The multidimensional existence of time, what is the concept?

Your question reminds me of Eliot's quartet. I'll post it for you, too, and see if it works.

On the time theme of Eliot's four quartets

Author: Jiang Source: Foreign Literature Published: 2006-1-2117:10 Publisher: rtmart.

Eliot pointed out at the end of the article Thinking after Lambeth Conference: The world is experimenting to form a civilized but non-Christian thought, and this experiment will fail; But we must wait patiently for its collapse, and at the same time, we must redeem time: in this way, faith can be preserved in the dark ages before us, civilization can be restored and rebuilt, and the world can avoid suicide. (Note: T.S. Eliot, Selected Papers (London, 195 1), p. 387) From this, we can see Eliot's concern about the meaning of time redemption. Similarly, in his later masterpiece Quartet, the discussion on the relationship between time and eternity became its theme. Helen Gardner said: "These four poems are basically a poem, and the central discovery of each poem is the same." (Note: The Art of T.S. Elivt by Helen Gardner (new york, 1959). P. 158。 ) These four poems reflect each other in content. You have me and I have you. * * * Both of them point to the significance of how people can be redeemed in time. According to the sequence of this poem and the relationship between them, combined with Eliot's literary theory and other works, this paper discusses the time theme of the Quartet from the following four aspects. First, the question of time and eternity puts forward the opening work of the quartet-Norton with broken dreams begins with thinking about the eternal present of time: both the present and the past of time may exist in the future of time,/but the future of time is included in the past of time. /If all time is forever now/All time can't be recovered. (Note: The poems of the quartet translated in this paper are basically selected from Zhang Ziqing's translation, with some slight changes. See Selected Poems of Eliot (Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House, 1988). According to the traditional objective concept of time, time is a kind of "sequence", which can be divided into "past", "present" and "future" according to the sequence of time movement. However, this concept of time does not have much significance for human existence, so philosophers turned to metaphysics in their thinking about time. Augustine once said, "Time exists in our hearts and can't be found anywhere else." Time is not "what", but just "the stretching of thoughts". However, time does not flow freely, so there is no free past and no free future. Therefore, Augustine denied the existence of pure past and future, so it is inaccurate to divide time into past, present and future. In his view, the best we can say is that time can be divided into past present and future present, which all exist in our hearts. So, how do they exist in our hearts? Augustine's answer is full of "modern" meaning: "The past and present are memories, the present and present are direct feelings, and the future and present are expectations." (Noe: Augustine: Confessions, translated by Shiliang Zhou (Commercial Press, 198 1), p. 247. Here, we can understand that Augustine's understanding of time has at least two fundamental characteristics: time exists in people's minds and is an extension of their minds or thoughts; The past and the future are unified with the present and exist through the present. As mentioned above, in Eliot's poems, we can vaguely see the meaning very similar to Augustine's view of time. If the flow of time is uninterrupted, and now all time is eternal, there will be no redemption. Eliot emphasized the identity of time and the present at any point in time, which was for God's sake. For God, time is eternal and unchanging. Never, no need to redeem it now. The poet said more clearly at the back of this poem: "The past and future of time/what may happen and what has happened/point to a purpose, always aiming at the present." This further affirms the significance of time: the value and purpose of time lies in pointing to the eternal present, that is, returning to the eternal God. This view of time is obviously a Christian view of time. Christian time is linear and vector, which inevitably points to the only and definite ultimate. Ultimate refers to the time of ultimate movement, that is, returning to the eternal present. In the Quartet, the ultimate exploration of time is to move in the eternal direction, and everything else is empty and meaningless. However, Eliot's progress towards eternal time is not a simple linear movement, but based on the present and working towards the eternal goal. The so-called foothold in the present is to save mankind in time and move towards eternity outside time. Eliot's eternal view of the present is further demonstrated by the concept of the static point of the rotating world, which is extremely abstract and vague, and has some similarities with the meanings of Brahma and Nirvana in Indian religion. Eliot's