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The Hare and the Hedgehog
Tale of the Brothers Grimm translated by M. Hunt [1884] (slightly changed by us)
Interpretation by Undine & Jens in green [2025]
Saint Augustine says: The Holy Scripture initially smiles at young children and attracts the child to himself; but in the end, when one seeks to fathom the Scripture, it mocks wise men; and no one is so simple-minded that they cannot find therein what suits them; and, in turn, no one is so wise that, when they seek to fathom it, they cannot find it ever more deeply and more deeply. Everything we can hear here (on earth) and everything that can be told to us has a further, hidden meaning within it. For everything we understand here is so unlike what it is in itself and what it is in God, as if it did not exist at all. (Meister Eckhart, Sermon 24)
We can say something similar about many old fairy tales, as we have experienced ourselves, for with them one can penetrate to the deepest depths. For example: Who doesn’t know the old children’s story about “The Hare and the Hedgehog,” about how the clever hedgehog outwits the dumb hare? But perhaps this fairy tale has much more to say to us, and even to our grown-up children? And it starts off profoundly:
This story, my dear young folks, seems to be a lie, but it really is true, for my grandfather, from whom I have it, used always, when relating it, to say complacently, “It must be true, my son, or else no one could tell it to you.”
Of course, we know that this fairy tale is a symbolic story, and that symbols are only true in terms of their meaning. Separated from their meaning, they can certainly be described as lies. Does this perhaps apply to everything we see and believe in this world, or take as true? And what then is the truth, the pure source from which all stories with their symbols come, right down to our own life story? Who tells it? Who hears it?
The story is as follows. One Sunday morning about harvest time, just as the buckwheat was in bloom, the sun was shining brightly in heaven, the east wind was blowing warmly over the stubble-fields, the larks were singing in the air, the bees buzzing among the buckwheat, the people were all going in their Sunday clothes to church, and all creatures were happy, and the hedgehog was happy too. The hedgehog, however, was standing by his door with his arms akimbo, enjoying the morning breezes, and slowly trilling a little song to himself, which was neither better nor worse than the songs which hedgehogs are in the habit of singing on a blessed Sunday morning. Whilst he was thus singing half aloud to himself, it suddenly occurred to him that, while his wife was washing and dressing the children, he might very well take a walk into the field, and see how his turnips were going on. The turnips were, in fact, close beside his house, and he and his family were accustomed to eat them, for which reason he looked upon them as his own.
Yes, we long for such a beautiful, sunny, and perfect world. A Sunday on which all arduous work rests, and we show our best side and turn our minds to the holy church, where a truth is spoken of that transcends our tedious everyday life. What kind of spirit is it within us that steps out of the door of his physical house, finds everything wonderful and perfect, and calls everything he uses to live his own? Here we can once again find spirit and nature as father and mother: the active spirit, which provides nourishment, and the giving-birth nature, which clothes her children and provides for purification. If both are harmoniously united, it will surely be a beautiful life, for behind the outward roles, they are both a single consciousness. They appear different only through the roles and clothing with which the consciousness identifies. That they are otherwise indistinguishable will be encountered later in the fairy tale. And we mean this “con-science” here in the broadest sense, as a moving and active knowledge, as information in being. In this respect, it is practically the “information” that becomes a “formation”. And so, it propels the active spirit into the world through the power of thought.
No sooner said than done. The hedgehog shut the house-door behind him, and took the path to the field. He had not gone very far from home, and was just turning round the sloe-bush which stands there outside the field, to go up into the turnip-field, when he observed the hare who had gone out on business of the same kind, namely, to visit his cabbages. When the hedgehog caught sight of the hare, he bade him a friendly good morning. But the hare, who was in his own way a distinguished gentleman, and frightfully haughty, did not return the hedgehog’s greeting, but said to him, assuming at the same time a very contemptuous manner,
We now encounter consciousness on various levels. First, as the hedgehog, which feeds on the root in the form of golden-yellow turnips and lives happily in a communal, harmonious world. And then, as the proud and arrogant hare, which lives on the outer leaves of cabbages and considers itself something higher, superior, and better. This symbolic representation reminds us first of the reason of a holistically perceiving consciousness and then of the intellect of an arrogant ego-consciousness that sees separation and opposites everywhere in the world, such as mine and yours, good and bad, happiness and suffering, true and false, or life and death. Thus, one lives in a perfect world of peace, and the other in a discontented world of attack and competition.
