entry 20. hitting the mark
the contextualization of future goals and aims… there are small-scale goals and large-scale goals, and these often coexist simultaneously, yet they differ in their immediacy. small-scale goals tend toward temporality, and large-scale goals tend toward eternity and atemporality. it is a challenge to synchronize and harmonize temporal goals with eternal goals.
we seek after heaven: this is arguably the most overarching, large-scale goal. yet as we seek after heaven, we must meet the demands of the day: stewardship, sustenance, etc. the demands of the day—as we know and encounter them—must be harmonized with the search for heaven.
how to do this… the demands of the day are a passageway into the search for heaven—a window and threshold into eternal pursuits. they are the exact place and location, in each moment, where the search for heaven is rendered explicit and specific, the place where the search ‘touches down’ to meet us wherever we are, in our temporality. thus, the two are not quite separate, though they are separable.
in terms of priority, neither takes precedence over the other. on the one hand, eternity is preferred over temporality in that temporal goals, aims and drives have their proper seat in the eternal drive and aim. temporal goals find coherence and integrity by being brought into an eternal context. on the other hand, however, when considering an aim in terms of our direct experience of it and access to it (which is to view it from a place of embodied activity and intersubjectivity), then temporal aims hold a preference over eternal aims—in that eternal aims have their necessary and appropriate and exclusive expression in them. eternal goals, which generally form a strict stable unity, find their dispersion and independence when they are extended into a temporal context. hence, neither has priority or precedence over the other, but they exist in a mutual symbiosis and in paradox.
the question remains, how to bring the two into alignment. it’s the task of each person to answer this question uniquely from their own station and circumstance in life. each life is an instantiation of this paradox, and the various modalities that the paradox can assume, either harmonious or disharmonious. so there can be no blanket statement or set of rules—no laws—that can prescribe or enact a strict protocol. alignment must be discerned by other means—by each individual.
yet while this is the case—and it seems to be a matter of destiny to know this in truth—it can also be said that the alignment of the eternal and temporal, with their various goals and drives, already is. and if it seems to us that this is not the situation, then it is simply the result of an obstruction in our vision and conception of what truly is. so, in this case, alignment, we can say, can be found in an attempt to see things as they truly are, already—to see ourselves as we truly are, along with others and the world and the divine. they are already and they sing already; they are already in-tune; but because we confuse things that are not with things that are, and vice versa, we can sometimes miss the beat, disrupt the tempo, fall out of rhythm. ultimately, we miss the mark (hamartia).
how to hit the mark regarding our goals and aims—this takes discipline. it takes time and effort. for the time being we can say that every mark—every small-scale goal, aim and target—regardless of how diverse they might be on a given day, shares something in common with every other mark—extending all the way to the eternal and heavenly mark. they participate in a common structure and pattern.
there you are in your given temporal station, in the here-and-now. as you stand there a goal, mark, or target stands before you. it stands before you presently as a possibility—as something to be attained; but moreover, as something that can be attained, that you are capable of attaining. it is therefore a future possibility. but it is not a remote future possibility—inaccessible, isolated or removed. it is a future possibility that beckons to you; it calls you forward into itself, into time, into the future. it calls your immediately present here-and-now forward into itself; and this immediately present reality is then joined to the future goal and aim, the target to be sought, precisely by human capacity in the face of the goal to be attained.
it is joined by a synchronicity of works and faith, in other words. it’s faith that reaches out toward a possible future. it believes in that future—it believes in the goal itself and in the pathway into it—and, although the possibility may be far away from the present reality, faith stands in the present reality and already begins to join it with that future potential. as a person’s faith is increased and becomes strong in the present reality, it grips that reality from inside the present moment—in the place of that person’s heart—and it prepares that reality, in proportion to its strength, for a union with its object, for what is impending and yet to come. our faith can be so strong that it can render a possibility, in some sense, as already present, even though the possibility may remain distant. in this way, faith is an invisible bridge that joins us with our future, whether that future involves a temporal or an eternal possibility. faith yearns for a union with this future. and it includes within itself a corresponding belief in one’s own ability to achieve this future—it includes faith in oneself, as well.
then, our works are the means by which we cross the bridge of faith. they are the steps that we take from within our temporal situation—the present here-and-now—to bring forward the goal into reality. faith sees the goal, believes in the goal; and our work gets the goal, unearths it. faith sets the frame around the activity; it opens up a pathway to the goal—and works travel the pathway that faith delineates. this is how a future goal emerges into the present, on any level, not just the eternal level. faith, in this sense, is more than simply a theological term; it’s an existential term.
the faith that is required to reach temporal goals is a variant of the same faith that is required to reach the eternal goal; it is a species of the faith that we have in unity and in heaven. faith in heaven, in unity, in God, or in love divides and splinters itself into the faith that we have in any of our temporal aims; there is really no difference, when the faith is real and true. it is only when we lack faith, or when our faith is weak, that we experience a division between temporal and eternal goals. faith is, quite simply, a trust and belief in coherence itself (the capacity for things to cohere, to join together, to unite—including the present and the future, you and your target, heaven and earth)—it is a belief in goodness, unity and order. it radiates out, from the inner heart, into all of our aims. by means of properly held faith, therefore, our temporal aims become synchronized with the eternal aim; they merge with the pursuit of eternity.
the correspondence of faith and works is what joins the two terms together—you and your target, the present and the future—if they will ever be brought together in truth. all goals and aims, to some extent, i would say, are comprised of this structure. and to realize this is to begin to understand how a small-scale, temporal goal participates in and expresses the eternal, heavenly goal.
just as every small-scale goal rests at the far end of our desires and drives, each day, so also the large-scale eternal goal rests at the far end of our small-scale goals… temporal goals grant coherence and unity to the manifold desires and drives (capabilities) which lead to them, and the eternal goal grants coherence and unity to all the manifold small-scale goals that we pursue each day. in this way, eternity is harmonized into each drive and desire, from the bottom up—it orders, refines and perfects them. this is also a way to consider how very deep the path into eternity and heaven extends within us—it can reach our deep bones and marrow—and it is very difficult both to find it, and to hit its mark—it is like entering through a narrow gate, or like passing through a needle’s eye. but since there is nothing else that can grant order and coherence to our lives and our pursuits, it is a target that must be taken up and sought after. i don’t see many options concerning this. yet it’s also important to bear in mind that we are capable and able at each step along the way. we can do it—find heaven—if we believe and put in the work.