personal sentiment like this for a person you were close to.

6. “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.”

For a Roman Catholic or Christian sympathy message, you can use the “Prayer for Eternal Peace” itself. You might choose to write the whole prayer in your card, or just the first two lines, as written here. You can also change the “them” to either “he” or “she” depending on the deceased. 

7. “I wanted to express my sincere condolences for your loss. May your father’s soul rest in eternal peace.” 

You can say “rest in eternal peace” with a message like this for a co-worker, acquaintance, or more distant family member. 

8. “Flowers, thoughts, and prayers for a beloved friend who departed too soon. May you rest in eternal peace.”

If you’re sending funeral or sympathy flowers , you can include “rest in eternal peace” as part of your attached note. 

9. “May he rest in eternal peace, and may his family find the strength to bear such a great loss.”

As you’re expressing your wishes for the deceased to rest in eternal peace, you can also express hopes for the surviving family members as they grieve. 

10. “No matter where she is now, I know she’s watching over you with love. May she rest in eternal peace.”

If you think the recipient would appreciate this type of message, you can help them picture the soul of the deceased looking over them. 

11. “Gone from sight, but never from my heart. May sweet Jen rest in eternal peace.”

In your sympathy note, you can let the family know that the deceased will never be forgotten. 

12. “R.I.E.P.”

If you want to write the acronym for “rest in eternal peace” on a headstone, you can use “R.I.E.P.” It’s a good alternative to the standard “R.I.P.” and conveys a more specific message. 

13. “May our beloved father, brother, and husband rest in eternal peace.”

A message like this is a way you can incorporate “rest in eternal peace” into an obituary or funeral notice, as well as a headstone inscription. 

Are you looking for a quote about death, peace, and eternity? Here are some to consider.

14. “Peace is the first thing the angels sang. Peace is the mark of the sons of God. Peace is the nurse of love. Peace is the mother of unity. Peace is the rest of blessed souls. Peace is the dwelling place of eternity.” – Leo the Great

Leo the Great was influential in Christianizing Rome. You may choose to shorten this quote to "Peace is the rest of blessed souls."

15. “Before it’s too late, and time is running out, let us turn from trust in the chain reactions of exploding atoms to faith in the chain reaction of God’s love. Love – love of God and fellow men. That is God’s formula for peace.” – Cardinal Richard Cushing

Cushing was the Archbishop of Boston. Two buildings at Boston College are named in his honor. 

16. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27

These are the words of Jesus as he speaks about the Holy Spirit.

17. “And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings.” W.B. Yeats

These words come from the W.B. Yeats poem, The Lake Isle of Innisfree.

18. “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7

The Apostle Paul wrote the Book of Philippians around 62 A.D.

Here are more alternatives to 'rest in eternal peace." Consider writing these on condolence messages, in sympathy cards , or on headstones . 

• Rest in Paradise
• Rest in Heaven
• Rest in Christ’s Love
• Rest in Heaven’s Glory
• Rest on the Wings of Angels
• Rest in the Beauty of Paradise

How to Use ‘Rest in Eternal Peace’

“Rest in eternal peace” is a euphemistic phrase that can convey your sympathy and condolences. But it’s important to keep in mind that it’s also a phrase with religious connotations. 

Before you write “rest in eternal peace” on a sympathy letter or card, consider whether or not the family might find the message suitable. And if you’re thinking about including “rest in eternal peace” on a headstone, consider whether or not it suits the religious beliefs of the deceased. 

If you’re looking for a more secular version of the phrase, “rest in eternal peace,” consider these alternatives to “rest in peace.”  

• Eternal Rest. Vatican News. Vaticannews.va
• Gill, N.S. “Meaning of Requiescat in Pace.” Thought Co. 21 January 2020. Thoughtco.com

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• Condolences & What To Say

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• Category: ID@Xbox

Wishlist Playdew’s Lost Twins II, Coming this Year

• Captivating adventure inspired by Studio Ghibli, featuring vibrant landscapes and intricate puzzles.
• Diverse environments, and engaging puzzles in a mystical realm.
• Breathtaking visuals and immersive gameplay for all ages.

Hey there, gamers! Let’s delve into something truly exciting: the unveiling of Lost Twins II , a highly anticipated puzzle platformer from Playdew, an innovative indie game developer based in Pakistan. This momentous occasion represents the culmination of seven years of hard work and dedication, promising players an extraordinary gaming experience that transcends the ordinary. Step into the whimsical realm of Lost Twins II , where you’ll guide the titular lost twins, Abi and Ben, through a mesmerizing adventure filled with intricate puzzles and unexpected twists. With its focus on exploration and discovery, rather than conflict, Lost Twins II invites players to unravel the mysteries of its dualistic-inspired narrative, where seemingly opposing forces merge to create a harmonious and enchanting journey.

Embark on a Mystical Adventure

Embark on a mesmerizing journey into the heart of Lost Twins II , where wonder and adventure await at every turn. In the mystical realm of Phoenix, a radiant community of sibling phoenixes once flourished, their existence a testament to the eternal dance of life and rebirth. But fate had other plans. A mighty storm, born of unseen forces, tore through their world, leaving devastation in its wake. The once-vibrant phoenixes were frozen in time, transformed into statues of stone, their essence scattered to the winds.

Our story begins amidst this chaos. Twin siblings, Abi & Ben, stumble upon the remains of one such phoenix, hidden within the halls of their parents’ museum. Drawn by a mysterious light, they follow its ethereal trail, leading to the stone phoenix and a portal beyond imagining.

With a burst of radiant energy, you are whisked away to the shattered remnants of the phoenixes’ homeland, where a grand adventure awaits. Joined by the phoenix, now in a transformed state, you’ll embark on a quest to reunite him with his scattered essence and breathe life back into the world of Phoenix.

Discover Vibrant Worlds and Engaging Puzzles

The game unfolds across three primary zones, each offering a distinct environment inspired by the vivid imagination of the twins. From lush forests to majestic castles, players will explore beautifully crafted landscapes while solving puzzles in each zone.

As you progress, you’ll collect feathers to unlock new areas, unveiling the secrets of this enchanting world one puzzle at a time.

Dive into Captivating Features

As you guide the twin siblings through dynamic environments, you’ll encounter a myriad of challenges and delights along the way. With the ability to control both siblings, you’ll navigate through enchanted forests, traverse frozen castles, and explore the whimsical realm of Toyland, all inspired by the captivating worlds of Studio Ghibli. Immerse yourself in the beauty of each landscape with an atmospheric soundtrack that sets the tone for your adventure, while unlocking achievements hidden throughout the game. Solve a variety of puzzles, from logic challenges to spatial conundrums, each offering multiple solutions to spark your creativity. With privacy and offline play guaranteed, Lost Twins II invites you to delve into a world of magic, mystery, and endless exploration.

Featuring stunning visuals reminiscent of Hayao Miyazaki’s iconic style and meticulously designed puzzles, Lost Twins II guarantees an unforgettable experience brimming with wonder and delight for players of all ages. With Lost Twins II , you are invited into a world where curiosity and creativity reign supreme. So, are you ready to embark on this enchanting journey and reunite the lost twins? Wishlist now, and get ready for the release later this year on Xbox.

Wishlist now to be the first to embark on this thrilling journey!

Lost Twins 2