Spiritual Intelligence Skill #8 is having the perception of the breadth of time (Wigglesworth, 2012) What is your perception of the breadth of time? Can you perceive the idea of infinity and beyond?
Who created time? What existed before the beginning? Do these questions intrigue and excite you or disturb you?
Polarity thought – We are expansive and we are infinitesimal.
I wrote briefly about the ability to think in polarities (holding two opposing but equally true ideas at once) in Skill #4 – Complexity of Inner Thought.
Well, here’s another idea for you: two concepts I believe are equally true.
- In the whole spectrum of time from ‘before the beginning’ up to today and onward into an expanding future, we are merely a flash in time – a tiny spec.
- On the other hand, I also believe that every action we take has a lasting ripple effect whether positive or negative (See skill 6 – Awareness of the Interconnectedness of Life ) – that will impact others and the future. Through our mere existence, it is impossible for our lives and actions to be inert.
Does that make sense to you? Knowing that you are here and now reading this – how has the past brought you into existence and impacted you? If you take time to understand that – both positive and negative – how are you choosing to be present to yourself and the people around you and the world?
Notice how these Spiritual Intelligence skills start to intersect?
How does your worldview (Skill #1) impact your sense of time? How does your sense of purpose (Skill #2) influence the ripple effects you would like to have? Do your values (Skill #3) play role? Is your ego or higher self (Skill #5) drawing or repelling you to be aware of the breadth of time? (Hint – ego only cares about the here and now.) Does your understanding of the breadth of time inform your sense of interconnectedness? SQ Skills are not linear but notice how developing one skill might influence the other.
What spiritual traditions inform your sense of time? I am familiar with the Bible describing God as both the Alpha and Omega – the beginning and the end. Everything has a season in Ecclesiastes. Many parts of scripture promise a world without end. How does your sense of spirituality or sacred teachings inform your perceptions of time?
I am curious. Have you ever been rapt in attentiveness to what you are doing and deeply inspired, productive and connected to what you are doing or creating? Some people call it “being in the zone”. Time either stands still or it may move at an astonishing pace, and you barely know what happened.
I listened to a recent podcast by Dr. Kathy Bishop a scholar and professor at Royal Roads University. In this episode she offers two distinct definitions of time and challenges us to think about how our relationship to time links to our leadership and work (Bishop, 2024).Have a listen her poetic way of describing time and leadership. Contemplate what this means for you and those you influence.
Some challenges for you:
- How do you experience synchronicity?
- Do you ever have déjà vu?
- Have you followed scientific theories on time being an illusion? (Honestly, I struggle with that one. I don’t quite get it. But I am not a rocket scientist!)
- Are you fascinated to read about the James Webb Telsecope sending back images that do not equate with the long-held Big Bang Theory?
- Are you infinite or temporary? Or both?
- Can you practise deep present moment awareness and hold a vision for the future?
Just a quick personal experience and sidebar that connected me to the breadth of time in a small way . . .
Two of my cousins recently completed an extensive update of our family tree and family stories. It is a robust book that includes people from our early origins (as we know it) down to the most recent little infant. Collectively we are a group that fills 400 pages – at the moment!
It was fascinating to see the name of our earliest known ancestor. He lived in the mid-1400’s. It was profound and humbling and awesome to think about what was going on at that time!
Think of the era of King Henry and Joan of Arc or Michelangelo and Martin Luther. I am descended from someone who walked the earth years ago when Joan of Arc was riding through the dark. (I’m having a Leonard Cohen moment). We all come from ancient origins; I know. But it is fascinating to have the privilege to know a tiny piece of my history as far back as written records can define. And the line continues. Who knows what the next 11 generations will do and see and be?
How do you notice yourself on the infinite time and space continuum?
If you missed any blogs in this series, you can find them here, with more to come!
Bishop, K. (2024, March 31). The Wonder of Leadership [Podcast]. Spotify. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kate548/episodes/Rethinking-Time-e2hq5vh
Wigglesworth, C. (2012). SQ21: The Twenty-One Skills of Spiritual Intelligence. BookBaby.