viewpoint of "the stationary point of the rotating world" is also of unique significance from the perspective of time. The fuzziness of the meaning of "the stationary point of the rotating world" is reflected in this series of negative structures of "either/or": the stationary point of the rotating world. There is neither sentient beings nor sentient beings; /Don't come or go; At rest, there is dancing,/there is no stopping or moving. Not fixed. /The past and the future meet here. A movement that neither comes nor goes, neither rises nor falls. Besides, be quiet. /Only this dance, no other dance. I can only say that we have been there, not where. I can't say how long it will take, because it will be calculated in time. In Eliot's view, the rotating world is a moving world, and its movement symbolizes two aspects: on the one hand, it symbolizes the world of earthly material life, on the other hand, it symbolizes the spiritual world. In fact, the meaning of stillness lies in the intersection of these opposites. It is the balance tension of various opposites and contradictions, the intermediary point of stillness and movement, and it can be said that it is the intersection of the material world and the spiritual world, representing harmony. In time, it is the intersection of the past and the future, as the poem says: the past and the future meet here. A movement that neither comes nor goes. Therefore, in a sense, the static point of the rotating world can be said to be the concrete embodiment of the eternal moment of time and the manifestation of God's spirit, which is somewhat similar to the meaning of the intersection of time "finite and infinite" proposed in the poem. It is through these imaginary "static points" and "intersection points" that Eliot realizes the eternal unity with time, thus saving human beings in secular time. Eliot put forward the questions of "the eternal present of time" and "the stationary point of the rotating world" in Norton with shattered dreams, not because he pretended to be abstruse, but because of the realistic situation of human beings. He tried to achieve spiritual sublimation through the connection between reality and eternity, as he summarized at the end of the second chapter of this poem: "Only through time can time be conquered." Second, the historical significance of time "Burning Norton" starts from abstract thinking and makes metaphysical philosophical thinking about time, while in "East Cook Village", Eliot begins to think about the historical significance of time around his family history and times. Time here is no longer an abstract process of the past, present and future, but directly shows the cyclic process of time and reflects the profound reflection on history. The title of this poem is taken from East Cook Village, yeovil town Town, Somerset, England, where Eliot's own ancestors lived. The ancestors of the poet lived here for more than 200 years and immigrated to the United States in the17th century. Eliot came to his hometown in August 1937 and wrote to Professor houseman in May 1940, saying, "The title of the poem comes from a village in Somerset, where my ancestors lived for two centuries. The first part, a few words written in old English, is taken from Thomas Eliot's Bok Named the Governor (1953) (Note: Helen Gardner, The Combination of Four Quartet (London, 1978), p. 43). The first sentence at the beginning of the poem contains thoughts on the meaning of time cycle. " The day I started is the day I finished. "The difficulty in understanding this sentence lies in the word' final'. Does time and history lead to the end in the sense of purpose, or can "end" only be understood as end and extinction? One of the sources of this poem is the ancient inscription of Queen Mary Stuart of Scots, "My end is my beginning". She was executed for the murder of Queen Elizabeth, which was engraved on her chair during her detention. When examining the meaning of this motto, Maurice Baring thinks that Mary's motto symbolizes another meaning, and the death of the Queen of Scotland is also the starting point of her political career. (Noe: james johnson sweeney, East Cork: An Interpretation, see Michael grant, ed.t.s.elivt: The Critical Heritage, 2 vols (London, 1982), vol. ii, P.422). Because after her death, Her son james stuart (note: james stuart (1566-1625):1567 ruled Scotland, called James I, and the Stuart dynasty in English history began. ) has inherited the throne of Scotland and England, wearing two crowns. Another source of this poem may be Heraclitus' sentence: "The beginning and the end are the same." This kind of time cycle meaning about "beginning" and "end" has similar expressions in other parts of the Quartet, for example, in the fifth part of Burned Norton, "the end and the beginning are always there." It is further sublimated in Little Chalcophora japonica Thunb. Sperry: "What we call the beginning is often the end,/and the end is the beginning,/and the day of the end is our beginning." This shows that the poet started a new starting point after