in the center of the galaxy, looking out on
space, I almost grasped a new concept but I lost it when the Agronian
patrol attacked me. It's coming back.

"Time and space seem to be one and the same. Neither exists as an
objective reality. There is no past and no future--all of it occurs
eternally in the instant of my own being. I am everything and
nothing--infinity and a speck lost in space."

"Thus you discover the Rational Potential," Dr. Kramer smiled. "I
think you're ready for the space-pilot promotional, Edward." After a
pause Dr. Kramer inquired, "Did you see the Chief of Vinin, Edward?"

"Then you know about that too?"

"I've guessed--it seems likely."

"I scraped off the putty and the face color. Beneath it he was an
Earthman. A hundred thousand of them rule the Confederacy."

"All time and space, forever occurring for each of us in the instant
of now! Yes, he would be an Earthman, Edward--quite logically. Both
good and evil begin with the same source. Both have the same Rational
Potential. The act of being has always been the same struggle of
constant forces, between the absolute and the relative. The time never
changes nor the event but merely the passing illusion of place."

Shaking his head the chubby professor departed. Dirrul closed his
eyes, at peace with himself.

* * * * *

End of Project Gutenberg's The Instant of Now, by Irving E. Cox, Jr.

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