Collaborating with Eternity

Jim Torok - I Don't Know What To Do (2007)

In search of answers, I bought a muted green paperback pamphlet this week from 1948 with a title in blue and in a jagged sunburst shouting "Collaborating with Eternity". The subtitle, outside the sunburst, continues "How to Crash the Barriers of Time and Space and Live in the Eternal Now". Directly below the line of text simple only in its font was stamped a shooting star and a quick sketch of what seemed to be Saturn with a hay-like ring, but could just as easily have been a seeded bird's nest. Under the impression that it may have some helpful vintage philosophy to impart about making ones way in this eternity, I flipped it open and read the first sentence: "Time and space are two toys which God has given to man with which he amuses himself while waiting outside the Garden of Heaven."

The yellowed pages proceed to question why the world is viewed in terms of space and time instead like the angels in heaven view it - as a simple temple in the midst of eternity. That would certainly be easier. But my favorite part is a few pages in when the author quickly drops the pseudo-philosophy angle altogether and like a preacher raising his voice and fists simultaneously, decides that all capital letters will help him make his point: BUT IF WE TRUST ALL TO GOD AND STAY OUR MIND WHOLLY ON HIM, THEN ALL THINGS COME TO US IN PERFECT ORDER AND IN PERFECT SEQUENCE, AND OUR MIND IS KEPT IN PERFECT PEACE, BECAUSE WE TRUST IN HIM.

Yes, alas, perfection and perfection and perfection. The answer is Jesus.

Leonard Cohen - Famous Blue Raincoat (mp3)