Date: 24 Jan 1999.
Location: Xian Sheng’s house, Taman Melawati
Table of Contents
(A) Is time linear or circular?
Xian Sheng had mentioned in the past that while time is very important to us humans, it is meaningless to Xian Sheng and the Disciples of GOD.
Xian Sheng explained with the following reasons. If we go to a place that has no day or night, we must ask ourselves whether time still matters there.
In a place that has no day or night and is always bright, does time matter?
In a place where day and night are not measured, years are irrelevant, a person stays the same age and never grows old, eating is of no consequence, death is not an option because life is eternal, and you cannot tell whether one day or two have passed, does time matter?
Yet for humans in this world, is time important? Xian Sheng asked whether we know how time flows here. It is important for us to understand this.
Xian Sheng asked the followers what they knew about time, particularly whether it is linear or circular. He also wanted them to explain their reasons for choosing either view.
Sometimes the question seems simple because we do not sit down to think and research it.
When asked what time is, people fall back on the familiar saying that time is money.
Time is precious because we cannot reclaim what has passed, and because we cannot go back to recover it. Time is also money.
(B) What is Time?
There are many questions Xian Sheng would like to ask. For instance, regarding time management, how do people manage their time when they claim that time is precious and time is money? How do they manage it if that is truly the case?
Is time money? What, then, is time? Xian Sheng invited volunteers to share their views on whether time is linear or circular.
Xian Sheng explained that Brother John Yap based his view that time is circular on the Earth’s rotation.
Xian Sheng wishes to hear the explanation from someone who thinks time is linear and progresses in a straight line.
He repeated a follower’s response: time moves forward in a straight line because it cannot go backwards. This demonstrates that some regard time as linear while others perceive it as circular.
Brother John Yap stated that time operates differently in each universe and adheres to the physical laws of that universe. Xian Sheng responded that he is correct, yet the question remains as to whether time is linear or circular.
If we wish to understand time from a humanistic approach, it is important that we understand it from the soul’s perspective.
Xian Sheng used the analogy of a train to explain time. The train travels in a straight line towards its destination and then circles back to the point of departure.
Similar to a train that moves on parallel tracks, we journey along parallel timelines — one for the human body and another for the soul. A person born in 1945 and passing away in 1999 would have lived for 54 years. Time progresses in a straight line for that individual from 1945 until 1999, then halts abruptly as the soul departs the body.
The soul enters a different dimension and follows the timeline there, which differs from the timeline on Earth. Nonetheless, both timelines continue to run parallel to each other. After spending a certain duration in that dimension, the soul returns to rejoin the Earth timeline.
Using the train analogy once more, when the train circles back to its departure station, it begins the journey all over again. Similarly, the soul reincarnates back on Earth as a baby to begin the human journey anew. We say time has completed a full circle for the soul. Here, Xian Sheng clarified that it is not truly a full circle since time cannot move backwards, but should be depicted as a semicircle. The soul’s semicircular timeline rejoins Earth’s linear timeline and both proceed in parallel.
When a person undergoes multiple reincarnations, we can depict their timeline as linear during the years they live on Earth and semicircular when the soul departs to another dimension and later reincarnates back to rejoin the linear timeline. Therefore, the time of the soul and the time of the human body both move in parallel. Xian Sheng asked the followers whether they understood his explanation of how time works for the body and the soul.
Xian Sheng reiterated that while many perceive reincarnation as a full circle, since the soul restarts the cycle as a baby, this is inaccurate from the standpoint of time. Time cannot move backwards but only forwards. Therefore, reincarnation should be regarded as a semicircle within the timeline of the physical universe.
Circle of Life