“How do you happen to be running about here in the field so early in the morning?” “I am taking a walk.” said the hedgehog. “A walk!” said the hare, with a smile. “Yes, it seems to me that you can’t use your legs for anything better.” This answer greatly annoyed the hedgehog. He can bear anything but an attack on his legs, precisely because they are crooked by nature.
One can ponder on the symbolic forms of the hedgehog and the hare for a long time. Just as the hedgehog curls up and points its spines outward when one tries to grasp it, so too does holistic reason close itself off when the intellectual mind wants to understand or grasp it, becoming a dense forest of our external ideas, which then obscures our view as painful contradictions all around us. Reason, too, needs no fast legs, for as a holistic view, it doesn’t have to constantly run from one tree or viewpoint to the next, as the intellectual mind does in the game of opposing views, because it “can’t see the forest for the trees,” that is, the whole for all the individual parts. Accordingly, the hare stands for the typical inner fear* that our outwardly proud ego has in this game of hide-and-seek of the mind. This is an essential and endless fear of constantly losing or not winning something, precisely because it is a separating self-consciousness. Thus, it lives in a discontented world of attack, chasing with swift legs either some kind of gain to enrich itself, or having to flee to save itself and its perceived property. Who doesn’t know this chasing in the world? (* In German is the scaredy- cat an “Angsthase” - a scaredy- hare.)
So now the hedgehog said to the hare, “You seem to imagine that you can do more with your legs than I with mine.” “That is just what I do think,” said the hare. “That can be put to the test,” said the hedgehog. “I wager that if we run a race, I will outstrip you.” “That is ridiculous! You with your short legs!” said the hare, “But for my part I am willing, if you have such a monstrous fancy for it. What shall we wager?” “A golden louis-d’or and a bottle of brandy,” said the hedgehog. “Done,” said the hare. “Shake hands on it, and then we may as well come off at once.”
And yet reason is certain that it is faster and more agile than the intellectual mind, which considers holistic reason boring and sluggish. This is also a typical intellectual vision of heaven, where angels sit on clouds, play harps, and sing “Hallelujah” to the deity, while here on earth, an interesting, eventful, and adventurous life beckons. And yet heaven is much larger and wider than earth, and beings can move much faster and more easily in heaven than on and in earth. Light, too, is faster than any matter, and heaven is considered the epitome of pure light. And this light is supposed to be “boring”? Matter is boring and perhaps even the most boring and sluggish thing in the entire universe. But the ego-mind refuses to believe it, because it doesn’t want to lose its “independence” in the holistic light.
So, a test of strength ensues between the two, and the prize is to be a gold coin and a bottle of brandy. As symbols, we can think of the gold of truth, which thus gains validity in the world, just as a coin has validity for our intellect. The bottle of brandy would be more of a gain for the intellect if it were to win this contest, increasing its intoxication of illusion. But this power of illusion also has its significance for reason, especially in creation, in allowing worldly diversity to emerge from the holistic light. But unlike the intellect, reason is not dominated by this power of illusion, but rules over it, as God rules over the world. Thus, brandy serves as an addiction for some and medicine for others.
“Nay,” said the hedgehog, “there is no such great hurry! I am still fasting, I will go home first, and have a little breakfast. In an hour I will be back again at this place.”
Here, the impatience of our intellect is already evident, and how reason demands patience from us. And what does holistic reason nourish itself upon during this time, when the wilful intellect waits impatiently? Of course, from the pure source of divine or holistic intuition. Thus, as symbolically described above, a golden-yellow “turnip” as the root with the gold of truth, in contrast to the “cabbage” with its multifaceted layers of tangled leaves of our intellectual thoughts.
If it is possible for him to pause for an hour or less from his inner self-will and self-speech, then the divine will will speak to him. Through this speaking, his will internalizes the will of God, which now speaks to the figurative, natural, essential, and external intellectual life, breaking down and illuminating the earthly formation of the intellectual will, so that at the same time the supersensible divine life and will flourish in the intellectual will and become holistically internalized. (Jacob Boehme, The Most Precious Gate of Divine Contemplation 2.17)
Hereupon the hedgehog departed, for the hare was quite satisfied with this. On his way the hedgehog thought to himself, “The hare relies on his long legs, but I will contrive to get the better of him. He may be a great man, but he is a very silly fellow, and he shall pay for what he has said.” So, when the hedgehog reached home, he said to his wife, “Wife, dress thyself quickly, thou must go out to the field with me.” “What is going on, then?” said his wife. “I have made a wager with the hare, for a gold louis-d’or and a bottle of brandy. I am to run a race with him, and thou must be present.” “Good heavens, husband,” the wife now cried, “art thou not right in thy mind, hast thou completely lost thy wits? What can make thee want to run a race with the hare?” “Hold thy tongue, woman,” said the hedgehog, “that is my affair. Don’t begin to discuss things which are matters for men. Be off, dress thyself, and come with me.” What could the hedgehog’s wife do? She was forced to obey him, whether she liked it or not.
