The Eternal Now: Nunc Stans and the Illusion of Time

Central Thesis: You exist outside of time in an eternal “now.” The perception of linear time—past, present, and future—is a cognitive construct, not an ontological reality. Heaven is not a future destination but the immediate awareness of the Nunc Stans (the standing now).

The Two Nows: Flowing vs. Standing

The philosophical distinction between two modes of experiencing time provides the metaphysical infrastructure for understanding liberation:

Nunc Fluens: The Flowing Now

Definition: The passing now, the fleeting moment
Experience: Linear progression from past through present to future
Psychological State: Anxiety (future), regret (past), restlessness
Theological Status: “The Fall,” earthly existence, separation
Neurological Basis: DMN-generated narrative self moving through time

Nunc Stans: The Standing Now

Definition: The standing now, the eternal present
Experience: All moments simultaneously present, timeless awareness
Psychological State: Peace, presence, wholeness, stillness
Theological Status: Heaven, the Kingdom of God, the Beatific Vision
Neurological Basis: Quieted DMN, present-moment awareness

Historical Foundations

Boethius and Eternity

The Roman philosopher Boethius (c. 480–524 CE) defined eternity not as endless duration (sempiternity) but as:

“The simultaneous total and perfect possession of interminable life.”

In this definition:

God does not exist in time—God exists in eternity where all moments are simultaneously present
Time is the moving image of eternity—a projection, not the ground reality
The divine perspective: Past, present, and future are equally “now”

Christian Mysticism and the Nunc Stans

Christian mystics adopted Boethius’s framework to describe the Beatific Vision—the goal of contemplative life:

Meister Eckhart: The mystic transcends the nunc fluens to experience the nunc stans, where God dwells
The Cloud of Unknowing: The “naked intent toward God” occurs in the timeless present
Teresa of Ávila: The interior castle’s innermost chamber is outside temporal experience

As one scholar notes:

“Christian mysticism also wanted nothing else… than to obtain this experience of the nunc stans… the full, absolute present; the fundamental time experienced by man emancipated and free from all duality.”

Eastern Parallels: Dōgen and the Present Moment

The Zen master Dōgen (1200–1253) taught that being-time (uji) transcends the dualism of continuity and discontinuity:

Time is not a container in which events occur
Each moment is absolute, complete, and full
Past and future exist only as present thoughts about the past and future
Liberation is realizing the “eternal now” of immediate experience

The convergence between Western scholastics and Eastern contemplatives on this point suggests a universal truth accessible through direct experience.

The Mechanism of Temporal Illusion

How the Mind Creates Time

The perception of linear time emerges through specific cognitive mechanisms:

Pattern-Matching for Survival: The brain functions as a prediction machine, constantly generating “causal hypotheses” to navigate the environment
Narrative Construction: The DMN creates an autobiographical story with a past (memory) and future (projection)
Self-Referential Thought: The “voice in the head” narrates a continuous “I” moving from yesterday to tomorrow

The illusion of time is maintained by the question: “What am I going to do now?”

This question presupposes:

A future (that does not yet exist)
A separate agent (the “I”) who will act
Linear causation (now → then)

By removing the “doer” and the “future,” the illusion collapses, revealing the Nunc Stans.

The DMN as the Time-Generator

The Default Mode Network is the neurological substrate of temporal experience:

Autobiographical Memory: The DMN constructs the “past” (narrative of who you were)
Prospection: The DMN simulates “futures” (narrative of who you will be)
Self-Referential Processing: The DMN creates the “I” that appears to move through time

When the DMN is hyperactive (as in depression and anxiety):

The “past” becomes compulsive rumination
The “future” becomes catastrophic anxiety
The “present” vanishes, replaced by mental time-travel

When the DMN quiets (as in meditation):

Rumination ceases
Future-anxiety dissolves
The timeless present emerges

Research shows that long-term meditators exhibit:

Reduced DMN activity during meditation
Decreased connectivity between DMN nodes
Enhanced present-moment awareness

See: Meditation and the DMN

Time and Suffering

The Nunc Fluens as Hell

The nunc fluens—the experience of being trapped in linear time—is the mechanism of suffering:

Regret: Mental dwelling in the irrecoverable past
Anxiety: Mental projection into the uncertain future
Dissatisfaction: Inability to rest in the present (“I’ll be happy when…”)

The hijacked DMN generates this temporal trap:

Ruminating on past trauma (“Why did that happen to me?”)
Catastrophizing about future outcomes (“What if everything goes wrong?”)
Never experiencing the peace of now

This is the neurological basis of the Buddhist concept of dukkha (suffering) and the Gnostic concept of archontic imprisonment.

