Eons of Nowness (EON)

About this poem

According to the Box Theory or Block Universe Theory (BUT), known in some scientific circles as “Eternalism,” the past, present, and future all coexist as an observer-dependent ‘Now’ as evidenced by meridian lines of longitude all converging at both the northern and the southern poles in a microscopic 360-degree arc, thus suggesting that, in its entire history, throughout the eons, from beginning to end, time has existed in an eternal timeless static block. At the same time, on Earth hypothetical parallel lines of latitude do not converge, but diverge globally and macroscopically to denote time differentially at every 15 degrees within a 24-hour 360-degree arc. As chimerical human beings genetically, and as patterns that are deeply embedded in this theoretical block universe, we exist as a block and, from a presumed collective unconscious perspective, view time as an ever-changing ephemeral reality, described scientifically by quantum physics as the theory of relativity, sustained by eons of nowness of time. This extended five-line two-stanza 5-7-5-7-7 metered tanka poem is written lyrically in which time is perceived as observer-dependent and indefinite, and must therefore be conceived ultimately as illusionary. Since the originally assigned title of “Eternalism” that was given to the poem is awkward and troublesome, just as time or, better yet expressed, the timelessness of time itself appears to be for many of us, I have therefore renamed this poem playfully, in reference to the phenomenon of time, as “Eons of Nowness (EON),” thus preserving the acrostic title of this tanka poem. Take time out NOW to go figure! more »