Two shapes of reality
Hindu tradition counts four ages () that decline from truth () to strife () and then begin again. Most Hindus say we now live in the last of them, the , shown above as the darkest arc. Each arrow points the way the cycle turns. The Bible describes one line instead: creation, the fall, the coming of Christ, and a final renewal.
- means "truth". It is the golden age, when right living stands on all four of its "legs".
- comes from the word for "three". Right living stands on three legs. Tradition places and the in this age.
- comes from the word for "two". Right living stands on two legs. This is the age of and the war.
- means "strife". Right living stands on one leg. Tradition dates its start to 3102 BCE, so about 5,100 years have passed and about 427,000 remain.
Together the four ages last about 4.32 million years, called one great age (), and then the cycle begins again. A thousand great ages make one day of the creator, about 4.3 billion years. These figures come from the , and many Hindus read them as symbolic more than literal. Modern scholars date the Hindu texts far more recently than these ages suggest.
CyclicRecurring cosmic ages; history repeats
LinearCreation, , final judgment; history goes somewhere
Release of the soulMoksha: the individual is freed from while the world keeps turning
Renewal of everythingSin, Satan and death defeated, and God living with His people
Why it matters: on a cycle, no single event is final, so an incarnation can recur (). On a line, the cross and empty tomb happen once for all (). Most of the challenges below grow out of this difference.
History is not a wheel. It has a center, and the center is Jesus Christ. He came once, died once, rose once (), and He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end ().
Hindu thought sees time as a cycle of ages that repeats. The Bible sees one line from creation to new creation, with the cross at the center, happening once for all.
Why the next step followsWith that frame in place, the first question: is love at the very center of reality?Monism and the personal God →Does life feel to you more like a circle or a road? What would it mean if history really were going somewhere?