We’ve certainly all experienced such conversations within ourselves. Reason knows that it is superior to intellect. But when it comes to practical implementation, Mother Nature usually reminds us not to lose our intellect, which nourishes and sustains the body. We don’t have to lose our intellect in this world either; it only becomes problematic when intellect loses reason. Thus, this struggle between reason and intellect for superiority or dominance is, first and foremost, a typical “man’s business”, that is, a problem of the spirit. And Mother Nature serves the spirit or consciousness “whether she likes it or not,” for, as already stated, both are essentially one and the same being, which can only be separated mentally by concepts and outwardly appears different to the intellect.
Thus, in the Bible, Christ consciousness, as the holistic origin of everything, says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. (John 8:58)”
So, when they had set out on their way together, the hedgehog said to his wife, “Now pay attention to what I am going to say. Look you, I will make the long field our race-course. The hare shall run in one furrow, and I in another, and we will begin to run from the top. Now all that thou hast to do is to place thyself here below in the furrow, and when the hare arrives at the end of the furrow on the other side of thee, thou must cry out to him, ‘I am here already!’”
Then they reached the field, and the hedgehog showed his wife her place, and then walked up the field. When he reached the top, the hare was already there. “Shall we start?” said the hare. “Certainly,” said the hedgehog. “Then both at once.” So saying, each placed himself in his own furrow. The hare counted, “Once, twice, thrice, and away!” and went off like a whirlwind down the field. The hedgehog, however, only ran about three paces, and then he stooped down in the furrow, and stayed quietly where he was. When the hare therefore arrived in full career at the lower end of the field, the hedgehog’s wife met him with the cry, “I am here already!” The hare was shocked and wondered not a little, he thought no other than that it was the hedgehog himself who was calling to him, for the hedgehog’s wife looked just like her husband. The hare, however, thought to himself, “That has not been done fairly,” and cried, “It must be run again, let us have it again.” And once more he went off like the wind in a storm, so that he seemed to fly. But the hedgehog’s wife stayed quietly in her place. So, when the hare reached the top of the field, the hedgehog himself cried out to him, “I am here already.”
This brings us to the core of this fairy tale. Reason knows, no matter where the intellect runs and wants to grasp something, that spirit and nature are already there, as a pure consciousness that is naturally present everywhere. Without consciousness, the intellect could not know anything and could not reach any goal. And yet, the intellectual mind cannot understand when it has lost holistic reason. So, it keeps trying in every direction, trying to be faster than the holistic consciousness that is already present everywhere simultaneously. How ridiculous! And yet, it is the usual state of our mind, and we are annoyed by it.
The hare, however, quite beside himself with anger, cried, “It must be run again, we must have it again.” “All right,” answered the hedgehog, “for my part we’ll run as often as you choose.” So, the hare ran seventy-three times more, and the hedgehog always held out against him, and every time the hare reached either the top or the bottom, either the hedgehog or his wife said, “I am here already.” At the seventy-fourth time, however, the hare could no longer reach the end. In the middle of the field, he fell to the ground, the blood streamed out of his mouth, and he lay dead on the spot.
Who hasn’t experienced this feeling when thoughts endlessly run back and forth in the same furrow, unable to reach their goal?! And this fairy tale shows us an excellent method for this, one also familiar from yoga meditation. Whenever a thought propels us somewhere, we tell ourselves: “I’m already here!” This is the realization of pure consciousness, which is effortlessly always there, wherever the mind is going and whatever goal it wants to achieve. With this exercise, you can observe how thoughts practically run themselves to death and eventually have to come to rest if you don’t affirm their goal and allow them to win. Yes, this is often a very long and painful process. But the victory of reason is actually certain, because no thought will ever be faster than consciousness itself. On this path, many have already conquered the egoistic mind and realized incomparably high levels of consciousness, up to pure awareness, which the intellect can never comprehend, as Nisargadatta Maharaj, for example, describes in his book “I Am,” which basically means nothing other than “I am already here!”
But the hedgehog took the louis-d’or which he had won and the bottle of brandy, called his wife out of the furrow, and both went home together in great delight, and if they are not dead, they are living there still.
