DLW 73
As the
Divine is present
through all space independently of space,
so it is
present
through all time independently of time.
For no property of
nature
can be predicated of the Divine,
and space and time are
properties of nature.
DLW 76
Anyone who does not know this,
and who cannot from any perception
think of God independently of time,
is utterly incapable of conceiving
of eternity
other than as an eternity of time.
In that case he also
cannot help but think irrationally
of God's being from eternity,
for he
thinks in terms of a beginning,
and a beginning is characteristic solely
of time.
His irrational thinking continues
to the point of judging
that
God originated from Himself,
and from that it slips headlong into
supposing
the origin of nature to be from itself.
From this idea he can
be extricated
only by a spiritual or angelic concept of eternity,
which
is one independent of time;
and when thought of independently of time,
eternity and Divinity are one and the same,
the Divine being Divine in
itself,
and not from itself.
Angels say that they can indeed
conceive
of God's being from eternity,
but not in any way of nature's
being from eternity,
still less of nature's originating from itself,
and
not at all of nature's being nature in itself.
For what exists in
itself
is being itself,
the origin of all else,
and being in itself is
life itself,
which is the Divine love belonging to Divine wisdom
and the
Divine wisdom belonging to Divine love.
This to angels is
eternity,
being thus independent of time,
as the uncreated is
independent of the created,
or the infinite independent of the finite,
which do not have even a mathematical relation.
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