Post 46 – Is Time an Illusion? The Eternal Tapestry and the Unfolding of Truth

Human thought has long been haunted by the passage of time. We watch as moments arise and vanish, as people come into existence and fade away. The past is lost to us, the future unknown, and the present always slipping through our grasp. But what if this entire experience of time were an illusion? What if nothing truly came into being or perished, but instead, everything already eternally is? This is the radical vision unveiled by the structure of Being—a vision where time is not a sequence of becoming, but merely the way in which the eternal appears.

The Eternal Tapestry

Imagine a vast, infinite tapestry woven from radiant threads of light. Each thread does not come into existence or fade away—it is already fully present in the grand design. And yet, an observer can only see a portion of this tapestry at a time, as though illuminated by a shifting beam of light. This beam does not create or alter the threads; it merely reveals what has always been there.

To the one gazing upon the tapestry, it may seem as if new threads are appearing while others vanish into darkness. But in truth, every thread eternally is, woven into the fabric of reality, untouched by becoming or passing away. The apparent movement of the light—the illusion of time—does not alter the structure of the tapestry; it only governs what appears and disappears to the observer.

The mistake of human thought is believing that the light creates and destroys, that time gives birth to things and then takes them away. But the wise one realizes: the threads do not move. They do not fade into nothingness or arise from it. They simply are, eternally woven into the necessity of being.

What is the Light?

In this metaphor, the light represents the appearing of Being—what manifests to consciousness at any given moment. It is not something that imposes itself upon reality but is inseparable from the structure of Being itself. The light corresponds to the order of appearing, the way in which the truth of beings unveils itself within experience.

The error of metaphysics has been to assume that what is illuminated is what exists, and what is hidden is what has ceased to be. But reality is not defined by what appears to us at a given moment. The light does not create, nor does its absence annihilate. What is, is—eternally.

The Necessity of Appearing

If all beings are eternally present within the structure of Being, then the apparent fragmentation of time is not a flaw or an accident, but a necessary configuration within the appearing of truth. There is no forgetting of eternity; rather, the infinite appears in a manner that allows for distinctions, for the experience of what seems to be finite. It is the necessary structure of Being that allows for the recognition of distinct moments, experiences, and identities within the eternal whole. Without these appearances, there would be no experience at all.

The apparent “movement” of time, the sense of things coming into being and fading away, is simply the unfolding of what already eternally is. It is not a journey toward some new state, nor a process of becoming, but the eternal appearing of the truth of Being, manifesting as it must in every moment.

The Unfolding of Truth

From a religious and eschatological perspective, this structure of appearing resonates deeply. The human condition—marked by the experience of loss, change, and the search for meaning—is not a deviation from truth but a necessary mode of its manifestation. It is not an exile before a final return, nor a veiling before a distant revelation. Rather, it is the eternal structure of Being revealing itself in all its necessary forms.

Faith, in its highest form, is not a belief in what is yet to come, but the recognition of what already is. Time, then, is not a movement from non-being to being, nor from ignorance to knowledge in a linear sense. It is the eternal appearing of truth, necessary in its unfolding, and always already present. To realize this is to see that nothing is ever lost, and nothing is ever created. It is all already there, in the grand tapestry of Being—waiting to be seen.

And in that recognition, the illusion of time dissolves, leaving only the radiant certainty of eternity.