I went to a philosophy or humanities discussion about 30 years ago where some people were talking about some writings by Augustine
That is rather quaint. I am sure you will appreciate, however, that the world has revolved a couple of times since then.
How we perceive time is one question--one which you are erroneously confusing with the nature of time. Just because time is apprehended in the psychic realm does not mean it has no objective reality, or attributes independent of that realm. You can no more prove to me the existence of the present than you can the past; In either case, you rely on thoughts within your own mind. Even electricity does not operate instantaneously. By the time you have a thought about an event, the event is already past--or in your words--it is illusion. So if you think about anything, you are thinking about a past event. Your present is a sham.
To have such inflexible opinions on time, while ignoring modern efforts to understand the subject--is probably a self restriction which is unnecessarily self limiting.
Time, consciousness, and gravity: These are the 3 most important and elusive threads yet to be gathered together in the picture of man and the universe, IMO. But how to reconcile the contradictions?
In quantum mechanics, time can be considered as a parameter or as an agency--or both. Here is an excellent article describing this in lay terms:
bio.nagaokaut.ac.jp
In relativity theory, on the other hand, time is not discreet, but rather is part of the fabric of space. Dewitt took Schrodinger's equation of quantum mechanics and applied it to the universe writ large, thereby entwining QM and relativity. The result is a view of the universe as a set of infinite configurations--all existing simultaneously without time or motion.
It is tempting to move from this confusion towards a Berkeleian notion of immaterialism--with consciousness itself as the only reality.
I find it all very puzzling, but I am happy that it presents no major impediment to your own droll certainty. |