describing the historical cycle of life and death, creation and destruction. After Eliot put forward the concept of cycle, he showed the meaning of cycle by comparing the old and new pictures. For example, in the first paragraph of the first chapter of East Cook Village, he wrote: Houses kept rising and falling,/turned into rubble, expanded,/transported away, destroyed and broken, repaired,/the original site became an empty space, and the factory became a detour. /From old stones to new buildings, from old wood to new flames,/From old fires to ashes, from ashes to dirt,/Now it has become the meat, bones, fur and feces of people and animals,/It has also become corn stalks and leaves. The image of "the house collapsed and was repaired" in the poem symbolizes the process of the emergence, development and extinction of all things in the world. This poem is full of words expressing decline and revival. The poet deliberately juxtaposes two words with opposite meanings, such as "start" and "end", "rise" and "fall", "destruction" and "recovery", "old" and "new". The meaning of this cycle seems to be somewhat similar to Heraclitus' view of circular flow. Heraclitus said: "Fire is born by the death of qi, and qi is born by the death of fire;" Water is born in the death of soil, and soil is born in the death of water. " (Note: See Selected Readings of Western Philosophy, Volume I, edited by Philosophy Department of Peking University (Commercial Press, 1988), p. 2 1. ) In Eliot's poems, from old fire to ashes, from ashes to mud, the earth grows new life. Old things die, new things are born, and things in the world are born and die in this way, and there is no end to it. If people are born and die, houses are built and fall down, and this cycle of life and death repeats the same content forever, then where is the meaning of life? This is exactly what Eliot is concerned about. He further discusses in his poem: "A house is born and died in a certain period:/once built, once lived for generations/once the loose window sill is blown by strong wind/shakes the footstep board that voles often visit/blows the old tapestry woven with proverbs." Eliot discovered "the illusion of life" from this meaningless cycle of life and death. The "period of life and death" in the poem is related to the third chapter of Ecclesiastes of the Old Testament: everything has a time, and everything in the world has a time. Sometimes you live, sometimes you die; Sometimes you plant, sometimes you pull out what you plant; Sometimes killing people, sometimes treating diseases; Sometimes demolition, sometimes dancing; Sometimes throwing stones, sometimes piling stones; ..... So, what are the benefits of doing things in his labor? The Bible talks about the endless life of all things in the world, but it emphasizes the nihilistic view. However, the purpose of Eliot's poems is not to promote the pessimism of historical cycle, but to remind people to get rid of repeated life and transcend historical cycle, so as to gain eternal significance. Eliot put forward the circular meaning of history here, paving the way for the unity of history and reality expressed in Little Chalcophora japonica Thunb. Third, the flow of time: rivers and oceans Compared with the first two quartets, the meaning of time, history and eternity is more clear in Gansser Virgis, and the flow of time is manifested as two time images of rivers and oceans. The river is related to the Mississippi River where Eliot grew up, and the sea is related to the seaside scene in Massachusetts where Eliot's family went on vacation. The poet later recalled that when he was in St. Louis, he missed the seaside in New England, and when he was in New England, he missed the Mississippi River in St. Louis. Therefore, the Mississippi River, which is connected with his childhood memories, and the dry Servigis, which emerged from the water, became symbols in his poems. If there is much influence of American background in Eliot's poems, Eliot himself thinks that the Mississippi River has the greatest influence. (Noe: Julia Maniates Reibetanz, Eliot's Four Seasons Reader, (Michigan, 1983), p. 102. In the poem Ganselvergis, he found the source of the poem through his childhood memories of the Mississippi River. Please look at the beginning of the poem: dedicated to God and me. /I am willing to help in commercial transportation, but it is not very reliable; At that time, it caused great trouble to the bridge builders. Once the bridge was built, the residents in the city almost forgot the brown-skinned god. However, as always, he is ruthless, furious and destructive, and his temper has not changed in four seasons. The description of the Mississippi River here undoubtedly has the characteristics of the poet's personal memory. Eliot wrote a similar description of the Mississippi River in an article: a river, a big and powerful river, is the only natural force that can completely control shipping ... a capricious and capricious tyrant. In one season, it may flow slowly in such a narrow river ... It is almost