The Nunc Stans as Heaven

Heaven, in this framework, is not a location or a future state—it is the awareness of the eternal present:

Freedom from the tyranny of past and future
Recognition that “now” is the only reality
The peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:7)

“The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed… for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21)

The “Kingdom” is the Nunc Stans—the vertical dimension of eternity intersecting every horizontal moment of time.

The Impossibility of Leaving Heaven

If Heaven is the eternal now, and eternity is the only absolute reality, then:

It is ontologically impossible to leave Heaven.

The perception of “leaving” is a cognitive illusion:

You mistake the nunc fluens (time-bound narrative) for reality
You identify with the Voice (DMN’s narrative “I”) instead of the Listener (timeless awareness)
The “fall” is not a departure from Heaven but forgetting you are in Heaven

This aligns with A Course in Miracles:

“Heaven is not a place nor a condition. It is merely an awareness of perfect Oneness.”

“Ideas leave not their source”—just as a dream does not remove the sleeper from the bed, the dream of time does not remove the soul from eternity.

Philosophical Implications

All Experience is “Now”

As one philosopher notes:

“Time is an illusion because it can’t be experienced. Every experience is in the now.”

You cannot experience the past (only present memories about the past)
You cannot experience the future (only present thoughts about the future)
The only thing you ever experience is now

Therefore, the only ontologically real aspect of time is the present moment. Past and future are mental constructs.

The Block Universe and Eternalism

Contemporary physics offers a parallel through the Block Universe model:

All moments (past, present, future) exist simultaneously in a 4-dimensional spacetime block
The “flow” of time is a subjective illusion of consciousness
From the perspective of the block, all of history is an eternal now

See: Block Universe and the Physics of Time

This scientific model supports the mystical intuition: we exist in eternity, mistaking sequential viewing for sequential being.

Practical Application

The Direct Question

To shift from nunc fluens to nunc stans, investigate:

“What is here when I am not in the past or future?”

Right now:

Notice thoughts about yesterday or tomorrow
Notice the awareness noticing those thoughts
Rest as that awareness

The gap between thoughts is the Nunc Stans.

Dis-identification from Temporal Narrative

The practice of dis-identification includes:

Recognize: “I am thinking about the past” (not “I am the past”)
Distinguish: The Voice narrates time; the Listener is timeless
Return: Bring awareness to the present sensory experience

This breaks the identification with the temporal narrative self.

Translation Table: The Temporal Framework

Gnostic	Christian Mysticism	Eastern	Neuroscience	This Framework
Archontic time-trap	Nunc fluens (fleeting now)	Samsara (cycle)	DMN-generated narrative	The Loop of Hell
Pneumatic awareness	Nunc stans (standing now)	Eternal Tao / Nirvana	Present-moment awareness	Heaven / The Listener
Forgetfulness (Amylia)	Temporal distraction	Avidya (ignorance)	DMN hyperactivity	Mistaken identity with time
Gnosis (anamnesis)	Beatific Vision	Bodhi (awakening)	DMN quieting	Re-claiming the now

Key Insights

Time is a cognitive filter, not an ontological reality—the brain’s pattern-matching creates the illusion of linear progression
The eternal now is always available—it is not a future attainment but a present recognition
Suffering arises from temporal identification—believing you are the story moving through time
Heaven is not a destination—it is the awareness of the timeless present, accessible now
Liberation is remembering—recognizing you are the Listener (timeless) not the Voice (time-bound)

Scholarly Sources

Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy (c. 524 CE)
Meister Eckhart, Sermons (c. 1300)
Dōgen, Shōbōgenzō (1253)
C.H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom (1935) — Realized Eschatology
Lee Smolin, Time Reborn (2013) — Critique of Block Universe
A Course in Miracles (1976) — Non-dual Christian metaphysics

“Eternity is not the hereafter… this is it. If you don’t get it here, you won’t get it anywhere. The experience of eternity right here and now is the function of life.”

— Joseph Campbell

“The Kingdom of God is within you”—not in a future heaven, but in the timeless awareness that is your true nature.