“I do not regard the past as dead. On the contrary, I regard the past and the present and even the future as part of an eternal reality. Ours are the same tests and crises that our fathers and forefathers encountered: all I do is remind my contemporaries that Eternity watches us forever.” — Otto Scott
The context of Mr. Scott’s quote was obviously history, and he was a wonderfully lucid writer on the subject. I highly recommend his books on King James I (The King as Fool), Robespierre, and John Brown (The Secret Six). For a sample of his writing, see here.
A novel that deals with the topic of an eternal present with great originality is Descent Into Hell by Charles Williams, one of the “Inklings” (J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and others, including Williams). This is not an easy book to read; it will require effort on the part of the reader but it is most rewarding. In it, one is drawn into a world where to be truly joyful you must learn to carry one another’s burdens. In the case of the protagonist, Pauline, she is very much afraid — terrified — of her other self, her doppelgänger whom she sees sometimes when she goes out. The fear is so great that she dreads to leave the house. Williams handles this very effectively; the reader practically shares in the fear.
A famous playwright, Paul Stanhope, over several pages, finally, gently convinces her to let him “carry your fear for you.” And the effect is electric. Along the way the reader is introduced to other characters, all very believable and, in some cases frightening. One character is a 17th century martyr who is Pauline’s ancestor, who sang in praise to God as the flames enveloped him. Pauline sees him one night, as he struggles in fear. She asks him to let her carry his fear, which he does, thereby enabling him to face his martyrdom with joy.
Williams believed strongly that all people are connected. And he did not limit that relationship to just the present. He believed that love by which the world would know the disciples of Christ was one that lived throughout the ages and that, somehow, your love today has impact to someone who lived before you and will have impact on another who lives after you.
When one pauses to consider that God describes Himself as the “I Am”; He Who lives in an eternal present, one can see that Williams was on to something. We cannot think of life other than chronologically because we live in time and space. However, God, as the Creator of time and space, is certainly not limited by any chronology; in other words, He is outside our world, transcendent while also immanent.
I have not given Williams much more thought than what I’ve noted above, but he came to mind as I was reminded recently of some events from my childhood in El Pao. Some of the people, who were my parents’ friends, were very kind to me and also instructive in their rebukes. They are gone now, and I won’t see them until the Resurrection. Yet, how very real they are to me still! I also thought of two other individuals whom I never met, as they had passed away before my birth. However, I very much sense and am grateful for their influence on my life. This does not begin to touch the full scope of what Williams was getting at, but it does hint at how we affect one another, past, present, and future.
Otto Scott wrote about an “eternal reality” in the context of the writing of history. I suspect he would have appreciated Charles Williams, assuming he had not read him.
