A great thinker once remarked that we are on an infinite journey toward an infinite God. And since we are finite, we never get there.
I don’t know whether this is true. From this side of the veil, from our human side, it certainly seems that way. To be human is to be limited. It is to be finite. If there is God, then by definition it is infinite. If we are essentially human at our core, we are finite. Since we are finite and our destiny is infinite, we would then be on an infinite journey. We’d never get there.
Lots of ifs, yet what else can we do from this human point of view but speculate? It seems a little depressing to me to think upon a destination at which we never arrive. But if that’s so, let’s look at the positive side.
Our capacity for growth would then be infinite. Unlike our brains and our bodies here, which stop developing at some point and start their inevitable decline, if we are on an infinite voyage, that decline would never happen. Love has been described as infinite expansion. If God is love, then we, too, must be contained within its infinite ‘space.’ That means we expand endlessly, too. Not a bad prospect for a human being, to have endless potential.
The other positive is that all judgment and all comparison to where we are along that continuum toward the infinite is useless. If we voyage along an endless road, then what does it matter where we are along that track? How far or how not far become meaningless comparisons, both in an ultimate sense and also in comparison to where others may be in contrast to ourselves. All comparisons are relative to an absolute objective that’s infinite.
If we are on an infinite voyage to a destination at which we never arrive, then we participate in a process of change which we never ends. This may be the true meaning of relativity in a philosophical sense; that all judgments are mere relative comparisons to everything else. This means relativity of spiritual and intellectual progress. No one is ahead of anyone else on any scale which is meaningful, since the ultimate scale is immeasurable. No one is meaningfully winning any race, since the length of the racetrack isn’t something we can really quantify. All comparisons, and all judgments, fall away as relative and meaningless. Except for one: and that is the measure of ourselves today from where we were on the journey yesterday.
Judgment is beneath us, and so we are each above being judged. If we can’t judge ourselves, then certainly we can’t judge each other either. Only the Ultimate can fairly apprise of us of where we are on the journey, and since we are each infinitely distant from it, even the Infinite can’t judge where we are. The only thing it can apprise us of is the direction toward which we’re pointed. That may be the only important metric in a measureless journey.
© 2022 by Michael C. Just
Mike’s novel, The Dirt: The Journey of a Mystic Cowboy, is available in softcover or eBook formats through Amazon.
You can purchase the book through this website. Or go straight to amazon at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+dirt+journey+of+a+mystic+cowboy&crid=1S40Q4BXSUWJ6&sprefix=the+dirt%3A+journey+of+a+m%2Caps%2C180&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_23
Mike’s other titles, including The Crippy, The Mind Altar, and Canyon Calls, are available through this website or through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002
Four of his short stories have recently been published online:
Lies, Ltd. has been published by The Mystery Tribune @ Lies, Ltd.: Literary Short Fiction by Michael C. Just (mysterytribune.com)
The Obligate Carnivore has been published by the Scarlet Leaf Review @ Category: MICHAEL JUST – SCARLET LEAF REVIEW
I See You, Too has been published by the 96th of October @ I See You, Too – 96th of October
Offload, a short story about a man who can heal any disease, is now live and can be read at The Worlds Within at Offload – The Worlds Within