Happy ending! Like the hedgehog with his wife, we too, as a unity of spirit and nature, could come “home” with the gain of the golden truth and mastery over illusion, to our true homeland, where pure consciousness lives eternally “in great delight” and blissfully. Unless it drinks again from the firewater or “brandy” of passion and imagines itself living in a mortal body with a mind that has lost its sense of reason.
This is how it happened that the hedgehog made the hare run races with him on the Buxtehuder* heath till he died, and since that time no hare has ever had any fancy for running races with a Buxtehuder hedgehog.
The moral of this story, however, is, firstly, that no one, however great he may be, should permit himself to jest at any one beneath him, even if he be only a hedgehog. And, secondly, it teaches, that when a man marries, he should take a wife in his own position, who looks just as he himself looks. So, whosoever is a hedgehog let him see to it that his wife is a hedgehog also, and so forth. (* Buxtehude is a village near Hamburg.)
From this perspective, one can now consider to what extent the hedgehog has deceived the hare, or whether the intellect is merely deceiving itself when, with arrogant pride, it believes itself to be the greatest in this world. Therefore, ultimately, it is always good for consciousness to unite with itself in the famous “self-knowledge,” rather than bonding with any external illusions, no matter how desirable they may seem. And with that, we now know another wonderful fairy tale that “at first attracts little children and later mocks wise men.” Thank you, thank you, OM!
A similarly symbolic story about a race between reason and intellect can also be found in ancient Indian traditions. One version, for example, is found in Shiva Purana 6.19: Shiva and Parvati, who can be considered the Supreme Spirit and Supreme Nature, had two sons. One was Ganesha, considered the remover of worldly obstacles and leader of the host of spirits, and thus also the force of wisdom. The other was Kartikeya, who serves as the commander of the gods in battle against the demons. When it was time for them to marry, each wanted to be first, so the parents spoke:
“Dear sons, we have arranged your marriage to increase your happiness. Listen to us, for we speak the truth. You are both good sons, and we love you equally. In our eyes, there is no difference between you. However, there is one condition that is beneficial and meaningful. The one of you who is the first to go round the entire world will marry first.”
The six-headed Kartikeya immediately charged ahead on his proud peacock, which he used as his mount. But Ganesha, with the large elephant head and whose mount was only a small, inconspicuous mouse, first began to consider calmly. Then he had his two parents, Shiva and Parvati, sit together on a throne and went round them seven times with great reverence. In doing so, he went round his holistic source, the unity of spirit and nature as pure consciousness or awareness, in which all worlds and forms appear, while his brother tried to conquer the external world, reach its outer limits, and go round the multiplicity of forms. In this way, Ganesha won the contest and was married to Siddhi and Buddhi, the supernatural faculties and holistic reason, while his brother, as a conceptual mind, was still on the move. And when he returned from his trip some time later, he felt betrayed by his parents, withdrew in anger, and now refused to marry at all. That is, he could not find the eternal unity of spirit and nature in the direction in which he sought the whole world. OM
Time and Light
“I’m already here!” What does it mean to live in the eternal present of the now, and not in transient time? What is time? After concluding our reflection on “sound and form” in the penultimate fairy tale about “the old witch,” we would now like to reflect on “time and light” and first explore the question of how sound and time are connected. We know that every clock uses some kind of oscillation as the basis for measuring time. And sound is fundamentally just oscillation, that is, the periodic change of some state. Similarly, we also know visible light as electromagnetic oscillations with different wavelengths or frequencies, which then appear in different colours. And that all oscillations, changes, and movements are not absolute, but occur relatively, is something modern science has known since Albert Einstein and his theory of relativity at the latest. Therefore, time is also something relative.
But let’s first look at historical events. Even ancient philosophers intensively studied this topic, and so we read on Wikipedia:
Heraclitus’s river images, symbolized by the constant riverbed in which everything flows (panta rhei), serve as a metaphor for time. Unchanging periodic transitions from day to night, thus the constancy of the river’s course, and the dynamics of its flow represent the unity of opposites. For Plato, space and time have no essence, but are merely moving images of what actually exists (theory of ideas). For Aristotle, the concept of time is inextricably linked to change; time is the measure of all movement and can only be measured by change. It can be divided into an infinite number of time intervals (continuum). Augustine was the first to distinguish between physically exact (measurable) and subjective, experiential time. Time and space only came into being through God’s creation, for whom everything is a present. Augustine summarizes the mystery of time in the following statement: “So what is ‘time’? If no one asks me, I know. If I try to explain it to someone who asks, I don’t know.”