hard to believe that in another season, it may flood, wash down and flood the lowlands of Illinois, causing people and animals to fall into the river and not survive. At this time, it also floated over corpses and livestock. (Note: Introduction of T.S. Eliot's The Adventures of Huckleberry. Finn, (London, 1950), pp. 12-13. ) Eliot's description of the magical power of the Mississippi River in this article is very similar to that in Gansser Virgis. In the poem, the river is personified and called a god, "a strong god with brown skin, gloomy, wild and stubborn". As a symbol of nature, rivers are full of uses and serve people, but they are also unruly and destructive. As a symbol of nature, rivers are invincible; The time it represents controls people's lives. As an image of time, rivers also remind people of the rhythm of time: reminding people of things they want to forget. Although the admirers of the machine don't respect him,/he still waits, watches and waits. /His rhythm appears in the nursery,/on the branches of Ailanthus altissima in the courtyard in April,/in the smell of grapes on the table in autumn,/in the family reunion under the gas lamp in winter night and evening. Here, the rhythm of the river is the rhythm of time, so it reminds us of the rhythm of all life: time is spring, autumn and winter, the vegetation of the earth is spring and autumn, and people are from nursery to family reunion. All these show that we can't escape the shackles of the time chain. "The river is in our hearts", the past and future of time are "intertwined in the ever-changing weak body", and the time symbolized by the river is an objective reality. People's life is in this kind of time cycle, and they can't escape the bondage of time. Then Eliot's discussion of time turned to the image of "ocean". "The river is in our hearts and the sea is around us." The sea is parallel to the river, but it is not in our hearts, but beside us. Compared with this river, it is wider. The river is "a powerful brown god", but the ocean "has many voices/many gods and many voices". In Gansser Vergis, the image of the ocean is not as beautiful as that described in Eliot's previous poems. Its meaning is rich, and its symbolic meaning is increasing in different contexts. First of all, the ocean is a symbol of supreme authority and absolute dominance. The history of mankind is only a moment of ocean time. In front of the vast sea, man is just a poor creature at his mercy. The poem reads: "It throws all kinds of losses at us,/throws broken fishing nets, broken shrimp cages,/dead people's boats and paddles in a foreign land." In the poem, "breaking fishing nets and shrimp cages" implies the struggle between fishermen and the sea, and these appliances are "broken", indicating the failure of fishermen; There are also "it left behind our losses" and "the ship of the dead in a foreign land and the broken oars", which may be related to the ancient war and symbolize the power of death. It shows that man is powerless in front of the sea, and he is just a sad victim. Secondly, the ocean is a symbol of eternity, and its time is immeasurable, just as the poem says: under the pressure of silent fog/loud clock/sounded by unhurried tsunami,/counting the time that does not belong to us,/this time/is longer than the astronomical clock,/and it is longer than the anxious women,/They can't sleep all night,/thinking about the future, like knitting a sweater. /This is between midnight and dawn, when the past becomes a scam,/and the future is not bright, before dawn/time stops, and time is endless; /Ah, there have been tsunamis/explosions/Hong Zhong since ancient times. From this poem, we can see that under the cover of dense fog, the tsunami rang a long-standing loud bell, which symbolizes people's prayer to God. The time symbolized by the sea is closely related to the call of Hong Zhong. It symbolizes eternity. This time cannot be calculated by the limited life of human beings. It "takes longer than the astronomical clock." Compared with the eternal time of the ocean, human time is fleeting, but people seldom understand the meaning of this eternal time. This is the case with the anxious woman mentioned in the poem. They lay in bed and couldn't sleep all night. They divide time into various parts that they can understand-hours, days, months and years. "Like knitting wool, they fold the past and the future, straighten them, separate them, and then knit them together." So they are confined to time, waiting and observing only the secular time, without returning to the eternal meaning of God and what they get. At the end of this poem, the poet once again warned people with a loud bell that they should face eternity and wait for God with their heart, as the fifth to seventh lines of the Old Testament psalm 130 said: "I wait for the Lord, my heart waits, and I hope for his word." My heart waits for the Lord, like a night watchman waiting for the morning. From this poem, we can see that Eliot advocates that people should get rid of secular time and seek the