Time, The Role of Memory and Comparison Options

My little brother and I go round and round the mulberry bush with regard to discussing the importance of memory and comparison with regard to discerning time. Although he sometimes has made me groan with weariness for such conversation, I have to admit that some of what he frequently points out makes some sense. Rather than rehashing many years of dialogue in a detailed blow by blow recount, I will attempt to distill, and to share, points he makes that seem interesting to me - with specific regard to time.

He often points out that time results from the process of comparison and memory.

According to that:

What one commonly calls the past only is a category of memory. Any data recorded in that category is “part of the past.” One considers such data is “what happened.”

One might commonly say that events happened “in the past” – but the phrase can be subtly misleading, because it suggests that the past is some kind of place (some kind of spatial arena) in which events happen. People who are mislead by that common phrase make the mistake of thinking that the past is a place to which they can go. While this kind of mistaken assumption has lead to lots of interesting plots for science fiction novels, television shows, movies, etc…, the fact remains that since the past only is a category of memory – since what one calls “the past” only is what one references data regarding events that one considers to “have happened”, and since such data is stored in memory – then one cannot go into the past. One can recall that data from that category of memory, but recalling such data is not the same as traveling from one physical area place to another. At best, saying that events happened “in the past” is just using a spatial analogy for talking about where data regarding events was recorded: in a specific category of memory.

Example: an event occurs. One stores a record for that event “what happened” in the category of memory called “the past”. One can then recall that data (that memory) later. One refers to that event that is now over as a past memory.

“What happened’ is the past.
“What will (and/or could) happen” is the future.

Brace yourself for a non-intuitive leap:

Just as the past only is a category of memory – just as “what happened” only is a record of data stored in a category of memory – so, too, is the future.

“What will (and/or could) happen” is not a place to which one can go, exactly like how the past is not a place to which one can go. Instead of being a place, the future is a category of memory for storing data (in the form of plans and possibilities).

Example: one forms a plan for events that could happen, and/or crafts a projection for what events will happen. One stores such plans and projections as data in the category of memory called “the future.” Until one acts on such plans, or projected circumstances manifest, it simply remains stored data in that specific category of memory.

The only point where someone really is – is the moment.
The moment is “what is happening”.

The moment is the only point when we are. What is happening is the only point when experiences occur. The moment is the only point when accounts of such experiences are stored as data in the category of memory called “the past.” What is happening also is the only point when plants for future experiences are stored as data in the category of memory called “the future.”

And none of this means that one should abandon discerning either the past, or the future, because they can be very useful tools for increasing the mastery with which one engages experiences. One increases the mastery with which one engages experiences – one uses the tool of past and future memories – by comparing them to the moment (comparing them to “what is happening”), then choosing appropriately choosing which actions result with the most graceful, skillful, and efficient engagement.

The movement of time exists as a result from establishing the categories of memory "what happened" and "what will (and/or could) happen" - then discerning the differential of the past and the future from comparing them with the moment.

Without such comparison – without using memory to discern the difference between what happened, what will (and/or could) happen, and what is happening – one is not aware of not only any change occurring, but also is not aware of “the flow of time.”

Have you heard of "Now Theory"? I'm not sure who it was postulated by, I believe it was Zeno of Elea, a greek philosopher (if you want to do some mental gymnastics, look up Zeno's paradoxes). I do know it was elaborated on by a French Physicist named Julian Barbour, who explained it in his book "The End of Time". He purposes that time does not exist, and that what does exists are a series of moments called "nows". You are right, time is not linear, like waking on a bridge. It occurs moment by moment, in that, in each moment, we are in a different state of "happening". People tend to think of time as some distant quasi-place, like saying there is a donut somewhere in Europe. In fact, the only time is now.

It gives raise to a quote from George Orwell's "1984":

"Who controls the past, controls the future, who controls the present, controls the past."

Why? Because the "past" and the "future" happen in the present!




ॐ Z ॐ

Have you heard of "Now Theory"? I'm not sure who it was postulated by, I believe it was Zeno of Elea, a greek philosopher (if you want to do some mental gymnastics, look up Zeno's paradoxes). I do know it was elaborated on by a French Physicist named Julian Barbour, who explained it in his book "The End of Time". He purposes that time does not exist, and that what does exists are a series of moments called "nows". You are right, time is not linear, like waking on a bridge. It occurs moment by moment, in that, in each moment, we are in a different state of "happening". People tend to think of time as some distant quasi-place, like saying there is a donut somewhere in Europe. In fact, the only time is now.

It gives raise to a quote from George Orwell's "1984":

"Who controls the past, controls the future, who controls the present, controls the past."

Why? Because the "past" and the "future" happen in the present!




ॐ Z ॐ

Agreed, all is in the present. The past is memory and the future is anticipation.