Meister Eckhart also said something similar in his sermons around 1300:
“The days that have passed six or seven days ago, and the days that were six thousand years ago, are as close to today as the day that was yesterday. Why? Because time is in a present Now. (Sermon 11)
I have often said that God creates this entire world completely and entirely in this Now. Everything that God ever created six thousand or more years ago, when He made the world, God now creates altogether. God is in all things; but insofar as God is divine and insofar as God is reasonable, God is nowhere more truly than in the soul and in the angels—if you will: in the innermost of the soul and in the highest of the soul. And when I say “the innermost,” I mean the highest; and when I say “the highest,” I mean the innermost of the soul. In the innermost and in the highest of the soul: I mean both of them (there) as one. There, where time has never penetrated, where no image has ever shone: in the innermost and in the highest of the soul, God creates the entire world. Everything that God created six thousand years ago, and everything that God will create a thousand years from now, if the world still exists that long, God creates in the innermost and highest of the soul. Everything that is past and everything that is present, everything that is to come, God creates in the innermost of the soul. (Sermon 43)
There is a supreme part of the soul that stands above time and knows nothing of time or the body. Everything that ever happened a thousand years ago—the day that was a thousand years ago—is no more distant in eternity than the moment in which I stand now, or (even) the day that will come after a thousand years, or as far as you can count, is no more distant in eternity than this moment in which I stand now… Oh, how noble is that power that stands above time and has no place! For by standing above time, it contains all time within itself and is all time. However little one possesses of what is above time, he would still quickly become rich; for what lies beyond the sea is no more distant from that power than what is now present.” (Sermon 49)
Wow! The idea that our world is approximately 6,000 years old comes primarily from two biblical proverbs:
“For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, and as a watch in the night. (Psalm 90:4)”
“But understand this one thing, beloved, that with the Lord a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Peter 3:8)”
Around 1500 Martin Luther also calculated the beginning of creation to be 3,970 years before the birth of Christ. Accordingly, the 6,000 years of the six days of creation would have been completed in the year 2030, followed by the day of rest as the millennial Sabbath.
The Christian seer Jacob Boehme also referred to this calculation around 1600, but he was aware that time is not absolute, but a relative perception in our light of consciousness, when he wrote:
“Thus, what happened a thousand years ago is as close and easy to recognize in the light as what is happening today. For before God, a thousand years are hardly different than a minute or an instant is to us. Therefore, everything is close and obvious to his spirit, both what has happened and what is to come.” (8th Epistle to Paul Kaym, August 14, 1620)
He also used to write in the family book of good friends:
“He who sees time as eternity and eternity as time is free from all strife.”
Similarly, Francesco Petrarch wrote around 1350 in a book translated into German around 1500 under the title “On the Cure of Both Happiness,” describing it as a profound conversation, first between reason and happiness, and then between reason and unhappiness, for which many deeply symbolic woodcuts were also created:
“Do you use the expression ‘losing time’ in this ordinary sense? If that were so, then I would have to stop trying to cure an incurable disease and admit that you have not only lost your time, but that you have completely lost yourself. But if that is truly so, then I say, do not give up, but give your time back to God, which I greatly hope for and which cannot happen without true devotion. Then know that this will be a great and inestimable gain, because for a little time you can gain eternity. What merchant has ever traded so profitably?” (On the Cure of Unhappiness, 2.15)
Similarly, the sages in ancient India reflected on the phenomenon of time and discovered a pattern of cyclical “time waves” on different levels of consciousness, which can be found in almost all Puranas, such as the Vishnu Purana Chapter 1.3:
The highest level (left in the image) is the creator god Brahma, who lives for 100 years and is then reborn by Vishnu, the god of preservation. One day of his lifetime represents an entire creation, when everything exists and moves, and his night is a corresponding time of dissolution, when everything sleeps and rests. Such a day of creation, also called a Kalpa, consists of 14 Manwantaras (Manu Ages), each ruled by a Manu as the patriarch, along with a number of gods and sages. Each Manwantara, in turn, consists of approximately 71 cycles of four Yugas, or ages, which correspond to our sense of light and dark ages in human history, according to which we currently live in a dark Kali Age. This view of the ruling gods and sages is then extrapolated to our human years. These are, of course, all relative times based on intuitive knowledge. But if you calculate with that, you get a current age of the current day of creation of about 2.16 billion human years, which fits quite well with modern calculations that assume about 13.7 billion years since the Big Bang or 4.5 billion years for the age of the Earth.