meaning of life in eternal time. Following this meaning, Eliot further pointed out in the last chapter of Gansser Virgis: "However, understanding the intersection of finite and infinite time is a saint's duty/not a saint's duty, but a kind of giving and accepting in the sacrifice, enthusiasm, selflessness and self-surrender of love." At this point, the time theme of the whole Quartet can be briefly summarized in a few words. Only at the intersection of temporality and eternity can it have eternal significance, which only saints can do. "Point" represents the combination of two sides of existence. In Burned Norton, it represents the "stationary point of the rotating world" with the image of a circle. Here is the intersection of finite time and infinity, which is a linear image, symbolizing the combination of temporality and eternity. This combination is what Eliot later called "impossible combination", and its identity is reflected in the transformation of Christ. Here we can also compare the significance of the intersection of time in Gansser Virgis with the admonition of the sage in the rock: "Remember, all of you are limited by God,/You are born at the intersection all the time,/Remember, if you were born in time, you must be born in eternity now." So, in short, the intersection of time is not only within time, but also outside time. It is a combination of finite time and infinite time, and it is at this intersection of time that the spirit of God is fully manifested. Fourth, the harmony and unity of time The time shown in Little Chalcophora japonica Thunb. Sperry is the summary and deepening of the first three quartets. Eliot's adaptation of four quartets into Ode to Little Gideon was carefully designed. As Helen Gardner said, "He (Eliot) realized that his first three poems were self-contained, and the fourth poem as the ending poem should cover more contents than the first three poems. It should synthesize the first three poems and make a summary for the successful conclusion of the whole series. " (Note: edited by michael grant. T.S. Etiot, Key Heritage, Volume 2 (London, 1982), Volume 1, Page 4 1. ) Norton, who was burned down, launched the theme of time and eternity with the eternal present as the background. East Cook Village takes the rise and fall of family history as the main line and sees through the meaning of historical time. Based on the two images of time-river and ocean, Ganselvergis shows the significance of the intersection of finite time and infinite time. Little Chartova shows the unity of two kinds of time (finite and infinite, reality and history) here. The ultimate salvation of time is "here, the intersection of eternal moments/in Britain, not anywhere else". Eliot completed the exploration of the meaning of time through the unification of these two kinds of time. The opening of Little Chalcophora japonica Thunb. Spelley describes the poet's visit to Little Chalcophora japonica Thunb. Spelley on a midwinter afternoon. The scene described in the poem is the display and contrast of the first three quartets, and the integration of the four seasons symbolizes the unity of infinite time and limited time, eternity and the present, and god and man. The season when the poet visited little chalcophora japonica gory removing was winter, but it smelled of spring. This unique nature of neither winter nor spring gives people a feeling of eternal time. The description of the time scene here is the extension and expansion of Burned Norton. The scenery in the rose garden is hazy, showing bright moments, such as "suddenly in a ray of sunshine" and "little chalcophora japonica gory removing". In the rose garden, "the pond is full of water from the sun", while in the little Giddingsand, "the sun that comes and goes in a hurry ignites the water in the pond and canal". In the rose garden, roses and lotus flowers symbolize the meaning of sacred love and also contain the elements of secular love. In Tears of Little Chalcophora japonica Thunb, the snowflake is covered with white, symbolizing pure and flawless sacred love, which is "not in the plan of reproduction" and symbolizes eternity. In the rose garden, "we" and "they" are often mentioned. In Little Chalcophora japonica gory removing, the perspective of this poem is impersonal. The "inspiring and insensitive spirit" and "the vitality of the soul is trembling" in the poem transcend the specific personal level and enter the depths of our souls at the same time. Therefore, the time scene at the beginning of Little Chalcophora japonica Thunb. Sperry is the expansion and deepening of the rose garden, where the meaning of time and eternity is more concentrated, more accurate and more complete. At the same time, we can also see the contrast between Gideon Jr. and the time scene described in the first chapter of East Cook Village. In East Cook Village, the hot sunshine is not dazzling, but absorbed by gray rocks. In Chalcophora japonica gory, the sunlight is not absorbed, but it can ignite the ice in ponds and canals. In East Cook Village, the atmosphere