Everlasting Cross

Everlasting Cross
(Click image to enlarge)

There is a cross in the centre of a lemniscate infinity symbol (see Tasuki Cross) and this conjures up all sorts of paradoxes.

Infinity is not easy to understand. Think for too long about the 'fact' that there are an infinite number of points on a circle, and then realise for that to be true, these points would need to be infinitely small, that is, zero width. You end up with no circle but a splitting headache.

So most of us non-philosophical, non-pure mathematical types, are content with the notion that infinity is as long as something that's really very long. How long we don't know, but longer than we need to worry about for all practical purposes. Infinite love is like that. It goes on for as long as we need, and then keeps going. That's pretty long.

Möbius strip

Q: Why did the chicken cross the möbius strip?
A: To get to the same side!

Equally interesting are the Klein bottle and the Möbius (or Moebius) strip. The latter has a surface with only one side and only one boundary. (To make one, take a paper strip, give it a half-twist, and then join the ends together.) It has curious properties in that if you cut down the middle of the strip along a line parallel to its edge, instead of getting two separate strips, it becomes one long strip with two half-twists.

This illustrates another definition of everlasting love: indestructible love. And that is the love that Jesus showed us through his sacrifice on the cross. It is, of course, up to each of us whether we accept that love.

The theme 'eternity' has been popularly taken up by several famous people. Stephen Hawking quoted Woody Allen's joke that "Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end".

And it's a long time to suffer if we make a mistake while we have our chance here on earth. As John Lennon said: "Eternity is a hell of a long time."