At least it’s already clear here that the perception of time depends on the level of consciousness and becomes increasingly sluggish and, so to speak, “boring” the further one’s consciousness falls into material corporeality and tries to cling to it. Conversely, one becomes increasingly broader, freer, and more mobile the more agile one’s consciousness becomes. Such factors for mobility are discussed, for example, in the Indian Vayu Purana, Chapter 1.57 regarding the earthly and heavenly worlds:
- Humans x 1 => Bhurloka / Earth
- Ancestors x 30 => Bhuvarloka / Airspace
- Gods x 360 => Swarloka / Heaven
- Seven Saints x 3,030 => Maharloka / Realm of the Saints
- Krauncha x 9,090 => Janaloka / Realm of the Sons of Brahma
- Manu x 4,320,000 => Tapaloka / Realm of the Yogis
- Brahma x 3,311,400,000,000 => Brahmaloka / Realm of the Creator God
A symbolic story is also told about how a human king went with his daughter to the realm of the creator god Brahma to seek a suitable husband for her. However, the Great Father of the World was busy enjoying the music of the celestial musicians. And when he was finished, he told the king that 27 Mahayugas, or over 116 million human years, had passed on Earth, while he had only waited about 20 minutes in Brahma’s realm. No one spoke anymore of all the husbands the king had in mind, nor of their sons, grandchildren, and descendants. (e.g., Bhagavatam Purana, Chapter 9.3)
Accordingly, time was also viewed as a power of illusion, and in the same Purana, the question “What is time?” is answered as follows:
Time is limitless and all-encompassing, produced by the Supreme Spirit in its cosmic play of cause and effect as the soul’s instrument for the development of natural qualities. Like all other creatures of Brahma, it arises from the formless (the ocean of causes) through the illusory power of Vishnu (the Universal Intelligence). This entire cosmic formation arises as it was before and will continue to arise in the future. (Bhagavatam Purana, Chapter 3.10)
We also find similar views in more recent times in the West. Johann Gottfried Herder wrote around 1800:
“Actually, every changeable thing has the measure of its time within itself; this would exist even if nothing else were present; no two things in the world have the same measure of time... Thus, in the universe, there are innumerably many times at a time; the time that we conceive of as the measure of all is merely a relative measure of our thoughts... Time is, of course, an experiential concept, very slowly deducted from the course of events, from the sequence of changes around, within, and on us, i.e., perceived by the intellect... Time is not a necessary concept underlying all perceptions... True perception (intuition) forgets time. If everything changeable disappears, then the measure of change, time, also disappears...” (Metacritique p. 206)
And so it goes in his famous poem:
A dream, a dream is our life
Here on earth;
Like shadows we float on the waves
And we fade
And measure our lazy step
By space and time
And are, we know not, in the midst
Of eternity.
(Johann Gottfried Herder)
As an example of a scientist still recognized today in the Western world, we would like to cite Albert Einstein (1879-1955), who is said to have said:
For us physicists, the distinction between past, present, and future is nothing but an illusion, however persistently it exists. Subjective time, with its insistence on the now, has no objective meaning.
As a child, he dreamed of riding on light and wondered what the world would look like then. Later, he realized that the world in this form would no longer exist at all. For light itself is infinitely fast and thus beyond space and time, in a pure present. All of space would become a point, and there would be neither past nor future, no up and no down. This is the world of pure light, and one could imagine pure consciousness in a similar way. A limited speed of light in time and space only appears through observation by an observer or “beholder” who sees himself as separate from the light and wants to grasp for or hold on to the light.
This creates the interplay of time and space. If a spaceship were to orbit the Earth very quickly through space, Einstein also discovered that, as seen from Earth, the clocks in the spaceship would run slower. And conversely, as seen from the spaceship, the clocks on Earth would run faster. With regard to the above-mentioned traditions, one could imagine God or Brahma flying through space in a spaceship at almost the speed of light. Then it would also be “scientifically” possible for one day of God to be like a thousand years on Earth, or for one day of Brahma to be like 4 billion human years. This could even be calculated: then the Christian creator God would have to fly at over 99.999999999% of the maximum speed of light, and Brahma a barely measurable fraction faster. This means that with a further acceleration of less than 0.000000001%, or less than 0.01 km/h, the thousand years could become many billions of years. Wow!