is depressing and sleepy, "deep paths lead to sleepy villages", while in Little Giddingsol, the atmosphere is warm, "The flame is stronger than the fire on the branches or in the brazier/cheer up the insensitive spirit; There is no wind, only Pentecost fire in the dark season of the year. " This kind of flame is the fire of the Holy Spirit from God, which can inspire people's spirit, purify people's soul and bring the possibility of human redemption. In East Cook Village, we felt the past and cycle of time, from beginning to end, from afternoon to dawn; In Little Chatova, we feel the unity of time, winter solstice and spring, freezing and melting, polar and tropic of cancer, frost and fire, ice and fire, windless cold and heart heat. Snowflakes in full bloom are like summer flowers, but they are "not in the plan of reproduction and survival". The harmony of these opposites produces a sense of wholeness. It is precisely because of this sense of wholeness that temporality and eternity can be unified, which is the concrete expression and extension of "the intersection of finite time and infinite time" Eliot put forward a series of time concepts such as "the stationary point of the rotating world" and "the intersection of finite time and infinite time" in his previous quartets. In Little Chalcophora japonica Thunb, his discussion on the meaning of time is realistic and based on the repeated singing of "here and now", which is of great practical significance at that time. "Little Chalcophora japonica gory removing" was written in 1942, which was the most difficult year of World War II. German planes often attack London, and "England here and now" is in danger, so it needs to be redeemed in time. In the face of this chaotic and broken world, Eliot looks back and cares about the present, and a sense of history arises spontaneously. Charles I came to Little Gideon in the disastrous night of the Civil War, in order to restore confidence and rally. Eliot now takes Gideon Jr., a symbol of his religious and political beliefs, as an example to meditate on history and reality, as well as the finiteness and infinity of life. He found the answer: No matter what season and time you came, no matter which road you came from, no matter what purpose you came for, as long as you come to the holy land of Pará, Charlin, you can realize spiritual communication with God by communicating with the deceased Nicolas Ferrara. It is clearly written in the poem: "this place, the intersection of eternal moments/is England, not anywhere else." Never, never. " Therefore, Eliot finally found the intersection of secular and eternal time by taking the religious holy land of Chalcophora japonica as a symbol, and found an example of communication between man and god. In this way, in Eliot's view, reality and history have reached unity. In addition to paying attention to the practical significance, Little Chatova also shows meditation on the historical significance. After the discussion of historical significance in East Cook Village, it further puts forward the role of history in life and the attitude we should adopt towards history. "A nation without history cannot be saved from time/because history is an eternal model. So,/when it gets dark in the winter afternoon,/in a secluded small church/history is here and now-England. " Why can't a nation without history be saved from time? Because the meaning of history exists in an eternal mode, without history, people cannot be redeemed from time. The redemption of time is not to cancel time, but to transform it into an eternal model. Eliot pointed out in the article Tradition and Personal Talent that the consciousness of history contains a kind of comprehension, not only to understand the past, but also to understand its existence. The consciousness of history not only makes people have the background of his own generation when writing, but also makes people feel that the literature of the whole Europe and the literature of their own country have existed at the same time since Homer, forming a situation of coexistence. This historical consciousness is a permanent consciousness, a temporary consciousness, a combination of permanent and temporary consciousness. (Note: Wang Enzhong compiled: Poems of Eliot, (International Cultural Publishing Company, 1989). This passage shows the writer's historical consciousness in his creation. He can't surpass the tradition, he should realize that the whole literary tradition is a whole that exists at the same time. Only when the writer is in this overall mode can he innovate. It can also be said that a nation and a nation are all in time, and only by devoting themselves to the eternal model can time be redeemed. On such a winter afternoon, the poet discovered the history of eternal significance in the church of Chalcophora japonica gory, Jr., at this time, not in the distant future; Here, in England, not on the other side of nothingness. At this point, Eliot also completed the discussion on the meaning of time and reached the realm of harmony and unity.