You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.
—Henry David Thoreau
Poets and mystics through the ages have often grappled with the concept of “eternity,” often approaching it not as an abstract or temporal idea but as an experiential reality. Their renderings were rooted in their longing for transcendence and their attempts to articulate encounters with the infinite.
They had come to realize that Eternity exists outside the constraints of time and matter. It wasn’t some infinite future paradise. It was accessible in the present moment—the Eternal Now—this ecstatic experience of pure being where past, present, and future dissolve.
The mystical poet William Blake captured this higher experience beautifully when he wrote these famous lines:
"To see a world in a grain of sand And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour."
The great Joseph Campbell also came to this understanding through his vast study of mythology, philosophy, and spirituality. Like the sages of old, Campbell saw that eternity represents the unchanging essence underlying all of existence.
For Campbell, myths and symbols laid the path toward this ground of being, which is beyond the rational mind yet intimately experienced through moments of deep insight, awe, or connection.
According to Campbell, a deep understanding of myths helps guide us toward an encounter with eternity. They are “clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life” that help us transcend our limited sense of self and time, opening a doorway to the eternal truths that shape human existence.
Below, I have compiled a few profound passages from poets, writers, and thinkers on that timeless, mysterious state we call ETERNITY. I hope you enjoy them.
More here.