But now things get really interesting: What happens when something wants to become light? Einstein also found a formula for this, namely the famous E=mc². The faster something wants to move, the heavier and more inert it becomes, because energy is converted into mass. And so, the maximum speed of light can never be reached. With this, Einstein also proved an ancient wisdom: You cannot become light, you can only be. This also applies to pure and eternal consciousness, and Paul also confirms this: “God, who alone has immortality, dwells in a light that no one can approach. (1 Tim. 6:16)” Therefore, Christ says: “I am the light of the world. (John 8:12)” For as soon as an observer tries to become the light, to grasp it and hold it, he falls into space and time, and the more he holds on to it, the more solid, or material, and “boring” it becomes.
This is where the old devil comes into play, also called “Lucifer,” which means “bringer of light,” because he promises to give us light if we eat from the tree of opposites. Since then, we feel dark inside and grasp for the outer light in a world of opposites in order to “incorporate” it into ourselves. But this path of grasping probably leads more into a “black hole” with the greatest mass in the smallest space than into the heavenly expanse of pure light. This also corresponds to our everyday experience: the more we invest energy in external light, the darker it becomes within us, which is clearly evident in the increasing depression of people in a world so outwardly rich. For in doing so, we transform the energy not into the bright light of an open and freely moving consciousness, but into dark and dull matter that we think we can hold onto.
What then would be the path to pure light into eternity? Well, if the path of holding on leads into a black hole, then the path of release surely leads to the boundless light. When we realize that we already are the light and don’t need to become it, then we find it within ourselves in a boundless and perfect way. Then we don’t have to hold on to it, but can give it without limits and thus spread boundlessly with the light. And that is probably what is meant when it says, “You shall not hide your light under a bushel.” So, not locking it up in a narrow body and holding it back, but radiating it out and releasing it, which is also the great virtue of pure forgiveness. Then we can be the pure light and are present everywhere.
And that is why the hedgehog, as a unity of father and mother, or spirit and nature, can claim, “I am already here!”, while the hare, with all its energy and movement, never reaches where the hedgehog simply is.
The Bible says at the beginning: “Let there be light! And there was light. (Genesis 1:3)” Here, one could say: After the spiritual creation of Father Heaven and Mother Earth, or rather, spirit and nature, light was also to become tangible or material, and thus the first day, and thus time and space, came into being for the matter of creation.
So, what is matter? With that, let’s take a brief excursion from the theory of relativity on a large scale to quantum theory on a small scale. For here, too, one can find the big picture, as Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976), considered the father of quantum physics, said:
“The first sip from the cup of natural science makes one an atheist, but at the bottom of the cup, God awaits!”
Regarding the question of matter, the physicist Hans-Peter Duerr (1929-2014), a loyal student and friend of Werner Heisenberg, explains that matter is essentially nothing other than “frozen light” or “congealed and rigid spirit,” in other words, a “bore that can’t think of anything else.” Which brings us back to time, which is thus becoming increasingly viscous and boring.
Matter means boredom.
(in German: Langeweile - “matter means a long while”)
The American quantum physicist John Wheeler (1911-2008) also said:
“Time is nature’s instrument that prevents everything from happening simultaneously.”
What kind of world would it be if everything happened simultaneously? Everything that comes into being would also simultaneously pass away and immediately re-emerge. There would be no reason to want to hold on to anything, because nothing can be lost. And what reason would there be to want to become anything in time, or to get anywhere in space?
For pure light, everything is eternal presence in the here and now.
Quantum physics describes such simultaneity and eternal presence as the “entanglement” of particles. But there was also a much more important discovery here: the so-called wave-particle duality, which means that photons are simultaneously light waves, and light waves are also photons. And these two properties are always present; only the observer decides whether the light appears like a particle or a wave in his “measurement.” And this applies not only to photons, but to all particles.
Accordingly, we could now also consider the spaceship of God or Brahma, assumed above, as a wave expanding spherically at the speed of light. This quickly brings us to our universe, which, as seen from Earth, has been expanding like light since the “Big Bang,” in which space and time, along with spirit and matter, appear. From this perspective, the “divine spaceship” would be our entire universe, or, as they say in religions, the Creator God himself, who in turn has a completely different view of the universe with space and time, for to him it is only a small space for a short time. Thus, in Christian symbolism, one speaks of seven days of creation in a paradisiacal garden, and in Hinduism, it is one day of creation, and Brahma sits in a pure lotus blossom.
