The Eternal Present
Understanding time as circular rather than linear, where past, present, and future coexist.
In Aboriginal worldview, the Dreaming is not a distant past but an eternal present that exists alongside everyday time. Ancestral events continue to occur, and through ceremony and proper observance, we can access this timeless dimension where creation is ongoing.
The Dreaming is not behind us. It is all around us, always.
This understanding of time challenges Western linear concepts and offers alternative cosmology.
Oral Tradition
Written about in
- What Aboriginal tradition says about grief
Because the Dreaming is held to be an ongoing present rather than a finished past, a death does not recede the way a linear timeline lets it. That cuts both ways: the loss stays as near as the comfort does.