JONIZZLE

TAF Program Director Retreat this weekend in Michigan. It was good. There is one specific thing I want to share.

I don't know if I have ever blogged about a Plato quote that says, "time is the moving image of eternity," but I love that quote. My knowledge of the quote and insight into what it means is from reading a conversation between a friend and one of her friends years ago. I guess I will try to break it down for you rather quickly from what I think.

- "Time is the moving image of eternity."
- Eternity is devoid of "time", because eternity has no future and has no past, only that one moment. Time is therefore a sequence of "eternities". Think of Eternity as a slide in a movie film, and then that film put together in motion is the motion picture that we call Time.
- Because eternity is in essence just that one moment with nothing to change it (no future and no past, just this moment), it is pure and unadulterated.
- And because of that, it is perfect (they call Heaven eternal, and they call it perfect too). I find this to be reminiscent of that quote from the film Troy, if you know what I am talking about.
- So discovering and recognizing an instance as just an instance, as a moment in the moving image called Time, is to recognize Eternity, and therefore recognize perfection.

I had a moment like this in Michigan.

On Saturday the PD's, tafbrats, and howard, went to a ropes course to do some games and exercises. After we finished our five hour romp in the woods, leaving us physically tired, we all sat down in a circle and had a discussion led by the two wonderful facilitators that Christine had found.

As I sat in the circle and looked around and heard what people were saying, a sudden feeling of seeing everything clearly for a split second hit me, and everything was perfect as it was. I saw the beauty in what this moment was.

Sixteen relatively young people and our two facilitators. From all across the United States. Separated by space, yet united by shared time in the past. Sitting in a circle surrounded by nature in Michigan, bouncing thoughts and ideas about communication and teamwork. Hearing the praises of working together so well and completing our difficult tasks in impressive times.

The circumstances that led to us being there in that moment are amazing. Where did we all learn to work together so well? How did we all learn to work together so well? How did we all manage to travel to and wake up at 8am? I'm sure I could answer that in a way, but my point is not to answer, but to say that the moment was recognized.

It was a moment of perfection.