the Time of Life

Neither physically nor philosophically real, 2023 is a psychological New Year, a human construct that isn't real at all; but only our way of counting Time for us and the Universe (light years are in Earth years) by the Earth's revolutions around the Sun, currently dating from a constructed birth of Jesus of Nazareth, that has been enhanced politically, culturally and socially by changing its designation from BC, Before Christ and AD, Anno Domini, Year of the Lord, to BCE Before the Common Era and CE Common Era. The Jewish year is 5783, which is in their background of reality, as is an Islamic calendar, a Japanese calendar, and others; but Earth's business is on the BC/AD BCE/CE calendar, a human construct devised in the 6th century CE that has only been in wide use since the 9th century CE, that we accept and use as real. It has changed in Time, and may change again in Time.

But it's not objectively "real" even though twenty-three years ago as we headed into a "turn of the century" there were dimwits who thought arriving at the year 2000 would bring about the sounding of the trumpet, the Second Coming of Christ and the cataclysmic End of Time. 

But strictly speaking, it's Time, not the calendar that we use to keep track of it, that's on my mind this morning; specifically, a Time of Life issue that I've struggled with for many years, but that for many reasons I've kept silent on. Because my personal struggle continues, I intend to continue that silence; but I want/need at least to surface it to my self, and in case others may also be struggling and need to hear that they are not alone.

During 2022 the U S Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade that established a doctrine across America of the constitutional right to abortion. Morally, legally, ethically, religiously, it seems based on convictions about the Time at which life begins, the Time at which an embryo becomes Human. Societies around the world vary on this https://reproductiverights.org/maps/worlds-abortion-laws/ and https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-where-abortion-is-illegal and I'm not a person to speak with a presumption to judge objective truth, of dogmatic truth on right or wrong. Nor - - even though my Christian denomination is officially "pro-choice" while many others are "pro-life" - - unlike many of my Christian clergy colleagues, have I ever preached a sermon on abortion; nor do I intend to. If I were somehow compelled to preach such, my message could only be that, wherever you stand on the issue, God loves you in your naïveté, ignorance, and innocence, but not your bullying others to conform to your POV; for in God's beginning encounter with us, God set us free, sufficiently godlike to know right from wrong, able and responsible for making our own decisions.

My thoughts and opinions and uncertainties and emotions are confused, muddled, mixed, and yes the image above is startling and obviously committed to a side that is as morally certain as those of us who are horrified by the German Holocaust of Innocents. I keep the image on my computer desktop to hold myself mindfully accountable, that - - "anamnesis" - - I do not forget that different people whom I love have different views on abortion, sometimes virulent but always sincere, and that all of them are loved by Whoever or Whatever said eh-YEH to create us hoping we would BE in the divine image, but letting us choose for ourselves.

Although I don't intend or feel pressure or need to come to a personal decision and choose a side, I do keep reading to get the views of other people, because so many earnest and faithful people on both sides have such anguish about it. Recently I read an essay by an aggressively active pro-life woman, the product of rape, whose mother had been denied an abortion; she is speaking out against the rape exception to abortion bans; her speaking out gives voice to a side that is seldom heard. I grew up in an era when abortion was illegal, when unwed girls died trying to abort their own socially disgracing pregnancies; and when the Roman Catholic Church's record and history of treatment of unwed mothers and their infants is astoundingly evil, shameful beyond the pale. 

Though I don't really believe it, maybe when I die there'll be the proverbial opportunity to "ask The Man" several questions: until then I'm not sure there is an absolute objective answer: it's a human issue and "it depends" and there are various points of view, religious, ethical, moral, legal, personal. 

While there are societal standards and folkways and mores, I do reject any absolute certitude that favors government making decisions for citizens. That's too far, I'll not dictate what each citizen should opine and decide, and neither should government, because, as Joseph Fletcher wrote, ethics are situational not absolute.

At any rate, I was taken with the notion stirred in me by the article below (scroll down) of starting the New Year with ongoing awareness that we go into 2023 with a divisive issue about the Time when Life Begins. It troubles me. IDK, maybe it bothers you as well. Mind, I'm not trying to decide, nor am I trying to start a forum or conversation. There may be comments, and if there are, I'll only take them down if they're vicious, ugly, abusive, insensitive, rude. 

Mind also, that I'm not "trying to understand," because I already do understand, both sides; rather, I struggle, and I'm moved to say so because, as the writer says, it goes to the heart of human experience; and there is division about who is Human and therefore entitled to the experience, and who is not Human and has no right to experience Life.

From NYT on Monday morning - ->


Good morning. How people regard the start of life is complicated, polarizing and worthy of exploration.

Bethany Mollenkof for The New York Times

Lived experience

This past year, I’ve reported frequently on the topic of abortion when it intersects with my beat as the national religion correspondent for The Times. In the months since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, one question has come up over and over: When does life begin?

This question is simultaneously elemental and complicated. It has also become so politicized that thoughtful engagement is difficult. Even the question itself can be confusingly broad. In biological terms, when is an organism an organism? Or philosophically, what makes a human a person? And spiritually, when does a human being have a soul?

Humans have wrestled with the question of when life begins across time and cultures. For the past few months, I’ve spoken with scientists, philosophers and spiritual leaders to explore the question and to learn how people think about it. The resulting story published online here.

One mother I interviewed told me that the question of life and when it begins seems so much bigger than the fights we hear about in politics — and she is right. This question also pushes past the limits of law and science and gets to the heart of human experience.

When journalists report on a piece of legislation or investigate a specific event, there are some answers that are clear and able to be found. Exploring a question itself isn’t quite like that. My reporting doesn’t answer this one. Instead, my hope is that by writing about the quest for an answer, I offer you some space and ideas to reflect on your own views and maybe even start a conversation with friends and family about a topic that can feel taboo.

Last year at this time, I explored how people make sense of time. The year before, as Covid deaths rose, I wrote about how we survive winter. I’ve reported about the value of life in America, the cycles of apocalypse in the human storyand what it means to be personally and culturally transformed.

These are all questions of spirit. And they are questions that humans across divides share.

Read Elizabeth’s latest story on a question that “goes far beyond politics, law and science into the heart of human experience.”