In summary: The crucial point in both relativity theory and quantum theory is the observer, who sees himself as separate from what he observes. But why have we separated ourselves from the Creator God and become so inert and boring, so that we practically stand still on this Earth and grow physically and spiritually at a “snail’s pace”? Why are we over 1 billion km/h slower than the light of the Creator God? What practically brings our light of consciousness to a standstill? Here we should reflect on the word “understanding,” with which we under-stand and put all sorts of concepts in our way, so that our freely moving consciousness comes to a standstill and adopts certain standpoints to cling to. Why do we often feel so dark and unfulfilled inside? Does the intellect “freeze” the light of consciousness, so that our spirit “congeals and solidifies,” as Hans-Peter Duerr said? Is this how our physical matter comes into being? Is it because we prefer to speak of particles rather than waves, because particles seem more “seizable” to us? Is it because of our “grasping” with our body and mind that we are bound in space and time and thus cannot reach either pure light or eternity?
Therefore, we do not want to claim here that we have truly “understood and mathematically grasped” the theory of relativity or quantum physics. May our consciousness remain flexible and not wall itself into a fortress of conceptual ideas. May we be so amazed by the wonders of nature that all words fail us. May we never say, “That’s not possible! That can’t be!” No matter how great our contemporary science has become, therein lies our problem.
“What is impossible with men is possible with God. (Luke 18:27)”
Finally, we’d like to share some thoughts on this topic from a few people who have had so-called “near-death experiences”:
“Have you experienced timelessness?” - “Yes, there was no sense of time. Time didn’t play any role, neither did space, because everything appeared simultaneously. The incredible thing was that as soon as you thought of a question, or as soon as you considered a thought or an impulse, all the answers popped up in front of you. It depended on what you focussed on... In that moment, all the answers would emerge. It was like a hologram that opens up to you. And you recognized all the connections in a single moment.” (Video: Nine Days of Eternity, from 21:03)
“As I finally raced through that tunnel at breath taking speed, I had lost all sense of space and time. Had I been traveling for minutes, days, or years? Had I travelled a manageable distance or light-years? I couldn’t determine. I lacked any reference point. And it made no difference... I realized I was in a state of heightened awareness, in a dimension where there was neither space nor time. I know this sounds crazy, but somehow space and time had ceased to exist. I was going much too fast. It was as if I had overtaken space and time themselves... They no longer existed at all. These categories were not available to me.” (Lucy with c, Markolf H. Niemz, p. 67)
This book by Markolf Niemz is also very interesting overall, and much of what we have only briefly touched on here regarding relativity theory and quantum physics is described there in more detail and relatively understandably, with a scientific background. Right at the beginning, the thesis is put forward:
“With physical death, our soul (our spiritual self, our consciousness) is accelerated to the speed of light and thereby enters a light-like state.”
This is and remains our greatest wish, as many near-death experiences also report, and perhaps one day we will also succeed in returning from becoming light to being light. For:
Every moment of time waits for us to awaken from the dream of transience into the light of eternity.
And finally, we would like to hear from someone who was already given the realization of this “eternal presence of the now” during his earthly life:
“Time and mind are inseparable. To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time...
Time is not precious at all, for it is an illusion. What seems so precious to you is not time, but the only point outside of time: the now. Yet that is precious. The more you focus on time, on the past and the future, the more you miss the now, the most precious thing there is...
How do you stop creating time? Deeply recognize that your whole life takes place in the present moment. Place the now at the centre of your life...
You see time as the instrument of your salvation—but in truth, it is the greatest obstacle on the path to salvation. You believe that you cannot get there in this moment because you are not yet perfect enough, not yet good enough. But the truth is that here and now is the only point from which you can get there. You get there when you realize you’re already there...” (Now! The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle, 2000)
• ... Table of contents of all fairy tale interpretations ...
• King Thrushbeard - (topic: holy and healthy marriage)
• Saint Solicitous - (topic: beard and violin)
• The old witch - (topic: true Love and Reason)
• The Jew among Thorns - (topic: Reason and Mind)
• The Princess and the blind Blacksmith - (topic: Christmas)
• The Hare and the Hedgehog (topic: I’m already here)
• Hans my Hedgehog - (topic: Reason and Nature)
• The Simpleton - (topic: Nature of the sea)
• The Water-Nix - (topic: Source and River)
• The Nix of the Mill-Pond - (topic: Water-being)
• The Little Mermaid Undine - (topic: Wave dance)
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[1884] Grimm's Household Tales. Translated from the German and edited by Margaret Hunt. With an introduction by Andrew Lang, 1884, Vol. 1/2, London: George Bell and Sons |