Transcendence

In Ecclesiastes, the great Biblical exposition on meaning, Solomon writes that “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time.  Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”  I think it’s interesting that eternity has been placed in the heart rather than in the mind.  It implies that while we yearn for eternity, we cannot truly comprehend it.  While we are mortal in every way, we have this eternity from God.

Notions of eternity pervade our society.  From song lyrics to acronyms (BFF!), we crave the eternal.  We see the finite all around us and want something infinite to which we can cling.  It’s interesting that as our collective attention spans shorten, mentions of “forever,” “eternity,” and the like have increased.

Some think they have found eternity in art or music, but these glimpses of transcendence are fleeting.  Walking into the majesty of the Sistine Chapel or taking in a magnificent concert can cause us to lose our sense of time, but even these sensations are—quite literally—temporary.  While some things seem timeless, we, like them, remain trapped in time.

Solomon reaches an interesting conclusion in light of these realities: “Everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil,” he writes, “[for] this is God’s gift to man.”  We cannot quench this eternity in our hearts through brief experiences of transcendence.  Indeed, it is better to enjoy life’s little pleasures than to rely on these glimpses.  Yet this eternity remains.  What now is faith, will turn to sight.  What now are glimpses, will become reality.